ASUU Strike: Lecturers Beg, Borrow in Struggle for Survival

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In this report, lecturers affected by the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, which has consequently led to the federal government’s enforcing the no-work-no pay policy, speak with Sunday Ehigiator on how they have been living off begging for money from their former students and borrowing money from friends and family, with no end in view

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“Thanks so much for your response. I’m also sorry to bother/ disturb you. It’s just that it has reached its​ peak. It’s been over 5-month since​ I last received​ my salary because of the ongoing ASUU strike. The federal government decided to stop our salaries in February to frustrate, humiliate and punish us for embarking on strike. I’ve been managing to feed and sustain my family with my little savings,” the lecturer said in a message. “Unfortunately, I’ve exhausted all my savings. I’m now very helpless. Please, I need financial assistance to keep going as there is no end in sight to this ASUU strike, even though I feel ashamed doing this. I’m already overwhelmed.”

The above is a message sent by an associate professor (name undisclosed) at the Ekiti State University to one of his ex-students while seeking financial assistance.

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Background

ASUU had expressed grievances over the failure of the FG to fulfil some of the agreements it made as far back as 2009. ASUU had, on November 15, 2021, given the Federal Government a three-week ultimatum over the failure to meet the demands.

The lecturers threatened to embark on another round of industrial action following the alleged ‘government’s unfaithfulness’ in the implementation of the Memorandum of Action it signed with the union, leading to the suspension of the 2020 strike action.

After the union’s National Executive Council meeting at the University of Abuja on November 13 and 14, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, lamented that despite meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on October 14, 2021, on issues, including funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution; promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, and the inconsistencies in Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System Payment, none of its demands had been met.

Following the threats, the then Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, promised that the union would be paid.

A few weeks later, ASUU suspended the planned strike, as N22.1 billion earned allowances were paid to lecturers in federal universities, hoping to meet other demands.

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The Strike

Hopes dwindled as other demands were unmet. Hence, July 14, 2022, makes it five months, exactly 150 days, since ASUU embarked on its latest strike but not without consequence, as the FG, in a bid to frustrate the strike action, sanctioned the striking varsity lecturers with no work no pay policy.

This latest strike comes on the heels of the accusation of the government reneging on previous agreements with ASUU, including the agreement to increase funding of public universities.

Since its initial four-week strike on February 14, ASUU has continued to roll the strikes over to date, while other unions, including the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has also declared a nationwide strike, thus, paralysing both academic and non-academic activities for months.

The repercussion of these actions isn’t only telling on the students whose academic calendars have been affected by an almost impossible reconciliation but also on the striking university workers themselves who now depend on other jobs (i.e. photography, transportation, tutorials, secondary school teacher, computer operator etc.), borrowing and begging for financial assistance from their ex-students, families or friends for survival.

Although some lecturers admitted that ASUU has been helping a few lecturers who applied for financial support from ASUU with a token of N30,000 monthly, this token is not enough to meet their monthly basic or personal needs.

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Lecturers’ survival tales

John Bardi (Lecturer – UNIBEN)

I have been depending on family and friends for financial assistance. I get loans from friends and family to be repaid when we’re eventually paid the arrears, that is if they will pay. My former students who are friends have also been magnanimous in assisting with little they can afford.

ASUU as a union has also been assisting with N30,000 monthly from their welfare fund, which I know will soon run dry.

I have a health condition, but I have been forced to slow down on my diet because of lack of funds. The cost of my drugs is rising daily and I must consume them. The school clinic is on strike so I can’t access healthcare. To God be the glory, I have been well.

This whole issue has been debilitating. It’s quite unfortunate that the government treats education with levity.

Despite the suffering, I support the strike on principle. Our emoluments are too poor. No lecturer survives with his or her salary for two weeks. If the government is sincere, ASUU’s demands are achievable.

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Dr. Akpughe Oghenemudiaga (Lecturer – UNIBEN)

Surviving without a salary has not been easy. At first, some of us thought it was going to be called off soon because we believed that the federal government​ would not allow the Nigerian students in Federal public universities to suffer for so long.

After one or two months, we realized the government does not care about what happens to the educational sector of this country. Some of our hopes and trust in the government that kept paying lip services died. How do we survive? We asked ourselves.

I am a Theatre Arts lecturer; I don’t just teach my students for just educational sake, I teach them to live what they learn. Theatre Arts is a professional discipline that has myriad​ entrepreneurial possibilities. Most of us have not been practising because we give most of our time to our students. With the strike, some of us have to live what we teach.

We’ve been asking for the revitalisation of the university. People don’t know what we lecturers go through. Because of our passion for teaching, some of us had to get personal equipment like cameras, projectors, and some lighting equipment which we use as instructional materials to teach our students without collecting anything from them or the institution because we want them to meet up with other universities outside the country.

These instructional materials that I use to impart knowledge have now been converted to business. I have become a photographer, videographer, photo and video editor as well as a lighting designer.

Although the business is not always frequent, I still survive it. Some of us have cars we use for Bolt or Uber. We do a lot of legitimate things to survive. It may be meagre but we manage to feed our homes.

Our hands are already on the plough. We can’t look back. We’ve come this far. We can’t relent. All we are fighting for is better education for Nigerian students and better placement for the educational sector of our country in other international spheres. We will survive. Now we live and practice what we teach.

Dr (Mrs.) Shalom Israel (lecturer – UNIBEN)

We have been living mostly begging and borrowing. But the ones who are mostly hit are the ones on regular medication – either hypertensive or diabetic.

I had to run to Minna for the whole month of June, depending on relations. I also borrowed some money from my Reverend younger brother to survive. When you check, you find you’ve borrowed from so many people, plus a few little occasional gifts from friends and family.

But it’s not only academic staff o, I don’t think they’ve paid non-academic for the past four months or more as well. Now that Ngige has finally been taken off the negotiations let’s see what speed they can muster to resolve this, considering the two weeks ultimatum from the president.

Dr Tayo Popoola (Lecturer – UNILAG)

We have been surviving by the grace of God, but I must confess to you that no lecturer will tell you that he or she finds things easy since the ‘no work, no pay rule of the federal government was rolled out. But it is a decision we have all taken, no going back, we have to endure the challenges, so that at least, we can put smiles on the faces of our students.

As you are aware, the conditions of the universities are very terrible. I don’t understand why the government should allow things to deteriorate to this level in our tertiary institution.

We are all seriously affected by the strike. We cannot meet our personal needs. We have families, dependants, aged parents, etc., that we need to take care of. But since the money is not there, we had to appeal to them and beg for their understanding, which they also do understand.

ASUU has been helping with stipends. They rolled out a release that anybody in need of financial support should apply, and they have been helping those that applied through each of the local chapters, and I commend them for that. But as regards this strike, we remain resolute as a body. Haven got to this stage. There is no going back now till our demands are met. No retreat, no surrender. ​

On the two weeks ultimatum from the president, let me ask you a question: if the President knew he could resolve this matter within two weeks, why didn’t he do this since February?

Imagine the number of students in federal institutions that have been at home. Some of them have even travelled outside the country and will not return to this country again, yet we are preaching patriotism.

It might be a herculean task to persuade some of these students that have left this country to love their country because the country has not shown them love. And there is no other reason the federal government is handling this matter this way other than the fact that their children are not in federal or state universities but private foreign universities.

This is very sad. Whatever we do today is history, and history will have a series of volumes on how they have handled this current strike with regards to the interest of the common students.

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Dr Ambrose Uchenunu (lecturer – UNIBEN)

I have been surviving on my savings, family and friends and with it, I am assisting some indigent students who cry to me for assistance. I just transferred N5,000 to a student just this morning. These are the stories that are not told. All they hear about lecturers is extortion. Some of us use our meagre salaries to assist students in need. In the same vein, three students have offered to assist with finance due to the strike, which I turned down because of their status as undergraduates. I told them when they graduate and start earning big. I could consider their offers.

Lecturers, even only the affected people, have you considered those that run petty businesses on campus premises and how they are coping with these strikes? The situation is far terrible for them, but hopefully, we will survive and move past this once our demands are met.