Government scuttles agreement with striking academics

The refusal of Nigeria’s government to sign a negotiated agreement to end a five-month lecturer strike has come as a rude shock to public universities. The government did not provide reasons for backing out of the deal – but did threaten to sack all academics if they did not return to work.

The lecturers, who have been striking over government’s disregard of a 2009 memorandum of understanding that included improved funding for universities, refused to comply. Thus another war of attrition has begun.

Public spirited individuals and organisations have been trying to mediate behind the scenes to find amicable solutions to the protracted strike, which has interrupted the studies of students in public universities and put them at a disadvantage vis-à-vis their counterparts in private universities, where academic programmes have not been interrupted.

There was hope that the strike would end after Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan held closed-door meetings in mid-November with the leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or ASUU, led by Dr Nasir Fagge Isa.

But the agreement reached has not been signed and both sides are blaming each other.

President disappointed

President Jonathan said he was disappointed that the academic leaders were “unnecessarily” prolonging the strike after they had reached an acceptable agreement.

“What ASUU is doing is no longer trade unionism. I have intervened in other labour issues before now. Once I invite them, they respond and after the meeting they take a decision and call off the strike,” he said. “At times we don’t even give them long notice – unlike the case of ASUU.”

Pained by what he described as the recalcitrant and “subversive” behaviour of the lecturers, Jonathan said he had expected that after meeting with the highest authorities in the land, the ASUU would have issued a statement to outline its position and whether it had accepted or rejected the government’s offers.

The president claimed that academic leaders were using delaying tactics to keep campuses closed indefinitely.

Jonathan said the meeting with the ASUU had been the longest “in my political history”. It had started at 2pm and ended in the early hours of the following morning. “As far as the government of Nigeria is concerned all the stakeholders were present.

“What else do they want? The way ASUU has conducted itself on this matter shows that it is very rigid. The teachers said that the strike is indefinite. Our children have been at home for over five months. What ASUU is doing is no longer a trade dispute but subversive action.”

Union responds

Fagge Isa denied the president’s allegations that lecturers had decided to go on an indefinite strike and that its actions were subversive. He explained that after the series of meetings with Jonathan, the union had to follow its tradition of sending details of the draft agreement reached to all branches.

“We have our own internal democracy. The congresses of our union, which called for industrial action in July to press for the implementation of [the] 2009 agreement, have the right to deliberate on the draft agreement.”

The union leaders said that the views of the congresses had been collated and sent to the ASUU’s national executive council for deliberation. A detailed response to the draft agreement had been sent to the president through Nyesome Wike, the education minister.

In that letter, the union had made the following proposals:

• • The president should approve the sum of US$1.3 billion as agreed for a revitalisation fund for public universities. This amount should be deposited with the Central Bank and disbursed to universities within two weeks.
  
• • Renegotiation of the 2009 agreement with the president should be included in the final new agreement, as agreed during discussions with the president.
  
• • The final document should include a non-victimisation clause, which is normally captured in interactions of this nature.
  
• • A new memorandum of understanding should be signed by a representative of the government – preferably the attorney general – and a representative of the ASUU, with the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress as witness.
  

It is necessary to briefly recapture key components of the 2009 agreement signed by both the government and ASUU, aimed at arresting the decay in public universities’ infrastructure, the union said. These are:

• • The government agreed that it would require a total sum of US$6.3 billion spread over three years, 2009-11, to address the decay in public universities.
  
• • The three-year period elapsed and the 2009 agreement had not been implemented.
  
• • Another memorandum of understanding was signed in 2012 and the government agreed to build on the initial US$650 million for 2012 to a yearly sum of US$2.6 billion over the next three years, 2013-15.

All these clauses had been revisited in last month’s discussions with the president. But suddenly the government had refused to sign the new agreement.

Instead, the education minister said the ASUU demands were “irresponsible”. He threatened to sack all lecturers if they did not return to work. “We shall advertise in both local and foreign media vacancies in public universities,” he warned.

According to reliable sources Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the finance minister, advised Jonathan not to give in to ASUU demands because of dwindling government funds. She was reported to have said that to capitulate could encourage other unions to embark on similar action.

Reports from public universities have indicated that very few lecturers have gone back to work and that campuses are deserted. The Nigeria Labour Congress has declared its readiness to intercede in the war of attrition between the government and ASUU.

“It is indeed a pity that in this century ruled by the knowledge economy, the government fails to realise the fact that funding of higher education should be an urgent priority. Nigeria has the resources to rescue public universities from decay,” said one vice-chancellor, who did not want to be named.