by ‘Ifreke Inyang

Since 7 December, 2012, students of public tertiary institutions in the country have been at home because of the ASUU strike. According to Professor Ruquyyatu Rufai, the Minister of Education, N106 billion was required to meet the demands of ASUU.

According to ASUU’s website, “In 2001, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) entered into an agreement with ASUU that is aimed at resuscitating the University System in Nigeria and saving the system from total collapse.

In that Agreement, it is provided that there shall be a renegotiation of the Agreement every three years in order to assess the impact of the intervention on the sector, review the implementation strategy, and to update the document to make it even more relevant towards achieving the original goal of revitalization of the University System. By this provision, the 2001 Agreement was due for review by 2004. However the renegotiation did not start until 2007 and was dragged up to 2009 before an Agreement was reached, five years late, due to government’s dilly-dallying and reticence.

 It took over 50 letters, series of warning strikes, a total and indefinite strike, over 200 meetings, and five years to achieve this (something we believe could have been accomplished in a couple of weeks). Again, over two years after the signing of the 2009 Agreement, the government is yet to work out the modalities and commence a sincere process of its implementation.”

Students in tertiary institutions in Lagos State have urged Federal Government to respect the agreement made with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2009 in order to put an end to the ongoing strike, insisting that incessant strike has caused more decay in the education sector.

On Rubbin’ Minds this Sunday, we will be taking a critical look at this issue. We are going to have an in-depth review of all the ASUU strikes that have held since Babangida’s regime, looking their demands and how the negotiations went.

Tune in this Sunday by 3pm on Channels TV or watch online via: www.ynaija.com/rubbin-minds. You can also join the discussion with the hashtag #RubbinMinds.

A repeat broadcast will be shown on Channels TV by 4am on Monday.