The reason for the disagreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities should first be established. Government should come clean and let ASUU know the portion or the part of the agreement it earlier reached with the academics it can implement as a demonstration of good faith.
ASUU should also be made to realise the limitations of government in terms of current limitations with regards to meeting its obligations.
This is necessary so that our students do not continue to suffer consequences of the dispute between the two. Members of ASUU will be paid even when they are on strike; but students will be worse off because teaching and learning cannot go on under the circumstance.
What we can do at the moment is to appeal to both sides to take the suffering of parents and students into account with a view to arriving at a mutually beneficial compromise.
The government should also meet some of the demands of ASUU, at least the demands that are within its financial capabilities for now. Government should also seek help from cooperate organisations in areas where it requires such to meet other obligations which are not within its immediate reach.
The point is that there is a limit to what any government can do. We just have to take it in good faith and take in to cognisance our obligations to society especially our students who are at the receiving end.
Incessant strikes have had a terrible impact on tertiary education in Nigeria because nobody benefits from breakage in the learning process.
Learning has to be continuous for it to be meaningful. It does not do students any good to stay out of school due to no fault of theirs. Students should be in a position to get continuous education because that is what makes meaning and will be beneficial not only to students but also to the society.
There is always the problem of students not being able to finish the syllabus when we have industrial disputes which results in prolonged ASUU strikes.
Even when students resume and somehow are able to pull through the syllabus, most often than not, it is packaged in such a hurried manner that is difficult to say true learning actually took place.
The Federal Government and ASUU need also to realise that whatever sacrifices they are making today will, at the end of the day, be of benefit to generations yet unborn. I will once again appeal to both sides to show good faith and make concessions that will make the agreement implementable. • Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem (Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin)
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