Mrs Alaba Soyemi, a mother of three, looked depressed when the news of an impending Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) strike reached her. Topmost on her mind was how she would feed her children, pay their fees, and support her family.
The petty trader at the Federal University of Abeokuta, who feeds her family from the profit she makes from her sales at the campus, has even more issues to worry about.
‘I just borrowed money to restock my shop. How will I sell my goods, pay off my debt, and feed my family?’ Alaba lamented.
She recounted how life was hard during the previous strike. She struggled to feed her family as they all rely on the little income from her husband’s daily taxi ride. ‘We almost died of hunger; how we survived it, only God knows,’ she said. ‘This is my only source of income, and the students are my primary customers,’ said Mrs Alaba, a mixture of fear and sadness on her face.
University campuses across the country, which provide a learning environment, are also a hub of business activities. During a busy academic session, life on campus bubbles with the businesses providing the different flavours as needed by campus dwellers.
These businesses provide services ranging from transport solutions to necessities to cosmetics and clothing. All that students need, can usually be found within the vicinity of their campuses, within their reach.
While these businesses support life on campus, it also provides a means of livelihood for the traders. Most of the people who ply their trade on campus solely depend on it and fall within the low-income percentile in the country.
Thus a closure of schools equals loss of income and only serves to widen the poverty gap in the economy.
Okechukwu Daniel, who operates a provision store in the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) main campus, empathised with the plight of lecturers. He acknowledged that they are fighting for their rights and a better living standard for their family.
Despite his empathy for lecturers, he looked back at how the previous strike hit him hard. ‘At a point, I don’t use to come out to the shop again because it was a waste of time.’ He had a tremendous financial setback during that period, which took him months to recover.
For him, this means that his customers will be limited to the staff living on campus, who prefer to get their supply from the market.
While some like Mrs Martha Eze, aka mummy Chidera, have the option of going to the nearby local market in Nsukka, beautician Stella Ugwu’s is facing potential hardship and no different from the others.
The story is the same at the University of Agriculture Makurdi (UAM).
Hassan Joshua, who provides internet service for students’ registration and printing of documents, said this will be his first experience as he started the business after the last strike. He has begun to look for alternatives which will not be easy for him considering how hard it was to set this up.
Bridget Chia, who started a beauty shop at UAM after the herders’ crises drove her out of the farms, felt hopeless. She wished the strike wouldn’t happen but she is again powerless to change the situation, recalling how she moved from shop to shop outside the campus the last time to provide for her family, as she couldn’t go back to her farms for fear of being killed.
While businesses are affected, the education of the students and their plans for the future are just as affected. Most students’ plans have gone up in flames as their hope of graduating before exceeding the age limit for most graduate trainee jobs in the country is shattered.
Chidozie Perpetual Ukamaka of the department of Economics at Benue State University observed that some people who hoped to graduate before they turn 30 will not be able to. And thus, won’t be able to go for their youth service, ‘they go miss that allowee,’ she remarked in pidgin, referencing the stipend paid to youth corpers.
There is a great probability that those planning to graduate this year will not be able to, as no one knows when they will call off the strike.
She, however, draws inspiration from the legendary Fela. She supports the strike, pointing out that she doesn’t like how the lecturers are treated, and the downward slide of the educational sector.
‘Kai, in short, our educational sector for this country ehn, e no get way forward. They no dey try for education, a frustrated Perpetual concluded.
Some students see this as an opportunity to acquire some vocational skills. Though they observed that it would mean an extension of their stay at school, they will be consoled if the lecturers get what they are fighting for, which will mean no more strikes in the future.
Eighteen year old Ugoha Joy of UNN, says she will not graduate at her set age anymore. She however says she will use the window to improve her tech skills.
Chukwuma Gift, 23, said the lecturers deserve a better living standard. She pointed out the rate of inflation in the country and how their salary might not be sufficient for them and their families. She is already thinking about how to make use of the unplanned break. ‘If the strike should continue and school is still not in session, I will learn a skill,’ she quipped.
Jimmy Solomon Terzungwe of the Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna, reflected on the situation. ‘Though my institution doesn’t go on strike, the situation will increase the crime rate in the country, he said. Most of the young guys engaged in school activities will idly walk into compromising situations, exposing them to crime.
The one-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) is another in its long line of industrial actions. As a union, it’s not out of place to fight for the rights of its members. But this fight has been ongoing for a while now and there are no clear winners, only losses.
Between 1999 and 2020, the union has had 15 of these industrial actions, cutting academic activities by 1,299 days in the process.
However, while fighting for their rights, their actions push the already poor Nigerians into misery, increasing the poverty gap. It further creates a socio-economic challenge of unemployment as students will graduate at an age above basic entry into the labour force, graduate trainee.