Another ASUU strike? Our children have already lost two years. Enough

The news landed like a punch. The Academic Staff Union of Universities has issued another strike notice. The government failed to implement the 2009 agreement. University revitalization funds are still missing. The same words. The same accusations. The same suspended animation. My niece has spent two of her four university years at home. She is not learning. She is not growing. She is waiting. And she is not alone.

Here is what most people get wrong about the ASUU strikes. The problem is not that university lecturers are greedy or lazy. The truth is that both the government and ASUU have failed Nigerian students because neither side fears the consequences of failure. And here is why that matters right now: because an entire generation is being told that their education does not matter enough to protect. And that message is louder than any classroom ever was.

What the official report won’t tell you

The government will say it has released funds. ASUU will say the funds are insufficient or came too late. The public hears numbers and counters and negotiations. But the public is not listening to the details anymore. The public is watching their children age out of opportunity. A student who entered university at 18 is now 20 with two years of actual learning. A student who should be graduating is now calculating how many more years of waiting they can afford.

The longest negotiation in Nigeria is not between labour and government. It is between young people and their fading futures.

The numbers are devastating. Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. But university students are not out of school because of poverty alone. They are out of school because the system refuses to stay open. UNESCO estimates that Nigerian university students have lost an average of 12 months of learning time to strikes in the last decade. That is a year of life. A year of tuition. A year of dreams deferred.

To be fair…

Let me give ASUU its due. The government has signed agreements and broken them repeatedly. The 2009 agreement is not a new demand. It is 17 years old. University lecturers are underpaid, overworked, and teaching in facilities that would embarrass a secondary school. Their frustration is legitimate.

But here is where that defense runs aground. The students did not break those agreements. The students did not underfund the universities. The students are not the enemy. And every strike, no matter how justified, punishes the innocent more than the guilty. The government has shown it can wait out strikes. Students cannot wait out their youth.

When adults fight, children lose. And Nigerian children have lost enough.

The human cost

I met a final year student in Enugu last month. She should have graduated in 2025. She is still writing her project. She has watched her friends relocate abroad, switch to private universities, or drop out entirely. She cannot afford any of those options. So she waits. And while she waits, she wonders if her degree will still be worth anything when she finally gets it. Employers already discount Nigerian graduates. How much less will they be worth after another strike?

Her parents have paid tuition for five years for a four-year degree. They are not rich. They are stretching. And they are losing hope.

What needs to change

The government must be compelled to honor agreements with consequences. Not press releases. Real penalties. ASUU must be compelled to exhaust all other options before striking. Not threats. Real arbitration. And students must be given a seat at the negotiating table. They are the ones losing. They should have a voice.

Some countries have no-strike zones for essential services. Education is essential. If doctors cannot strike without endangering lives, lecturers cannot strike without endangering futures. That does not mean lecturers should have no rights. It means their rights must be balanced against the rights of 2 million students who did not choose this fight.

Here is where we land. Another ASUU strike notice. Another round of blame. Another generation of Nigerian students left in the cold. I do not know who is right anymore. I only know that my niece is tired of waiting. And tired of being told that her education is less important than an argument between adults who should know better.