Nigeria’s Public University System Are Trade Unions Still Viable

The actors within Nigeria’s public university system are by no means immune from critical assessment, especially when established facts and prevailing circumstances, sharply contrasts with direct contextual as well as the wider public expectations. Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), the umbrella trade union for academic staffs of public universities in Nigeria, is seemingly across-roads in terms of its viability indicators and perceptions. This outlook becomes more evident when construed against the backdrop of well-established antecedents and the current contextual realities militating against the contributions of the union to the overall development of the public universities in Nigeria. Moreover, the conversations on the long-term sustainability of government funded tertiary institutions cannot be divorced from the contributions of important stakeholders. This outlook inconsistent with the essence of the stakeholder theory in terms of the contributions and returns associated with a given role. The paper thus recommends that ASUU should re-align its focus to redress the identifiable issues jeopardizing the continued viability of this important union. There should be some appreciable degree of synergy between the goals of union members and the corporate goals of the university context. Instructively, if there is a need to re-energize and restructure the fundamentals of the union, concerted efforts should be made in this direction to preserve the tenets and sanctity of the ‘ivory towers’ of learning.

Keywords: Academic Staff, Nigeria, Public Universities, Trade Union, ViabilityJEL Codes: J50, J51, J53