CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Employees’ refusal to work in protest of their employers’ bad treatment, according to Ejikemeuwa (2016), is known as industrial action or strike. Academic and non-academic employees at Nigerian universities have joined the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike to protest the government’s failure to follow their collective bargaining agreement. The ASUU strikes have resulted in corruption and other societal vices on many levels. In Nigeria, the education system, particularly higher schools, has been shut down several times in recent years due to labor unrest. The effect of frequent school and academic program closures on kids’ capacity to learn is better imagined than expressed. According to Adetiba (2012), both academic (ASUU) and non-academic staff strikes have caused major delays in Nigerian tertiary education. This has always put students in a bad situation, generating interruptions in academic programs, unjustified extensions in their study years, poor student attention on academic programs, and poor lecturer-student interactions, to name a few examples (Adamu & Nwogo, 2014). As a result, student academic performance has declined, and different types of examination misconduct have increased. Universities are regarded across the world as a bastion of learning, a source of intellectual advancement, and a breeding ground for tomorrow’s leaders. A university, according to Ike (1999), serves only one purpose: to offer knowledge and value. To put it another way, a university advances when it is able to give information and value, and it fails in its duty of giving knowledge and value when administrators and employees are not adequately managed. This is why, according to Nwankwo (2000), merit has been the watchword in the university system, where a student must be certified, worthy in character, and capable of learning before being admitted to the Honors Degree program. The Academic Staff Union of Universities is the most important union whose ongoing strikes have a substantial influence on students’ academic achievement (ASUU). The Nigerian Association of University Teachers (NAUT) was established in 1965 to represent academics at the University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ife, and University of Lagos. In the 1980s, the union was involved in the anti-military administration struggle. In 1988, the union called a nationwide strike to demand equal pay and university autonomy. As a result, the ASUU was declared illegal on August 7, 1988, and all of its assets were seized. It was permitted to resume in 1990, but on August 23, 1992, following another strike, it was outlawed once more. However, on September 3, 1992, an agreement was reached that met some of the union’s goals, including workers’ right to collective bargaining. The ASUU planned further strikes in 1994 and 1996 to protest Sani Abacha’s military administration’s firing of staff. Despite resistance from President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government, the union remained vigorous in seeking the rights of university workers after the Nigerian Fourth Republic returned to democracy in 1999. Justice Mustapha Akanbi of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission was petitioned by ASUU’s national president in July 2002 to investigate the University of Ilorin’s administrators for financial mismanagement and corruption. In 2007, ASUU went on strike for three months. In May 2008, it staged a two-week ‘warning strike’ to press for a variety of objectives, including a fairer wage structure and the restoration of 49 professors dismissed from the University of Ilorin in 1998. In June 2009, ASUU called for an indefinite strike at federal and state schools across the country, citing disputes with the federal government over a two-and-a-half-year-old accord. After three months of strike action, ASUU and other staff unions struck an agreement with the government and the strike was called off in October 2009. For the first time in 20 years, staff at the University of Ilorin have decided to obey the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ (ASUU) directive to embark on a two-week strike. The national president of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, issued a warning strike during an executive meeting in Enugu. According to Mr. Ogunyemi, the strike was called to protest the federal government’s failure to follow through on the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding, and the 2017 Memorandum of Action. The University of Ilorin joined the strike, marking the first time university professors have gone on strike in almost two decades. ASUU’s previous industrial activities, which were launched in response to a schism within the organization, had been rejected by the institution. As a result, the institution earned a reputation for maintaining a regular academic calendar.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Gridlock commonly arose from disagreements or misunderstandings between the government and academic and/or non-academic personnel, which hampered and, in some circumstances, harmed the academic calendar and higher education in Nigeria. The frequent strikes had a demonstrable negative impact on students’ academic achievement. As a result of the long-term suspension of learning, students’ reading skills deteriorated, which was damaging to the educational system, particularly in a developing country like Nigeria. The most serious issue is that strikes have undermined the whole educational system, leading students who are legally required to earn credentials to spend far too much time doing so. a year ago (Kagbaranen). The frequent strikes by the ASUU have had an indirect influence on Nigerian university students. It usually caused a slew of problems for students by delaying program completion and graduation. This free time was sometimes frustrating for students whose home circumstances were less than ideal, and it frequently resulted in them being vulnerable and easy targets for criminal acts such as armed robbery, kidnapping, and rape (Ajayi, 2013). In 2009, 49 academics were fired for participating in ASSU activities, and because there are few studies on the subject, the research aims to look at the impact of the expulsion of 49 ASUU lecturers on the administration of Unilorin.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of the study;
- Investigate the cause of dismissal the of 49 lecturers of university of Illorin.
- Investigate how the dismissal of 49 lecturers affected the administration of university of Illorin.
- Investigate how the dismissal of 49 lecturers affected the academic performance of students of university of Illorin
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions guide the objective of the study:
- What was the cause of dismissal the of 49 lecturers of university of Illorin?
- Did the dismissal of 49 lecturers affected the administration of university of Illorin?
- Did the dismissal of 49 lecturers affected the academic performance of students of university of Illorin?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will be significant to the federal government since it will inform them of the consequences of all of the strikes on students’ education and performance, as well as seek for solutions to meet the union’s demands.
And this study will contribute to the current literature in this field and will also serve as a resource for academics, researchers, and students who may want to do future research on this or a comparable issue.
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the dismissal of 49 ASUU lecturers on the Administration of Unilorin. However, the study is specifically focused but delimited to investigating the cause of dismissal the of 49 lecturers of university of Illorin, how the dismissal of 49 lecturers affected the administration of university of Illorin, and how the dismissal of 49 lecturers affected the academic performance of students of university of Illorin. Thus, the study will carried out in University of Illorin.
1.7 LIMITATION TO THE STUDY
Finance, inadequate research materials and time constraint were the major challenges the researcher encountered during the course of this study
1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Academic staff union of universities(Asuu): This is a Nigerian union of university academic staff, founded in 1978.
Adminstration: Administration is a process of systematically arranging and co
ordinating. the human and material resources available to any organization for the. main purpose of achieving stipulated goals of that organization.
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