The university sector has suffered gross underfunding and privatisation over the last two decades. The failure of the government to properly fund education and its failure to implement its agreements with the trade unions explain the repeated strikes in the sector and more widely across the public sector. What we need is more strike action, but more importantly more effective strike action so the Government is pushed into action.
The ASUU strike last year closed all the public universities for nine months, but this was not enough. This time around ASUU needs to reach out to other trade unions and the student union governments both on and off the university campuses. As a start, the four main trade unions for university workers, ASUU, NAAT, NASU and SSANU need to unite and fight the Government together.
In 2015 the Federal budget was just over N4 trillion. The National Assembly has agreed a Federal budget of just over N16 trillion for next year. So government spending in 2022 is planned to be nearly four times the level when Buhari came to power in 2015. The massive growth in the economy over the last two decades and massive increases in government spending has not benefited the poor – nor the university sector.
56 developing country governments, members of the Global Partnership for Education, agreed to spend at least of 20 per cent of their total annual budgets on education. In 2015, when Buhari came to power the figure was more than 12% for the Federal Budget. For 2022, Buhari is proposing less than 8%, after annual reductions for each year since 2015. Consequently, spending on education in Nigeria is less than half the average for sub-Saharan Africa.
All the trade unions in the university sector are agreed that N22 billion offered by the Government as earned allowances and the N30bn for “revitalisation” are not adequate. All the university unions need to be striking together rather than fighting each other!!
The concessions from the government, so far, are insulting. They include only a promise to pay some owed salaries (earned allowances) and only N30bn for “revitalisation” of the universities sector. At that rate, it would take nearly 30 years to implement the 2012 Needs Assessment Report. This was a Government report that estimated that N1,300 billion was needed to revitalise the country’s universities. Only N200 billion was ever paid, in 2013, and this Government has not made any contribution to this program.
This is normal practice for both Federal and state governments. They are ready to sign agreements to ensure trade unions suspend their strikes, but then rarely, if ever, implement any of their promises. The question is what can trade unions do to ensure that governments actually act on their promises?
One recent strike may show at least part of the way forward. The three day strike in Kaduna in May 2021, led by the national NLC, achieved results because it was an active strike uniting much of the trade union movement. There were pickets and daily mass protests through the streets of Kaduna. Regular press releases and press conferences helped to ensure that the strike was covered. Each day it was head-line news in all the major media organisations.
As a result, Governor el Rufai was terrified. This was despite the disappointing suspension of the strike after only three days, immediately the Federal Government called for negotiations.
Since the strike there have been no further redundancies. In addition, thousands of workers are now receiving their entitlements for previous redundancies – this includes teachers of NUT made redundant in 2017. Thousands of the sacked staff have similarly been recalled. Lecturers and ASUU members in Kaduna State University who were initially sacked as a result of joining in the Strike have been recalled.
The lessons from this and other recent strike should be clear. It is not sufficient for workers just to stay at home during their strikes. Trade unions need to issue regular press releases and bulletins for their members. They also need to be organising pickets, protests and town hall meetings to galvanise public support for their strikes. They need to be actively seeking solidarity and support from other trade unions and the general public.
The ASUU strike last year did close all the public universities, but this proved not to be enough. This time around ASUU needs to reach out to other trade unions and the student union governments both on and off the university campuses.
ASUU needs to reach out to the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) to try and achieve a joint strike. These two trade unions staged a 3-day nationwide strike over earned allowances and arrears for the consequential adjustment of the minimum wage from 10 – 12th November 2021. ASUU needs to include such demands for all staff in the tertiary sector as part of their planned strike action.
In the run up to the planned national strike local branches of ASUU should be encouraged to hold joint meetings with the other trade unions and the student union governments on each campus. These should be held at least every month during the strike (as ASUU Nationally encouraged last year). Joint press conferences and press releases should also be organised.
Workers at nearly 70 research institutes, members of the Joint Research and Allied Institutions Sector Unions (JORAISU), started an indefinite strike from Wednesday 13th October over the Government’s failure to implement its agreement of December 2010. Workers from research institutes in Ibadan held a rally on 28th October to publicise the strike. Staff of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) held another rally on 8th November in Ibadan.
ASUU should declare its support for the strike in the research institutes and encourage its branches in each university to partner with a local research institute. Where possible joint meetings, press conferences and protests should be organised.
In the run up to the planned strike ASUU nationally should be lobbying for support from the NLC nationally. Full implementation with arrears of the minimum wage is an issue of interest to both ASUU and the NLC. This has been an issue in recent strikes led by NLC, for example the four week strike in Cross River State. In addition, proper funding of universities is a national interest which the NLC needs to cover properly. As a minimum, ASUU should expect support and solidarity from NLC in advance of the strike and regular press releases from NLC in support of the strike as it progresses.
ASUU branches should be organising briefing meetings with their local state officials of the NLC to try to facilitate joint action, protests, press releases and public meetings during the strike.
ASUU should also be arguing for NLC to activate demands for a further increase in the minimum wage as it is now 10 years since the increase in 2021. At least when inflation is so high trade unionists cannot afford to only have increases in the minimum wage once in five years or more. Legally electricity prices can be increased twice a year – how can we pay for these increases when the minimum wage is only increased every five to ten years?
It is essential for both ASUU and the wider trade union movement that the next ASUU strike is totally successful. ASUU nationally and on each campus needs to ensure that the strike is actively supported by all its members and the wider trade union movement. It is only when there are regular protests on all campuses supported by the wider trade union movement and the wider public as parents of students that the Government will be frightened. Without this fear their nonchalant attitude to their agreements with trade unions will not change.
To achieve this, trade unions in Nigeria need to overcome their general insularity by actively and creatively building solidarity. This should include support during struggles, but also through joint education programs, solidarity visits, joint statements on national and international issues that pertain to working class interests and working class organizing.
The above issues need to be discussed by each ASUU branch and the necessary plans put in place. The workers united can never be defeated, but we need to show clearly that this is the case – all ASUU members must actively support the strike and do everything they can to seek support from the wider trade union movement and the general public. We need to convert Buhari’s promise to greatly increase spending on education into a reality.
