The war between ASSU and Federal Government

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU) recent strike action once again has shown that the country’s educational system is being toyed with! It is very pathetic that both ASSU and federal government had to wait for another strike action before their issues were resolved and it is also even more pathetic that the leaders of this country don’t know how important the educational sector is especially our universities. The questions now are; must strike be used to sort out things in the educational sector?  must there be strike actions every session in our universities? Why can’t there be a lasting solution to the causes of strike in the sector especially in our universities?

A country that does not have benefiting plans for the educational sector is also planning to fail! It is very obvious that there are no benefiting plans for our educational sector because if there are, strike would not be the only weapon of war by ASSU and the federal government would have done something to prevent the constant recurrence of it. Secondly, the recent strike by ASSU did not get the kind of reactions it should have gotten. This is because when subsidy was removed completely by the federal government, everyone could see the reactions from all corners of the country, we could see how the Labour Union reacted; condemning the policy and went on mass protest claiming that the union’s actions were in the interest of the Nigerian masses. The question now is what was Labour Union’s reaction to the recent war between FG and ASSU which led to Nigerian University students to stay out of school for more than one month?

If Labour Union actually fights for the interest of the masses, I wonder why the Union did not make so much noise as the Union did during the removal of fuel subsidy saga. The simple reason is because Labour Union, FG, ASSU are neglecting the educational sector in the country, I don’t think they know the importance of the sector in the sustainability of the country. With quality educational sector, the country would have more responsible and enlightened youths who will shun terrorism act, political thuggish acts, and the country will have more responsible and patriotic leaders etc.

The use of strike as the only weapon to demand for certain measures weather selfish demands or not should stop. The action has led to unqualified graduates who are not employable in the labour market. This is because, in order to meet up with the university calendar, the various Universities in the country would apply the rush method of lecturing so as to start exams on time, this will lead to many students not actually understanding the courses being taught by these lecturers. The action has led to students being idle on several occasions and it is a well known fact that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. When some of these unqualified and unemployable graduates are unable to get employed, they seek for silly ways to make a leaving. I hardly hear of countries that still toy with their educational sector as we do in this part of the world, even some of the worst countries in Africa don’t go on educational strike as we do in Nigeria. It is expected of Labour Union to stand out and engage in actions that will end educational strike actions in the country especially by ASSU once and for all for the real interest of the masses if the Union actually fights for the interest of the masses.