ASUU Wants To Start Moving Mad.

I woke up to the news that today has been declared a lecture free day by the Academic Staff Union of Universities the labour union representing lecturers in all the federal universities in the country. They did so because they were planning to go on a one day strike in order to catch the attention of the federal government. They have some grievances with the government and claim that the government is owing them millions of naira in salary, bonus and allowance. They claim that the government have failed to live up to their word and have no other choice than to engage on a strike.

This strike has been a long time coming as they've been saying that their demands haven't been met since their last industrial action. They wanted to go on a strike sometime last year but the government acted swiftly under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour to nip the protest in the bud and ensure that it never happened. This was done by releasing a huge sum of money to the Union and promising to meet their other demands.

But that was just to last for a while as few weeks later the body said that they were preparing for a fresh round of protest. They listed their old demands and a few of their new demands that should be met before they can even consider cancelling the strike. ASUU announced that they will go on a one day warning strike before they go on a full strike which will happen if their demands are not met.

Some of their demands are reasonable while a few others are not especially in this economy. They are asking too much from a federal government that is not functioning at all. I wonder where they expect them to find this money unless they go to China as usual, Nigeria's sugar daddy. Realistically, the demands cannot be met and the government can only pay them part of the money and it will probably be in installments.

If their demands are not met this time I think they will go on a long time strike. Probably the longest in a while. I pray to God that they meet their demands because I cannot stay at home. This is why I said ASUU must be moving mad.

What have they done exactly that has benefited the system? Aren't they only out to enrich their pockets because most of the time their protest is always based on unpaid salaries or increasing their bonuses and allowance. I think that they are personally out for their own selfish interest and do not give a damn about the state of tertiary education in the country. All the time money.

They can't even talk or demand for the rehabilitation of federal universities which are in a terrible state. Most of this universities are full of old and dilapidated structures. Structures that are over 50 years in age and that are on the edge of collapse. The hostels are nothing to write home about. They are such in a terrible condition that even rats decided not to leave their yet they allow students to stay in there. The halls of residence aren't even large enough to accommodate all the students and as such students don't have places to sleep. Even the process of accommodation is a chance for this lecturers to engage in bribery and corruption.

The curriculum of the university is very outdated and the research materials aren't even enough. The materials needed for students to learn and also for academic staffs to conduct research aren't enough or even there. Thus limiting the amount of work they can do and producing half-baked students who contribute little or nothing to the society.

I think ASUU has lost their respect a long time ago. This isn't the union of the 70's, 80's and 90's that fought for the betterment of our university education. All they are after now is what they can get from the government and how long they can keep working so that they can keep earning their salary even in their death bed. It is a wonder why they keep demanding for the extension of the retirement age.

ASUU cannot keep holding the lives of students at ransome. Students all over the country need to do something about this endless and meaningless strikes. We cannot keep wasting our lives and time in the University when we are supposed to be progressing in life. We remain stagnant because of this.

ASUU should let their head be correct and stop moving mad if they know what is good for them. I have other things to do with my life and I want my education done with as soon as possible.