Right from its inception, ASUU and the Federal Government have been at loggerhead as the federal government has failed in implementing some of the agreements made in 2009. These agreements include the breakdown of lecturers’ salaries, loans, pension, overtime, and moderation of examinations. On February 14th, 2022, the union again embarked on another strike action. The repetition of these strike actions is frustrating the ambitions of the Nigerian student studying in government-owned universities as the process of acquiring knowledge is always interrupted.
As a result of constant strikes, many students in order not to stay idle have ventured into several opportunities to earn money, some end up securing employment in big companies as interns which may put them in a tight spot when the industrial action is called off. We’ve had situations of students dropping out of school due to frustration caused by this system. That’s the reason why most Nigerian Parents who can afford it now send their children abroad for quality education. In a report in 2001 published by The Guardian, Nigeria loses 1.3 million per annum to overseas students.The academic calendar is constantly disrupted which makes it difficult for students studying at government-owned universities to be on par with their colleagues in Private universities in terms of coursework. Upon resumption, the students are rushed in their academic work to meet up with their contemporaries in Private universities. Which at times may be very stressful for the student. A semester that is supposed to run for a period of three months or two may end up being compressed to a month.
Immortality is not far from the incessant ASUU strikes. Several Nigerian students have started engaging in illegal businesses like cybercrime(yahoo), gambling, prostitution, armed robbery, and other vices and this is not far-fetched from the saying “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”.
Due to the constant strikes, the Nigerian student may spend more than the allotted time studying a particular course in school. A four years course may turn into six years or more, and this affects the employment pattern where age is an important factor.From all the points mentioned in subsequent paragraphs, it can be inferred that the continuous ASUU strike has caused more harm than good to the Nigerian student and even to the educational sector as a whole.
