By Adekunle Adekoya

I really don’t want to write about the ASUU strike again, but it is a shame that our government is not talking to us as much as it needs to about a major national crisis in the education sector, which is what the strike is about. In the last few days, hopes have been raised that ASUU will call off its strike, which has lasted exactly eight months yesterday, having started February 14.

By the way, February 14 was Valentine’s Day, a day dedicated to sharing of love, which has become a big thing here, as in other climes. So ASUU chose the day of love to demonstrate its love for the university tier of the educational system by calling a strike to press further its demands for proactive and productive funding of the system.

Between February 14, and today, October 14, a lot has happened to the university system, and I am not just talking of stoppage of lectures and its associated activities, bad as that is. Some people will never recover from the effects of the strike. There are many thriving businesses associated with the presence of students on campus. There are food vendors, hostel owners, business centre operators where copying services are rendered, phone call vendors and sellers of airtime, and sundry providers of associated services.

Most of these businesses are either comatose or have collapsed entirely, thereby further validating the saying that when two elephants fight, it is the grasses that suffer. If this is a country where proper checks are done and results documented, it will be seen, when the varsities resume, that not all students would resume. As ominous as it is, some would no longer be resuming because they have moved on, are sick, or injured in the pursuit of other ventures. Some might even have passed on.

Others may be otherwise distracted, like the student of a university of agriculture that put to bed a set of quintuplets. Indeed, a lot of people have suffered, especially students and their parents/guardians, who do not know when their suffering in this regard will end. 

Remember that on July 19, more than five months into the strike, President Buhari gave a two-week ultimatum to the Minister of Education to resolve issues around the strike, which also involved three other unions, and report back to him. He gave the directive after briefings from the relevant MDAs involved in resolving the face-off with the university unions. 

The three other unions that embarked on strike are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions, NASU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT. That was three months ago.

Was there a report? What did the president do about the report? I also recalled a similar situation when a security chief was ordered to relocate to the epicentre of a crisis. The fellow did not, and the president later told a shocked nation that he did not know that the fellow did not do what he directed. So, we’ve been trifling with presidential orders in high places? Where else does that happen? See where we are?

At a time, ministers even bickered over who should take charge of efforts to resolve issues. 

It is a shame, a very big one, because from where I stand, it is entirely avoidable, ceteris paribus, as they say. But other things are never equal, especially in a country like ours where people in high places see themselves as the next thing to The Almighty. Shame, again. Just what are the details of the deal offered by government to make ASUU call off its strike, beyond the pact brokered by the House of Representatives?

From the Minister of Labour, said to be the chief conciliator, what are the terms? What is on offer by government? The minister more directly concerned is that of Education, the taciturn Malam Adamu Adamu. But this is one instance he cannot afford to be taciturn. He must let the whole world know that the Federal Government has done the best it can to make ASUU call off the strike.

As I write, ASUU exco is heading into a meeting on the latest court order, which said it should first obey the ruling of the National Industrial Court, which had earlier ruled that it calls off the strike before entertaining other issues. ASUU appealed, and the Appeal Court maintained the ruling of the NIC. I

am in high spirits, on behalf of students and parents, that ASUU will call of the strike and end this eight-month agony. The Federal Government must be reminded that one’s word is one’s bond. Pacta sunt servanda: Pacts and agreements freely entered into are binding, and must be honoured.

If government has struck a deal with ASUU, it must honour it. Since governance is a continuum, whichever party wins next year’s presidential elections MUST also honour the agreement. Meantime, I advise ASUU to be proactive by seeking to be part of the transition which will begin immediately a winner is returned elected by INEC. It is one way to secure the interest of the university tier.