The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities(ASUU) is a trade union and a union of intellectuals seeking not only the socio-political and economic welfare interest of its members within the framework of promoting the cause of university education in Nigeria, but the entire good of Nigerians and Nigeria.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is a Nigerian union of University academic staff with a history of militant action.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was formed in 1978. Its predecessor, the Nigerian Association of University Teachers was formed in 1965. ASUU covers all academic staff in all of the Federal and State Universities in the country.
The union was active in struggles against the military regime during the 1980s (Wikipedia, 2016). In 1988 the union organized a national strike to obtain fair wages and University autonomy.
As a result, ASUU was proscribed on 7th August, 1988 and all its property seized. It was allowed to resume activities in 1990, but after another strike was again banned on 23rd August, 1992. However, an agreement was reached on 3rd September, 1992 that met several of the union’s demands including the right of workers to collective bargaining.
ASUU organized further strikes in 1994 and 1996, protesting against the dismissal of University academic staff by the Sani Abacha military regime (Wikipedia, 2016).
Aims and Objectives of ASUU in Nigeria.
- Aims and Objectives of ASUU is to secure adequate funding, improved salary package, autonomy and academic freedom in order to curb brain drain and ensure the survival of the university system.
- ASUU is a trade union whose objectives include regulation of relations between academic staff and employers;
- Encouragement of the participation of its members in the affairs of the university system and of the nation.
- Protection and advancement of the socio-economic and cultural interest of the nation;
- Aims and Objectives of ASUU also includes establishment and maintenance of a high standard of academic performance and professional practice, stablishment and maintenance of just and proper conditions for Universities education .
The Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities(ASUU) is a trade union and a union of intellectuals seeking not only the socio-political and economic/welfare interest of its members within the framework of promoting the cause of university education in Nigeria, but the entire good of Nigerians and Nigeria.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities transformed into its present state in 1978 with its roots and various transformations dating back to 1955 when the association of University Teachers (AUT) was formed.
The major gains of ASUU struggles particularly in the last two decades or so may be broadly categorized into the intangible and tangible gains.
Part of the former relates to the deepening and sustenance of democracy through principled resistance of impunity, violations of autonomy and academic freedom and mobilization of civil society against dictatorship.
In the era of military rule, ASUU demystified regimes and therefore laid the foundations for popular resistance by a society.
