Nigeria Content Online

After staying at home for over three
months without pay, the striking lecturers of the Anambra State
University, ANSU, say they now depend on God and the goodwill of
friends for survival.

On July 22 this year, lecturers of the
five state owned varsities in the south east under the aegis of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), embarked on strike to
protest the failure of governors of the zone to implement the agreement
reached between ASUU and the federal government on their new salary
structure for lecturers in federal universities.

Now, nearly four months after, the lecturers are becoming increasingly uncomfortable as their pockets get emptier.

Emeka Obi, head of the department of
Public Administration at the university said only God and the
benevolence of friends have been sustaining them.

“God has been our help, that’s the only
thing I have to say. When you look around and things look bleak, you
may not even know what you’re doing, except that you are surviving,” Mr
Obi said.

Jaja Nwanegbo, chairman of ASUU in the
university, said what had been sustaining his colleagues was their
belief in the cause, a belief he said had made them ready to sacrifice
anything.

He told NEXT that the strike had led to
loss in not just man hours, but in terms of productivity and the
disruption of the school’s academic calendar. According to him, the
school which ought to be going into a new session was still stuck in
the second semester and would have to continue from there whenever the
strike ends.

He also noted that students who just
graduated ran the risk of missing out on the national youth service
scheme because they had not been able to finish with their clearances
before the strike.

Mr Nwanegbo said the lecturers last
received their salary in July; a situation, he said equally had a
debilitating effect on them.

“The only unfortunate thing is the
misconception the government is creating by misinforming the public on
what constituted the basis for the strike. They make it look as if it
is a salary issue only but we all know it also has to do with quality
of education,” he said.

The lecturers said they missed their
students most, as well as their work place and blamed the governors for
not considering those that voted them into office.

Idle students

The students have also not had it
easy. Chidiebere Okoye, a final year student of Political Science at
the Anambra university said they were tired of staying at home and
appealed to both the governors and ASUU to quickly find a solution to
the problem.

Oninye Iloghalu, a final year student
of Computer Science, told NEXT to help beg the lecturers to come back
to the classes since the governors did not want to soft pedal.

“Many students have taken to bad ways and after all this, cult activities may increase,” she said.

Our investigations also revealed that
it is not only the students and lecturers that are bearing the brunt of
the strike. Road side traders in the university, as well as hair
dressers, okada operators and even canteen operators, have all suffered
from the strike as their businesses which depend on the students have
nose dived.

But at a press briefing Friday, hopes
that the strike may soon be called off were raised when the chairman of
the Governing Council of the university, Elochukwu Amucheazi, said he
expected lectures to resume on the 22nd of November following fresh
negotiations with the lecturers of Anambra university.

He said the state government had again
raised the subvention to the school from N81m a month to N90m, while
the school adds N70m from internally generated revenue to bring the
monthly subvention to N160m.

He also said lecturers, at the end of
their meeting on Friday, said they would go and consult with their
various unions, even though some of them still insisted on a full
implementation of the new salary scheme. He however remained hopeful
that the strike would end before the 22nd.

But the strike, when it ends, will mean
an increase in tuition fees. According to Mr Amucheazi this had become
inevitable as the school would look for ways of making up for the
increase in the lecturers’ pay. He said the school paid the lowest fees
among state varsities, ranging from N35, 000 to N55, 000, but that a
slight increase would be effected to balance the equation.

“We have not fully recovered from the
Civil War and thus we do not want to over burden our people, hence the
marginal increase in tuition fees,” Mr Amucheazi said.