Shouts of jubilation rang through not only the streets of Jos but in different quarters of the nation. The 94 days old strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Jos chapter, has been suspended!
Over the last three years, students of the University of JOS have had to witness series of interruptions in the normal academic calender, which in many cases is masterminded by either students (through the protest, as it would be recalled, in November 2014) or staff (as the case was in July to December of 2013 and the more recent internal strike embarked by ASUU).
Not less than three weeks after the auspicious UNIJOS@40 ceremony which witnessed an array of men and women of substance, lots of clandestine meetings took place within the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Unijos branch, indicating that something was heating up. It first started as a popular rumour among the students, which was later confirmed on the afternoon of 22nd October 2015, in a statement signed by the secretary of the Union, Mr. L.L Maigoro. Consequently, all formal activities including teaching, supervision, halted.
After waiting for what seemed like infinity, students decided to move on with their lives, some others searched for greener pastures. At a point, they became full time workers. Some got engaged. Some married. Some got pregnant. Some died.
According to Henry Chinonso Emekamihe, a 400level student from the department of Economics, he said “the strike was good to me in the financial aspect because I had to work and save money for school”.
Ugwu, Onyekachi John, a final year student from the Faculty of Natural Sciences spoke about the role stakeholders have to play in order to prevent re-occurrence of the strike. In his words, “they should see Nigeria Higher Education system becomes the best in the world. They need to do all that is humanly possible to reposition our universities to attain global recognition and excellence”.
In a further chat with Meshack Gompwel Chirce, a 200 level student in the Faculty of Management Sciences who spoke about his excitement following the school resumption said, “I feel excited that the school has finally resumed because time is going and I have a great dream to accomplish in life, I also hope that there won’t be further strike as I look forward to finishing my program in a good and expected time”.
“I feel happy and excited coming back to school again after staying at home for three months hoping that the strike be called off, but thank God all the same for everything. I pray that this is the last strike that I will witness in school”, said A 100 level student of English, Joseph Ayo Mary.
Surprisingly, students rather than celebrating, remained unabashed about the whole saga. They waited comfortably for lecturers to “call them back”. But as the saying goes, it is he who plays the piper that dictates the tune, some lecturers, in their cleverness, conducted impromptu tests on the first day of resumption, which saw some students flying off their beds the next day to school.
With barely one month before the commencement of the second semester examination, the students have no breathing space. They’re forced to study like jackass till the exams are over.
Another 400level student of Economics, Comrade Dan Abu Michael, lamented over the fact that time lost can never be gained no matter how fast the management decides to rush the students.
“But on the other hand, the strike provided me an opportunity to reposition my life’s goals and objectives”.
As it was explained, the protesting lecturers embarked on the action to drive their points home, making various demands among which were the disbursement of their earned academic allowances as well as the payment of postgraduate supervision allowance. The strike was a drastic draw back for students and the university community at large. It is not the first of its kind as each time the reason for the strike is not far from unpaid allowances .This time the case was no different.
MINISTERIAL INTERVENTION
Amidst these activities, closed doors meetings were held between the school management, the Union and all other concerned individuals, including the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalong. Eventually, the three month strike was called of on 25th January 2016.
It was gathered that the strike was called of with the intervention from the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Mr. Solomon Dalung The minister’s intervention came on the heels of the inability of the University authorities and the lecturers to resolve the issues. According to the UNIJOS-ASUU Chairman, Dr. Chris Piwuna, the minister’s intervention has resulted in the drawing of a memorandum of understanding between the lecturers and the University authorities.
UNIJOS STRIKE AFFECTED EVERYBODY
Mallam Salisu, only shoe maker in the University of Jos like every other staff and students expressed his joy to be called back to business after three months.
In an interview with Salisu, he said that the strike affected everybody, not only the students as nobody during the strike patronized him which affected his business. He further disclosed that during the three months strike, he had to deploy another means of survival by buying second hand clothes at katako market and selling them at Jingiri, Tilde and Magama which results in low profit.
He compared the income he gets from repairing shoe far better than selling clothes as he sits under his small umbrella and does his business rather than shouting in the market for people to patronize him for little gain. He gratefully thanked the school management and ASUU for a job well done and pleaded with them to eradicate every form of strike for the welfare of the University.
Now, it could be deduced that there were many sides to the strike. First, it was enough time the school management needed to lobby and discuss with relevant bodies and offices to put a final stop and also avoid reoccurring strike in the institution. It also had negative impact on students, lecturers, food vendors, taxi/cab drivers and the university community in general. It is quite clear that going through the months of February and March is like walking on burning coals on bare foot for the students as second semester examinations is scheduled to commence on the 14th of March.
At the time of filing this report, academic activities have resumed in the institution and have since picked up in full swing. The students are equally making adjustments to adapt to the inevitable changes.
By EMMANUEL EJIKE, REGINA ADUDU, BLESSING JAMES, LOVELEEN OKEREKE, MERCY NWUKO and GIFT HABIB
