Nearly a semester since the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, embarked on strike, reports that the Federal Government plans to invoke the no-work-no-pay policy by withholding salaries of the striking lecturers are being described as an ill-wind that could add fuel to fire. Nigerians who spoke to our correspondents explain why. Excerpts:
BARAKAT OYEBANJI: Education is the bedrock of any society. When it is joked with, the ripple effect is seen in years. Stopping the salaries of striking lecturers is not the issue. Nigerian undergraduates have been at home for two months as a result of ASUU strike. Instead of stopping salaries of lecturers, why not provide answers to their demands.
Nigerian universities are in shambles and these institutions need to be fixed. The strike is for a good cause. Government should fix what the problem is and stop beating around the bush.
IFEANYI NNAJI: In my view, stopping the salaries of striking lecturers would only worsen the situation. A serious government would have sorted what the issues are. And why the strike in the first place?
Any government that does not take education of its next generation seriously, is only breeding half-baked leaders. Government should look into the problems outlined by ASUU and fix these issues once and for all.
Nigerian students are the ones bearing the brunt of this whole strike issue and this is becoming frustrating. This government should stop toying with the future of young Nigerians and resolve whatever the issues are.
MARTIN PAUL: stopping lecturers’ salaries is not how to go about such a serious national issue. Education is about the future of tomorrow’s leaders. It must be approached with seriousness and all problems around it resolved. University students have been at home for the past three months and authorities have not made any serious effort to see how they can solve the problem with the striking lecturers.
For me, the government’s plans to stop their salaries would complicate the whole situation. Students expect that by now they would have returned to school. Stopping their salaries would not solve the problem. It even amazes me. On what basis is government planning to stop their salaries? I think government really needs to sit up. This threat cannot withstand the current challenges in the education sector.
Government policies on education are not reflecting the true reality of the problems in the education sector. As we speak, facilities in public universities seem to be worse when compared to their counterparts in advanced climes. What government needs to do at this critical time is to consistently find a way of getting all stakeholders involved with a view to ending this lingering crisis in our universities.
ODUNOYE OWOLABI: Well, if stopping our salaries is the language government think we can hear and go back to school, then they are getting it wrong. This issue started long ago. I only pity those who have no money to send their children to school abroad. I have been in the system for more than a decade, I know what I’m talking about.
Since this problem is not affecting their children, they would not do what is needed to completely end this perennial problem. Even if they eventually stop our salaries, we would not go hungry. Using that to threaten us would not solve the problem. Government should sympathize with the poor parents, who are struggling to pay their children schools fees by meeting the demands of the striking lecturers to call off the strike.
The strike has consumed almost one semester already. Nothing is in sight to indicate that ASUU would call off the strike anytime soon.
FRANK IKYUNGUN: I think there is “no work no pay” rule in the civil service, that should apply. It should be withheld pending when the matter is resolved. It is not necessarily the fault of the lecturers that they are at home but the point is that, if there were negotiations ongoing, they should have actually allowed the federal government to finish up with whatever they are doing.
I think there is a committee to look into their request, so they should go back to the class pending when the negotiation is over. But at this point, everyone, the striking lecturers and the federal government, should shift grounds to bring a permanent solution to the situation.
HIIFAN SHIAONDO: I’m not very sure but I think there is a “no work, no pay” rule in the civil service. In Benue here, I remember that there was a time that the former Governor, Gabriel Suswam wanted to evoke the no work no pay rule. But workers have the right, after a month, if government does not pay them, to stop working but because they have not worked, they should not also expect that government should pay them for the month that they have not worked.
But for smooth working relationship between employers and employees, it is better to let go so that peace will reign. In this issue, the right thing for the federal government to do is to settle the lecturers, to meet their demands because what they are demanding for is in the interest of the education sector. Their demands are relevant and genuine. So, I don’t think that stopping their salary is the best thing to do. Again, to the lecturers, strike is not the only option to express their grievances or to prove a point.
The federal government and the lecturers need to have a round table discussion; have a dialogue, revisit those demands and reach a compromise so that a positive result can be achieved. To the lecturers, it must not always be strike because it is at the detriment of the students. Most of them are now outside and are getting involved in all manner of vices because of the strike. Some of them want to go and acquire skills or get a short time job but they don’t even know when they are going to resume.
So, they are handicapped. For some of the ladies, when they need money, they can do anything and reason why some are standing on the road. For the young men who feel a lot of energy in them, they go committing crime. The government has not also provided a conducive environment for the youths to earn a reasonable living.
