FG, ASUU to blame for persistent varsity strikes, says Olaopa

The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has attributed the frequent industrial conflicts leading to strikes in the nation’s universities to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Olaopa, who spoke on the topic “The Nigerian Youth and the Challenges of Unemployment and Skills Mismatch in National Development” while delivering the 17th Convocation Lecture of Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, on Friday, said how the government reaches agreements with ASUU makes industrial tensions and strikes inevitable.

He decried hasty signing of agreements, advising the government against trying to please unions to avoid heating up the polity, in the process signing “an agreement that it cannot implement”.

This results in “taking decisions of far-reaching magnitude in a hurry, with full recognition that labour matters require diligence and technical correctness,” Olaopa noted.

Advising the government on future dealings with ASUU, he said it was better to reach a “reasonable agreement with a short-term horizon that is susceptible to review than to make long-term commitments that hang on the neck like an albatross”.

Olaopa lamented what he perceived as ASUU’s confrontational and anti-developmental stance on industrial relations that undermines national advancement.

He advocated for a collective understanding among the Ministry of Labour and Employment, IAP (Industrial Arbitration Panel) and the National Industrial Court (NIC) to foster harmonious industrial relations within universities.