Before Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had running battles with military government’s, with strike that paralysed academic activities for months, and at a particular time, for over one year.
With the advent of civil rule in 1999, many had thought that the government, ASUU and other professional bodies would work together to improve the standard of education in the country which suffered a lot during the military rule.
However, there have been no love lost between the various democratic administrations and ASUU since 1999 leading to several strikes by the union. The result has been near bastardization of education in Nigeria, as graduates coming out of Nigerian universities cannot live up to the calling of the professions they choose to practice after school.
While the government has been blamed for failing to meet with the demands of ASUU which include improved renumeration and condition of learning facilities, others have blamed ASUU for the poor standard of education with others asking what ASUU has done with the hundreds of billions of Naira it has received from government at different occasions since 1999.
Below is the history of ASUU strikes since 1999 to date as captured by African Community News:
1. 1999 Barely two months after the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo took over from the military in 1999, ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike that lasted for five months.
2. 2001 In 2001, ASUU declared another strike over the reinstatement of 49 lecturers sacked at the University of Ilorin. The action led Obasanjo to describe Nigerian university lecturers as “a bunch of lazy and ungrateful people” The strike was called off after three months.
3. 2002 ASUU went on strike on Sunday, December 29, 2002 and it lasted for only two weeks.
4. 2003 ASUU embarked on another industrial action due to the non-implementation of previous agreements, which covers poor university funding and disparity in salary and retirement age.
5. 2005 ASUU’s strike in 2005 lasted two weeks.
6. 2006 In April 2006 ASUU declared a 3-day warning strike. It eventually lasted for one week.
7. 2007 The 2006 industrial action was followed by another on March 26, 2007. The strike lasted for three months.
8. 2008 ASUU went on strike for one week in 2008. The demands included an improved salary scheme and reinstatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed at the University of Ilorin.
9. 2009 ASUU declared strike that lasted for four months. The strike which started in June was called off in October. Before the strike was called off, the Federal Government and the union had an agreement. The 2009 ASUU/FG agreement would later become the reason for subsequent industrial action.
10. 2010 ASUU embarked on another indefinite strike that lasted for over five months. The strike started on 22 July 2010 and was called off in January 2011.
11. 2011 ASUU paralysed academic activities nationwide in December 2011. The strike lasted for 59 days and was called off in 2012.
12. 2013 ASUU went on strike, accusing government of failing to review the retirement age for professors from 65 to 70; approve funding to revitalise the university system; increase the budgetary allocations to the education sector by 26 percent among other demands led to another industrial action. The strike was embarked upon on July 1, 2013, called off on Tuesday, December 17, 2013. It lasted for five months, 15 days.
13. 2017 ASUU declared strike on August 17, 2017, over unresolved and contentious issues with the Federal Government. The strike was called off in September.
14. 2018 ASUU declared strike claiming there were unresolved issues around their demands.The union announced the strike on Sunday, November 4, 2018, after their National Executive Council meeting held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State.
15. 2019: ASUU embarked on two weeks strike saying its members should not be held responsible for the disruption in the university system.
16. February 14, 2022: ASUU declared One-Month warning strike saying it was meant to press home its demand for the implementation of previous agreement with federal government.
17. March 2022: ASUU extended the warning strike by two months. The Union said it took the decision to extend the strike at a meeting of the National Executive Council which took place at the University of Abuja main campus the previous day, Sunday.
A Research by African Community News