How We Are Coping With ASUU Strike, By Students - Idle Students Take Up Menial Jobs in Kaduna ...Read more

As strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) continues, several scenarios that tend to raise hopes and dash them in the same vain have played out since July 1 when the action began.

True to the words of the lecturers, the strike has been "comprehensive, total and indefinite." Juxtaposing this with the exact words of one of its victims, a Civil Law student of Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria, Favour Sani; "when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. In this case, the Federal Government and ASUU are those two elephants, while we the students are the grass, because we are the ones suffering as a result of the lingering strike."

Undergraduates are arguably the most affected by the ASUU strike. Unlike the post graduate students, they are largely dependent and thus more likely to become vulnerable to into crimes.

Michael Ezioha, a 200 level, Civil Engineering student from the University of Benin (UNIBEN) said he does nothing else but "sleep, eat, watch movies and mingle with friends."

He told Weekly Trust that his detachment from studies has caused him to lose touch with what he has learnt. He also blamed the President whom according to him "does not have children in the university, so he would not know how it feels."

However during this period, another student from the University of Maiduguri who craved anonymity bagged a certificate in interior decoration to further develop herself, but not all of these students may be able to afford spending money on another pursuit when they battle to pay their registration fees at the beginning of every session.

For Favour Sani, a 200 Level, Civil Law student from ABU, Zaria, the going has been filled with mixed experiences since the strike.

She said it has given her time to work on her school assignments, develop her Christian Gospel music ministry and spend time with her family and friends. According to her, from the beginning she did not bother about the rumoured strike because it was two weeks to her examination.

When it started, she looked on the brighter side and tried to engage in productive activities.

However, recently her patience seems to be running out, because she thinks "the strike has lasted longer than expected. I believe that the strike should not be the only means by which the ASUU could get what they want. By dialoguing, the tertiary institutions would still be in session while the ASUU could still get what they want and nobody would be affected.

"It is really disheartening that the ASUU are refusing to shift grounds. At least the Federal Government has shifted ground, so the ASUU should do likewise. With the way things are going, I am sorry to say that the educational system in Nigeria is heading for disaster unless drastic measures are adopted to stop these strikes. The strike has lasted for over four months," she told Weekly Trust.

Unlike some students who may be able to study to an extent outside the conventional school environment, Joyce Ogwuche, a 100 Level student from the University of Technology, Yola said once she is not in school, she finds it very hard to read.

"Between the ASUU and the Federal Government, I do not know really who to blame for the strike but in any case both parties should please try and do something because we students have suffered enough and they should also know that our studies are very important to us just the way their jobs are to them," she said.

Joyce says she has been doing nothing other than watching movies and travelling which she was tired of. Another victim of the strike is Abdul Kabir, a 300 Level student of Fishery at the IBB University, Lapai, Niger State said "the strike has increased the rate of immoral activities in the society in the sense that students who have nothing doing during this period, engage themselves in stealing, smoking, prostitution and rape."

He presently keeps busy doing a computer training course.

The ASUU strike continues amidst dashed hope, now and then. But for these students, hope is all they cling to as the Federal Government and ASUU keep dancing in an unending circle.

In a related development, some undergraduates in Kaduna have ventured into various vocations to keep them occupied as the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) persists, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Some of them who spoke with NAN yesterday in Kaduna said they had to find something to do, to keep their minds occupied and avoid trouble.

Grace Ocholi, a 300-level student of English at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said she secured a temporary job as a fuel pump attendant at a petrol station in Sabon-Tasha area of the city to enable her earn some money until the end of the strike.

"Everyone in my house goes out every morning to work, and my younger sisters go to school while I stay home and sleep waiting for their return.

"I am not okay with staying idle so I decided to engage in something useful," Grace said.

Another student, Henry Samuel of Mass Communication Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said he was assisting his father in selling tiles before he was admitted to the university. Samuel said he had to continue manning the business until the end of the lecturers' strike.

"So instead of wasting time waiting for the prolonged strike to end, I returned to continue from where I stopped," he said.

The students advised their colleagues to engage in something meaningful while the strike lasted, so as not to fall into the temptation of going into crime due to idleness.

NAN recalls that ASUU had been on strike since June over the non-implementation of a 2009 agreement it entered with the Federal Government on the funding of public universities.