If a ceasefire agreement could be achieved in Gaza between Israel and their neighbours in a war dating back to Biblical times, there is no reason why the same cannot be achieved between ASUU and the Federal government of Nigeria. Even if ASUU strikeis a spiritual problem, a spiritual solution can as well be deployed to tackle it; more so in this end times when a large percentage of the country’s population are engaged in the business of casting out demons! Even herbalists, native doctors, and oracles could be consulted to break the jinx using potent leaves, roots and cowries!
This is just one out of many ludicrous reactions and narratives that have been thrown up by the catalogue of disagreements between ASUU and the Federal Government that has now become an endless annual ritual of sorts from as far back as the locust years of military dictatorship till date.
Nigerian tertiary institutions hitherto reputed for intellectual excellence, and the entire educational system is now almost reduced to a barren land deluged with woe, leaving students in limbo and parents thoroughly pained and disheartened year in, year out.
A close look at the ASUU strike chart paints the saddest of inglorious pictures of an educational system quite unbecoming of a nation as big as Nigeria:
ASUU Strike Chart
1999 – 5 months
2001 – 3 months
2002 – 2 weeks
2003 – 6 months
2005 – 2 weeks
2006 – 3 days
2007 – 3 months
2008 – 1 week
2009 – 4 months
2010 – 5 months
2011 – 59 days
2013 – 5 months
2017 – 1 month
2018 – 3 months
2020 – 9 months
2022 – 8 months
2025 – still ongoing with no end in sight.
Cynthia Arewa, a 300-level student of Mass Communication Department, University of Maiduguri, captured the ugly situation most succinctly in a Punch newspaper article: “At the heart of the ASUU-government standoff lies the issue of inadequate funding for universities. Many Nigerian public universities operate with outdated infrastructure, insufficient classrooms, and inadequate learning materials. Lecturers, tasked with educating the nation’s youth, often complain of poor remuneration and working conditions, making it difficult to attract and retain talented educators. Despite numerous agreements between ASUU and successive governments, implementation has been inconsistent, fuelling mistrust.”
The timing of the present strike is potentially volatile in itself. Currently, the global community is faced with several incidents of youth restiveness and Gen Z-inspired protests in many countries across the world. So, many are of the view that this is not the time to provoke young undergraduates to anger by sending them home to idle away. Such a situation could trigger a mass protest capable of derailing not only the Nigerian state apparatchik but even the entire society.
The recent Bloquons tout protest in France caused by austerity proposals literally destabilized the government. Mongolia protest of June 2025 caused by unpopular policies of Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene led to the expulsion of the ruling democratic party from government. Kenyan Finance Bill protests which lasted from June to August 2025 led to the revocation of the bill with President Ruto’s ruling government hanging on a thread. The infamous July massacre in Bangladesh left the country in tatters. The Sri Lanka Aragalaya protest of 2022 caused by economic decline, nepotism, neglect of the youth population resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabaya Rajapaska, together with the entire cabinet. Madagascar is at present in the middle of violent youth protests caused by anti-people policies. Fired up by internet and youth activism, the country is now in hot soup. It is reported that the President has been forced to flee the country as a result of the protests. These are just a few examples of the dire consequences of toying with the future of young people, especially undergraduates who are in a hurry to leave school and move on with their lives. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish playwright and political activist, “A man who has no office to go to – I don’t care who he is – is a trial of which you can have no conception.”
Virtually every avenue to resolve the impasse from 1999 till date has failed to produce the desired result. Dialogue and negotiations have failed. ASUU ultimatums have failed. Warning strikes and strikes have failed. Sit-at-homes have failed. Student protests have failed. Government’s ‘no-work-no-pay’ policy has failed. Education funds have failed. Aids and grants from home and abroad have failed. Only God knows whether prayers have also failed. Perhaps the time has come for ASUU and the Federal Government to explore other avenues of bargaining instead of this back and forth, ineffectual annual “festival” of strikes, which has become embarrassing and thoroughly boring.
*Anthony-Spinks is of the Delta State Public Procurement Commission. He writes from Asaba.
