Govt Should Address System Rot, Not Ban Benin, Togo Varsities’ Certificates – SSANU Vice President

National Vice President, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Dr Abdussobur Olayiwola, shares his thoughts with DANIEL AYANTOYE on the association’s plan to embark on strike over four months withheld salaries, among other issues

Y our association has threatened to embark on strike if the withheld salaries of members are not paid.

What reasons has the government given for not paying?

Our contemplation of going on strike is not driven by a hunger for strikes per se, but rather by the grievances of our people and the sense of disillusionment due to how the government has handled the issue of our unpaid salaries, as well as the pending issues that initially led to the strike. Many assume we are threatening strike solely because of the arrears of four months’ salaries owed.

However, this is not the only issue at hand. We had an agreement with the government which has not been implemented or respected, which explains why we contemplated going on strike. We have issues concerning the non-payment of our earned allowances, the non-implementation of our 2009 agreement (which has only been partially implemented), and the lack of renegotiation of that agreement.

According to the 2009 agreement, negotiations were to occur every three years, but this has not happened since 2009. Over the past 15 years, there should have been at least five renegotiations, but none has taken place. Additionally, we have faced challenges with the IPPIS, which remains a pending issue despite the President’s (Bola Tinubu) directive to remove universities from the IPPIS. We also have issues with the funding of federal and state universities, which contributes to the Nigerian university system’s lack of global ranking.

No university in Nigeria is ranked among the top 1,000 globally. These are the reasons why we went on strike in 2022. As of today, none of the issues that led to the strike have been addressed. At the same time, we have been denied our salaries despite following all due processes outlined in the Industrial Act regarding going on strike. We have examined the old issues and are exploring all avenues to resolve them without going on strike. However, the government has not provided tangible reasons or explanations for why these matters remain unaddressed.

Occasionally, we hear vague statements from government officials, such as the Minister of Education, suggesting that the issues are being addressed, but these statements are ambiguous and lack substance. Even when invited to meetings, we only hear general statements and platitudes, with no concrete commitment to address any specific issue or provide actionable plans. Now, there has been no progress or movement on the part of the government, which remains our major challenge.

In your view as an association, what do you think is the problem?

Well, there are a myriad of problems. First and foremost, the fact that the government itself appears not to understand the issues that lead to industrial actions, and when I’m talking now, I’m not referring only to SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union. Even generally, when it comes to industrial or labour-related issues, I see that the government, in many cases, does not understand the issues.

When they do not understand the issues and you have to either threaten a strike or take other actions, you also realise that there is this lethargy, this apathy about those issues, perhaps because they do not understand.

For example, you give notice of a strike and inform the government that you are not pleased with a specific action or decision.

There are issues affecting your members that the government is dragging its feet on, and you expect some level of response. Responses do not come. You give notice of a strike, maybe 21 days’ notice, and nobody responds. Until the eve of that strike, about maybe 12 hours before, they start scrambling, inviting you for meetings. When they invite you for meetings, they make commitments.

They make promises, and you write or sign memoranda of understanding, memoranda of agreement, or whatever terminology you choose.

At the end of the day, you have to suspend your strike because in the Trade Union Act, and Trade Disputes Act, when a strike has been intercepted, when the other party invites you for dialogue after you have given notice of a strike, it means that the strike has been apprehended.

So, in this case, when they invite you for dialogue and you agree to some terms and conditions concerning the issues leading to the strike, you will find that at the end of the day, those agreements are never respected. Those terms, whether an MOU or an MOA, or whatever nomenclature you choose to call it, are never respected.

At the end of the day, you find that the government has negotiated with you in bad faith. They have not negotiated with you in good faith. So, it is a myriad of problems.

What is seen most times is that whenever the university unions embark on a strike, it is the student who suffers.

As the saying goes, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. How can these issues be addressed, and is there no alternative to strike?

Let me first correct an impression because I hear this all the time, and I keep asking myself who these elephants are. To the best of my knowledge, only the government is the elephant in this matter.

Members of SSANU are salary earners. They depend on whatever stipend is given to them by the government.

Meanwhile, the same SSANU members cannot afford to send their children to school due to financial constraints. Look at the rate of inflation today. Look at our economic status. Years ago, members of SSANU and NASU used to be considered middle class but today, the middle class has been obliterated to a point where SSANU and NASU members are among the outright poor.

So, when you talk about elephants, I do not consider

SSANU and NASU workers are the downtrodden masses of Nigeria. So, I think we need to correct that impression. Don’t forget that the members of the political class and individuals who populate our government do not send their children to Nigerian universities. They are the ones whose children are in the UK, the US, France, or wherever. But the average Nigerian worker, except for those with illicit sources of income, cannot afford to send their children abroad. They have to send their children to Nigerian universities.

At the end of the day, we are the victims. As we speak, I have two children in Nigerian universities. If I go on strike due to my inability to pay their school fees, do you call me an elephant? Definitely not! I am a victim because my children are the ultimate victims. When we talk about the worker being an elephant, I do not see trade unions as elephants because they are victims. Now, I have had four months of my salary unpaid, and you call me an elephant. How am I an elephant? I am a victim.

We are victims of the ineptitude of the government, we are victims of corruption, and failed state. The Nigerian worker is the biggest victim. Talking about what can be done, let me say that SSANU and NASU, as case studies, are not strike-happy. We are not unions that want to go on strike. When our members go on strike, they are at home doing nothing.

This means that at the end of the day, they lose social relationships that they find at the workplace. When our members go on strike, they are denied salaries. They lose financial capital, which can be used to cater for themselves. When our workers go on strike, they are humiliated by the government and the organs of the state, such that at the end of the day, their sense of dignity and pride is trampled upon.

What is the solution to end incessant strike actions?

Firstly, the government must be committed to industrial issues in the university system. Secondly, the dichotomy of divide and rule, pitting one union against another, should be jettisoned because that has always been the bane of the university system.

In the end, you find the trade unions in the university engaging in what we call rolling chairs. One union goes on strike, the issues are temporarily resolved, and it resumes, while another union takes over the baton.

Thus, you see a continuous relay race. It is deliberate by the government to continue to pit unions against each other in this divide-and-rule approach. For me, I believe the government must show more sincerity, good faith, honesty, pragmatism, and creativity.

I can tell you without batting an eyelid that successively, we’ve had governments, especially those who have led the education sector, that are lacking in initiative and creativity to resolve industrial issues. That is why you will continue to see industrial issues in the university system.