The Issue of Strike in Nigeria Universities | List of Uni. That Went on Strke

Strike is a major phenomenon in Nigeria schools today as it has become a major hit which workers use to get their demand met from their employers.

Strike is a the act of refusal to continue working because of an argument or disagreement with an employer about working conditions, pay levels, or job losses. In other words Strike action, also called labor strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances.


Nigerian universities have continued to focus only on their traditional role of training graduates for civil service jobs. With just one source of revenue from the government, they have remained under funded, and weak in research and the application of practical knowledge hence, they are unable to respond to demands for increased wages and conditions of service by Unions. This situation arose because most Nigerian public universities, by their statutes, are not mandated to sufficiently transform into the new role arising from rapid explosion in innovative knowledge both within and outside the universities. The mandates of most Nigerian universities must inevitably change, to support and entrench firmly, entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization in their mission statements, if they are to attain the status of modern universities, generate wealth and meet the expectations of both staff and students and contribute substantially to national development.

One of the problems facing Nigerian universities is therefore, their over dependence on government revenues for their survival, without ability to put much effort to generate their own revenue through valuable knowledge they can create.

Another example is my experience with the academic staff when I was the Vice-Chancellor at Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola whereupon in 2000; we set out to produce bottled and sachet water on the campus for sale. We were the second university to venture into table water production after University of Lagos. A young academic staff member and a staunch advocate for ASUU, stood up during the University Congregation meeting and protested vehemently that a university should never ever engage in such ventures. I immediately sensed that, it was the voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau and where the opposition was coming from. This did not deter us but we went ahead with the project. I was glad to learn during the Convocation Ceremony of the University I attended last year, that the University Table Water, 16 years after it was established had been expanded by my successors, becoming a major source of revenue for the University.

On why ASUU is always on strike, I want to draw attention to the Report of Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Public Universities presented to Council Chamber, State House Abuja in November 2012

Carry out a detailed appraisal of existing physical facilities for teaching and learning in the universities, particularly their capacity and functionality;

• Give a detailed inventory of learning resources, regarding their relevance and serviceability;
• Compile the number of teaching staff by academic qualification and programme, indicating whether they are engaged on full-time, part-time or adjunct basis;
• Compile a list of non-teaching staff and their disposition in each University;
• Compile a list of full-time students in each programme (undergraduate as well as postgraduate) across all levels; Identify the number of institutions, students and programmes involved in part-time and approved affiliations;
• Identify the number of institutions, students and programmes involved in part-time and approved affiliations,
• Identify the number of on-campus hostels in each university and categorize them by ownership and capacity vis-à-vis the students’ population;
• Give the status of municipal facilities in each university and the requirements for their provision, upgrade and maintenance;
• Examine any other matter which in the opinion of the Committee is relevant to the revitalization of our universities

I will to highlight 21 items extracted from the Report which I believe summarize the findings of the Committee and these are still relevant, till today. These are:

Poor Academic Facilities in Nigeria Institutions

1. Less than 10% of the universities have Video Conferencing facility.
2. Less than 20% of the universities use Interactive Boards
3. More than 50% don’t use Public Address System in their lecture overcrowded rooms/theatres.
4. Internet Services are non-existent, or epileptic and slow in 99% of Nigerian Universities
5. Most Nigerian Universities are grossly under-staffed
6. Most Nigerian Universities rely heavily on part-time and visiting lecturers.
7. Most Nigerian Universities have under-qualified Academics
8. Most Nigerian Universities are bottom-heavy (with junior lecturers forming large chunk of the workforce)
9. Only 2% of Nigerian Universities attract expatriate lecturers, over 80% of Ghanaian Universities attract same
10. Most Nigerian Universities have ‘closed’ (homogeneous staff - in terms of ethno-cultural background)
11. Over 80% of published journals by Nigerian University lectures have no visibility in the international knowledge community.
12. There are only 2 registered patents owned by Nigerian Academics in the last 3 years.
13. No Nigerian academic is in the league of Nobel Laureates or a nominee of Nobel Prize.
14. Numerically more support staff in the services of Nigerian universities than the teaching staff they are meant to support
15. Almost all the universities are over-staffed with non- teaching staff
16. There is no relationship between enrollment and the tangible manpower needs of Nigeria.
17. University administrators spend millions to erect super-gates when their Libraries are still at foundation level; Expend millions to purchase exotic vehicles for university officers even though they lack basic classroom furnishings; Spend hundreds of millions in wall-fencing and in-fencing when students’ accommodation is inadequate and in tatters;
18. Horrible hostel facilities, overcrowded, overstretched lavatory and laundry facilities, poor sanitation, etc.
19. Over 1000 students being packed in lecture halls meant for less than 150 students
20. Over 400 Nigerian University students being packed in laboratory meant for 75 students
21. Govt spending hundreds of millions in mundane administration cost instead of providing boreholes and power supplements.

Low ranking of Nigerian universities
It is important to know how Nigerian universities fare in world rankings.

• Recent ranking of universities worldwide by several bodies showed that, up to now, none of the 152 Nigerian universities was on the list of the 3,000 top ranked universities in the world.
• Universities ranked in Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa, was consistently ranked No.1 by all ranking bodies (THES, QS World University Ranking, Ranking International Colleges and Universities) and was ranked No. 324 in the world. Of the top 100 universities in Africa, 18 of the 19 universities in South Africa (or 95%) were on the list. Also, South African universities occupied the first 1-9 positions in the ranking.
• University of Ibadan, the highest ranked Nigerian university featuring on the list of African Universities, ranked No 32 (also ranked 3,445 in the world). On the list, only 6 out of the 152 accredited Nigerian universities (4%) had featured.
• Indeed, Nigerian universities are facing lots of problems, largely due to the overall deterioration of teaching and research facilities, overcrowded and dilapidation infrastructure, inadequate funding of teaching and research activities which have all, led to frequent strikes by various university staff unions. However, another significant factor resulting in low ranking of Nigerian universities in the world, which, many would not admit, is the practice of inbreeding by most university authorities in the recruitment of both academic staff and admission of students. Resulting from this, most Nigerian universities have lost their claim to universality. This is one of the major causes of low scholarly output and lack of awareness of Nigerian universities by their peers in the university world of academics who participate in assessing universities.

Negative Impact of Strikes in Nigeria Institutions

• In recent studies of impact of strikes on academic staff and students and on quality of university education in Nigeria, various researchers (Ibrahim, 2015; Kazeem and Ige, 2010; Olusegun,2014) have established the following negative impacts:
• Findings showed that strikes had negative impact on the implementation of curricula designed by the universities;
• There is generally a lowering of quality of Nigerian University graduates whereupon; course contents are condensed within short period and students are rushed through examinations immediately after strike actions.
• Strike actions affected the learning habits of students. During strikes, students become emotionally and psychologically unstable especially when they perceive that they will stay longer than expected. All these tend to affect their learning habit, lose their preparedness and readiness to learn and eventually, fail to attain their educational pursuits.

The whole calendar year of 1994 was lost to ASUU strike. Over this period, a total of four years and two and half months were lost to industrial action.

9 Nigeria universities that went on strike this year

1. Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU)
OAU is one of the most notorious institutions in Nigeria when it comes to strike actions, and they didn’t disappoint this year as the institution was engulfed in an administrative crisis that halted academic activities for two months.

Trouble started when workers protested the process involved in appointing a new Vice Chancellor and the institution was eventually shut down when the members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) halted activities.

After the Federal government’s intervention in appointing Professor Anthony Elujoba as the Acting Vice Chancellor, calm was restored and students were asked to resume in August.

2. University of Lagos (UNILAG)
The most common reason for shut down of institutions in Nigeria has to be strike actions instituted by members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), but sometimes it could also be as a direct result of students' actions.

Or, more appropriately, the authorities’ disdain for students' actions that they don’t agree with (which is pretty much any).

In April, close to the semester’s examination period, the UNILAG management shut down the school indefinitely after students had protested over their abysmal living conditions, with erratic power and poor water supply in the institution’s halls of residence.

The strike lasted for a month as students were recalled in May to write their exam after they must have signed an undertaking and indemnity form.

3. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH)
The issue of LAUTECH is a very interesting one.

The students of this institution have not only been failed by one government, they have been held hostage by two – the Oyo state and Osun state governments.

Both state governments are jointly responsible for the financing of the institution, and this is a responsibility they have failed at after staff of the university (ASUU, NASU and SSANU) refused to work due to the failure of the authorities to pay their salaries.

This was over six months ago now, and LAUTECH students still don’t know when they’re supposed to go back into the classrooms and get on with their lives.

4. Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB)
Reportedly fed up with the constant cases of robbery attacks that were being carried out on students of the institution, students of FUNAAB organized a protest in August, and it didn’t quite end well as a student and two policemen were wounded during the protests, with seven vehicles burnt.

The institution was shut down by the authorities as students were asked to vacate the school premises.

Students were recalled to resume academic activities in October on the condition that each of them paid a N5,000 reparation fee.

5. Kogi State University (KSU)
In April of this year, students of Kogi State University had their academic activities put on hold due to the all-too-familiar issue of unpaid salaries and allowances to ASUU as staff members embarked on a 'No pay, No work' action that lasted for three months.

The disgruntled union didn’t resume work until they were paid some of the backlog of salaries, and trouble arose again in November as they started grumbling for the rest of their pay, threatening to embark on another strike action.

6. Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA)
AAUA earns its place on this list with the unfortunate death of a student of the institution whose life was cut short by a reckless motorcyclist on April  8.

Students started to protest the tragedy as the culprit was not caught and the protest soon spiraled out of control and led to the destruction of university properties worth millions of naira.

Students were only recalled in June to resume academic activities, on the condition of paying a reparation fee of N15,000 each and an affidavit from a court.

However, this was not the end of the school’s flirtation with strike action this year, as the staff of its ASUU chapter embarked on an industrial strike action from July 4 to October 17, 2016, over non-payment of their salaries (as usual) by the state government.

Other grievances of the union included what they said were unnecessary deductions made in arrears, as well as the government’s irresponsibility with developing the dilapidated and abandoned infrastructures in the institution.

7. University of Ibadan (UI)
After students of the University of Ibadan staged protests earlier this year in April over what was determined to be the school management’s victimization of a certain student, as well as the state of the power and water supply in the school, the authorities indefinitely shut down the school and sent the students packing.

They were later recalled to resume six weeks later in June.

The institution’s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Unions (NASU) also went on a two weeks strike in August over unpaid fees, an action that momentarily delayed the semester’s examination exercise.

8. Imo State University (IMSU)
When the Imo state government carried out a 30 per cent salary cut on its workers in March, lecturers of the Imo State University were not happy and commenced a strike action to show their displeasure to Governor Rochas Okorocha.

After two months of the strike, students of the institution embarked on a protest and marched to the Government House to demand an audience with the governor. They had to be dispersed by a Police Mobile Force that deployed tear gas on the crowd.

The strike was called off late in June, after three months, and students were asked to resume.

9. Ebonyi State University (EBSU)
Ebonyi state governor David Umahi declared war on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) chapter of the institution after the union failed to heed the governor’s call to suspend an ongoing strike.

In October, the governor ordered the state Commissioner of Education to not pay any lecturer who refused to work.

ASUU had embarked on the strike in protest against salary deductions and a host of other issues including removing the institution’s Vice Chancellor Prof Francis Idike.

The strike was shortlived as it only lasted for four days after both parties agreed to dialogue.

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