The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is (controversially) a voluntary labour Union formed in 1978 as a successor to the Nigerian Association of University Teachers (NAUT) which was formed in 1965 as a labour Union that covers academic staff in all of the Federal and State Universities in Nigeria.
It is a body that university academic staff and lecturers fall under and under which they organize themselves against the government, make their demands known and register their displeasures.
When people hear of ASUU, the first thing that comes to an average Nigerian’s mind is strike or industrial action; the name ASUU can be said to be synonymous with strike as any time the name asuu is trending then it is obvious that they are in loggerhead again with the federal government and about to declare an industrial action which according to them is the only known way they get the government to listen to them and attend to their demands.
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The very first recorded ASUU strike took place in 1988 and the reason for the industrial action is the academic staff of universities protesting for equitable salary and the autonomy of the Nigerian universities. This first ASUU’s industrial action led to its first ban by the government in 1988 which is not good for the labour Union body that is just 10 years of inception.
That strike was called off in 1990 and the universities kicked off their usual academic activities in full scale and students were allowed to return to campus.
The second ASUU strike took place in August 1992 and lasted for a month as it was called off in September of that same year. The reason for the second strike was related to the first reason for the previous industrial action which was for an equitable salary scale and increase in salary and wages of university teachers. This second industrial action of ASUU led to its ban again by the government and prohibition of ASUU related activities.
As Nigeria returned to a democratic government in 1999 and trying to recover from the mayhem of the autocratic military government, ASUU deemed it fit to again bring up their demand to the new democratic government of Nigeria, hoping that the government will be more eager to listen to them. This did not go as planned as the government of Nigeria and ASUU entered into a full blown Cold War and this led to the ASUU strike of 1999 lasting for a whole five months. Five months of schools closed down and academic activities on hold in Nigeria’s public universities.
After the 1999 industrial action, ASUU went on another strike in the year 2001 and the strike lasted for three solid months.
Furthermore, in December 2002, ASUU went on a two weeks strike. The reason for this two weeks’ strike was that the Obasanjo-led budding democratic federal government of Nigeria did not implement the agreement they entered with the union earlier in the previous years.
ASUU decided they were done with the federal government tricks and games in 2003 and they declared a strike in that year. The strike was as if it was never going to end as it lasted for a whole six months. This ASUU 6 months strike of 2003 was also because the government couldn’t implement some of the agreements it entered with them and their primary demands have always been: adequate funding of the universities, increase in salaries and wages of public university teachers, pension fund for university lecturers.
ASUU took a break in 2004 but resumed their labour struggle in 2005 and they embarked on another strike in the year 2005 and the strike lasted for about two weeks. Also in the year 2006 ASUU took one week off for strike, the seven days strike of 2006 came after the three days warning strike, making it a total of 10 days of strike in the year 2006.
Also, in 2007, also went on another three 3 months forced vacation due to their industrial action; reason? Government’s constant failure to implement the prior agreements they had with the labour Union body.
In 2008, the labour Union went on a one week strike. The reason for this strike is primarily for the reinstatement of their fellow comrades that the government took away their jobs due to the trade Union struggle.
In June 2009, ASUU declared another strike which is now looking like an annual ritual. The strike was called off in October that same year having lasted for four months. This 2009 industrial action birthed another (new) agreement between the federal government and the labour Union and this new agreement was tagged “The ASUU/FG agreement of 2009”.
In July 2010, ASUU declared another strike over the government failure to implement the ASUU/FG agreement of 2009 made the previous year. This strike of 2010 spilled off to the following year as it was called off in January, 2011 having lasted for five solid months.
Eleven months later after the 2010 strike was called off in January 2011, ASUU embarked on another strike in December that same year and called it off in February of the next year of 2012. The strike lasted for two months.
In July 2013, ASUU embarked on the most talked about and most notorious industrial action of the recent years. The strike lasted for five solid months as it was called off in December of that same year.
The labour Union decided to shield their (industrial action) sword for about four years as it begin to appear to them that the federal government is beginning to listen to them and taking active steps in the implementations of their agreements but the two cat and rat fell off again and they embarked on another strike in August 2017 and the strike ended in September that same year after one month.
In November 2018 the labour Union declared an indefinite strike. The strike lasted for three months and was called off in February of 2019.
In March 2020 while the whole world was on lockdown due to the Covid 19 killer virus, ASUU also decided to lockdown and embarked on another indefinite strike. The strike lasted for nine months before they called it off. The impact of the nine months strike of the 2020 was nevertheless not much felt because parents were even reluctant to release their children to go back to school and students were not ready to go to school campuses and start mingling with crowds at the risk of contracting the Corona virus.
ASUU took another break from strikes in 2021 as no strike was recorded in that year but they embarked on (their annual) strike in February of this year (2022), the strike have lasted for more than two weeks and it still counting as it appears that the labour Union have had enough of the government and are not ready to call this off until they have their way.
In all the strikes that Asuu have embarked on, both the ones that lasted for days and some that extended for months, what is common is the government’s failure to implement the agreement they have previously entered with the labour union and before those agreement was entered with the government, the reasons for previous strikes is the university teachers demanding for a better working condition from government.
Some of the primary demands of ASUU are: increase in salary and wages of the University teachers, proper funding of the universities, funded research and funded continuous education for the university lecturers, the issue of pension and gratuity for retiring lecturers, good working environment etc.
While we all can agree that ASUU to some reasonable extent deserve what they are demanding and even more from the federal government, we have no choice than to plead with body to maybe reduce their expectations and demand from the government because it seems what they have been demanding for over two decades, the government cannot or May meet up with them.
We also call on the government to be the bigger person and honor the agreements she have entered with the labour Union and meet the demands of this union at least to some reasonable extent because when two elephants fight, the grasses suffer; the grasses here are the students and scholars who are forced to spend extra years in school and stay at home doing nothing due to the incessant strikes of the ASUU.