For good reason, the Boko Haram insurgency has absorbed the attention of the general public and government at all levels. But while the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls is a national calamity, and while no effort should be spared until they are rescued from their callous abductors, Nigerians should not forget that there are other issues of national significance which deserve our attention.
Prime among these is the continuing strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), and the action embarked upon by public primary school teachers in Benue State. It is unfortunate that although these strike actions have lasted seven, three, and eight months respectively, the possibility of immediate resolution remains distinctly remote.
While a lot have been written on the ASUP and COESU strike actions, there seems to be a conspiratory silence over the eight-month old strike action by primary school teachers. The striking teachers are demanding that they be paid the minimum wage which teachers in several other states of the federation already enjoy which the state governor insists it cannot afford. The governor, Dr Gabriel Suswam is making an obnoxious proposal that other civil servants agree to a salary cut to enable him generate funds to meet the demand of the primary school teachers. While this ding dong continues, the pupils continue to languish at home.
In another preposterous proposition, the governor during a visit to Zaki Biam, said he will need to sack 34,000 workers to be able to pay the striking teachers if the NLC refuses to accede to a salary cut.
On the surface, the three strikes appear to have different rationales. ASUP has a long list of grievances, among them a demand for a renegotiation of its existing agreement with the Federal Government and the release of the government White Paper on visitations to Nigerian polytechnics. COEASU, for its part, demands a massive overhaul of physical infrastructure on campuses of colleges of education as well as immediate payment of arrears of special allowances owed its members.
All the three cases are characterised, first, by a lack of trust between the striking workers and the respective negotiating authorities, and second, by official nonchalance bordering on criminal neglect. Furthermore, unlike the situation last year when concerted public pressure played a part in forcing the Federal Government to negotiate with the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), most Nigerians are oblivious of the causes of ASUP and COEASU, and are strangely unconcerned about the deteriorating situation on campuses of polytechnics and colleges of education. Public primary schools and primary school teachers have more or less disappeared from the radar of public conscience, which in part explains why the government is able to get away with its own condescension towards them.
The Federal and state governments urgently need to rethink their strategy for handling industrial unrest. Government most certainly needs to be proactive in its engagement with workers and their unions. The current method of ignoring warning strikes, waiting for a situation to deteriorate, and then scrambling for a quick fix is utterly wasteful and counterproductive. Besides, what is the point of signing an agreement when there is no intention to honour it? In its engagement with ASUP and COEASU, just as in its negotiations with ASUU, the Federal Government often comes across as not particularly eager to avert a crisis, and not minding its perception as untrustworthy. Is that because the children of the elite no longer attend these schools?
Whatever it is, government negotiating teams owe the rest of us a responsibility to act transparently, and with dispatch. This new attitude must begin at once with its ongoing negotiations with the representatives of ASUP and COEASU. There is no good reason why such negotiations cannot be concluded within a week and a satisfactory agreement reached with the striking teachers. The poor students of these institutions have suffered too long, and for no justifiable reason. The president must act immediately to end their needless misery.
Similarly, in Benue State, Governor Gabriel Suswam, a lawyer and Ph.D degree holder must find a way to come to a compromise with the striking teachers. By allowing their action to drag on for an improbable eighth months, the governor has reinforced the unfortunate impression that the teachers do not matter, and that public primary schools are not important to his government. While it will take some time for the pain and injury of the past eight months to heal, the governor must commence the task of healing by inviting the representatives of the striking teachers to the negotiating table right away. No governor, no matter how sound and impeccable the logic of his position, can be right against his people. The striking teachers of primary schools across Benue State are the same citizens the governor took an oath to serve and protect. He must discharge his oath of office, starting right now.
