ASUU’s Two-Week Strike: A 14-Year Cycle Of Broken Promises & Government Apathy
By ANITA KNIGHT
WHEN Nigeria’s Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) announced it would begin a two-week nationwide strike starting Monday 13 October, it felt like déjà vu. The script is familiar—promises made, committees formed, reports submitted, and silence from the government until classrooms go dark again.
At the University of Abuja on Sunday, ASUU President, Professor Chris Piwuna, declared that the strike—comprehensive and total—was the union’s response to government inaction despite a two-week ultimatum. “Nothing significant has happened to change NEC’s position,” he lamented, signaling yet another round in a battle that has lasted over a decade.
A Familiar Crisis in New Times
This is ASUU’s first nationwide strike since 2022 and the first under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. In 2022, university lecturers were off the job for eight months, their pay withheld, their resolve tested. Then, as now, the issue remains the same: the unfulfilled 2009 ASUU-Federal Government agreement.
That agreement, which set out conditions of service, university funding, and institutional autonomy, has been renegotiated six times since—each time ending in yet another committee, yet another unimplemented report.
The union’s demands today echo those of 14 years ago: completion of the renegotiated 2009 agreement, release of withheld salaries and arrears, revitalisation funds for public universities, and respect for university autonomy.
Government’s Endless Committees
The Federal Government’s response has been bureaucratic rather than solution-oriented. Between 2017 and now, at least six committees have been set up to renegotiate the same 2009 agreement. From Wale Babalakin to Munzali Jibrin, Nimi Briggs, and now Yayale Ahmed, the story remains constant—drafts produced, none implemented.
Just last week, ASUU met with the newly reconstituted Federal Government Tertiary Institutions Expanded Negotiation Committee. But the meeting, according to Piwuna, was “nothing to write home about.” The presentation, he said, was a “departure from the letter and spirit” of previous agreements, proof that the government is still circling old ground without genuine intent.
The Cost of Neglect
Nigeria’s public universities are paying the price. Decaying infrastructure, brain drain, and crumbling morale have turned campuses into symbols of neglect. Students bear the brunt—academic calendars disrupted, futures delayed. Parents groan, lecturers lose faith, and yet, the nation’s leaders appear unmoved.
ASUU’s frustration is not without reason. The 2009 pact included a commitment by government to inject ₦1.2 trillion into universities over six years. Only ₦200 billion was ever released. The agreement also stipulated renegotiation every four years—a clause ignored for over a decade.
Beyond ASUU vs Government
This latest strike is not just a union protest—it is a mirror reflecting the fragility of Nigeria’s educational system and the government’s poor regard for intellectual capital. It exposes how dialogue in Nigeria often ends where political convenience begins.
Every administration, from Goodluck Jonathan to Muhammadu Buhari, and now Bola Tinubu, has promised to end ASUU strikes “for good.” Yet, the pattern persists—government waits until the classrooms are empty before inviting lecturers back to the negotiation table.
A Call for Accountability
If this strike proves anything, it is that Nigeria’s higher education crisis is not about lack of committees, but lack of political will. Funding education should be a national investment, not an annual afterthought.
ASUU, for its part, must also rethink its strategy beyond strikes that often punish students more than policymakers. The struggle for a dignified academic system must now include transparent advocacy, alliances with parents and students, and a push for public accountability.
Conclusion
As the two-week warning strike begins, Nigerians are left wondering whether this is just another episode in the unending cycle of neglect—or the spark for genuine reform. Fourteen years, six committees, and billions of naira later, one truth remains: until education becomes a true national priority, ASUU’s strikes will continue to echo across empty classrooms—and Nigeria’s future will remain on hold.
