A former Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, says improved welfare of academic staff and prioritising education are veritable ways of preventing strikes by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Olayinka stated this in Ibadan on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He noted that the ongoing ASUU strike was the 20th nationwide industrial action that the union would be embarking on in the last 30 years.
The former vice chancellor also stated that about five calendar years had been lost by the system due to incessant strikes by university lecturers.
He recalled that the strike gained national attention in the 1990s when ASUU came up with some witty and ingenious car stickers in protest against poor wages in the university system.
The don mentioned some of the stickers to include: ‘My boss is a comedian; the wage he pays is a joke’ and ‘My take-home pay cannot take me home.’
Olayinka said that the effect of the strike was that, at least, one million university students were stranded, “no thanks to the closure of all the 49 federal and most of the 57 state-owned universities.”
According to him, improving welfare is paramount to forestalling incessant strikes.
Olayinka called for an improved economy through synergy among the government, industry and the academia, as a way of promoting sustainable economic development in the university system.
He also urged the government to look into home-grown payment gateway.
“On the basis of cost-benefit analysis, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) should be rested by government.
“The egg heads in the academia should be challenged to develop a home-grown solution, similar to the much-vilified University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS),” he said.
NAN reports that ASUU had commenced a four-week rollover strike on Feb. 14 after which it was extended for another eight weeks.
The former vice chancellor noted that the ongoing strike, which is in its 12th week, implied that an entire academic semester was likely to be lost.
“It is not so much about the highly disruptive, hurtful and painful strike, but the fact that if appropriate steps are not taken, it may, unfortunately, not be the last protracted strike, judging from precedent,” he said.
Olayinka noted that the situation had been the same with successive administrations in the country, adding that workers’ welfare had further nosedived with the current economic downturn in the country.
