ASUU Strikes Since Inception: Plotting a Calendar of Strike Actions

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Why We L👀ked Into This »🎨 Universities in Nigeria have experienced strikes by lecturers for a long time. However, there has not been a comprehensive chart of the strikes – start date, end date, duration, reason for the strike among others. Some media reports have also not been factual – for instance, ASUU may announce the end of the strike on Tuesday but in their communique, they have stated the end on Wednesday 0000hrs. Thus, the end date is the date it appeared on the newspaper.  This time, we conduct our research, going into archives and official information, and charted the timeline of these industrial actions since its first time.

 

Background to the Research & Analysis

‘ASUU Strike’ was the top trending search entry on Google in 2019. Whether it is called off this December or not, the 2020 ASUU strike is the longest ASUU strike in Nigeria’s history. The National Association of University Teachers (N.A.U.T.) was established in January 1965 when there were 5 Federal Universities in Nigeria.

The first ASUU strike before the union metamorphized into its current formation was on 16th of April, 1973 to call for improved conditions of service following 4 years of negotiation with University authorities that yielded no results.

 

A Calendar of Interruptions

• Some ASUU strikes have canceled either the admission or academic calendars of those years.
• The ASUU strikes that have crossed over from one year to the other are the 1994/5 strike, 2002/3 strike, 2010/11 strike, 2018/19 strike and if not called off by December 31, 2020, the 2020 strike will also become 2020/21 strike.
• It was a tendency for the military governments to proscribe the unions; for instance, in July 1988 when ASUU went on strike, the NTA Network news was interrupted to announce the proscription of the union following a decree signed by then military leader, Ibrahim Babangida |when ASUU DID not comply with a 48-hour ultimatum to go back to work.
• On 23 August 1996, General Sani Abacha proscribed the 3 major university unions at the time including ASUU.

 

Days Lost to ASUU Strikes

• By December 31, 2020,if the 2020 strike is not called off, there it will be a total of 2,041 days of ASUU strike in Nigeria. That is, 5 years, 7 months and 3 days.
• The 2020 strike will be 298 days by December 31 2020.

 

 

 

Longest ASUU Strikes Recorded