It was the inimitable dramatist, Ola Rotimi, who retold one of the famous Yoruba folk tales about the tortoise in his play, Kurunmi. The tortoise was embarking on a journey and was asked when he would return; the tortoise replied: “Not until I’ve been disgraced”. If the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) does not call of its prolonged strike in the next one week, I’m afraid its case is going to wind up like that of the tortoise in the above story. And that would be a shame, considering what ASUU has achieved in the history of education in Nigeria. Make no mistake about it; our university system would long have gone to the dogs but for ASUU’s principled insistence that government fulfil its duty to its citizens by providing the wherewithal to enable our universities live up to their names. The union has fought and won many battles over the years and is to be congratulated for all it has achieved. But now is the time for it to re-examine its strategy so as not to completely lose face. One is by no means saying that the situation in our universities is ideal. No, we know that the situation is less than conducive. I guess that was why President Jonathan took it upon himself to meet with the leaders of ASUU to reach a compromise. Many commentators who had wondered why the federal government would allow the ulcer of strike to fester for so many months were relieved when the president himself took over the negotiations. Before the presidential intervention, many commentators felt that both the government and ASUU had a share of the blame. One exasperated student wrote on a popular chat forum: “Instead of sitting down at home and folding our arms, which is the choice of the FG and ASUU because they are both toying with our life and future, why can’t we express our own grievances through radical means? Let’s take to the streets! How long will they continue to drag the issue of agreement or no agreement?” The expectation after the meeting with President Jonathan was that ASUU would, as a gesture of goodwill, quickly revert to its members and call off the strike. Unfortunately, tragedy struck in the form of the untimely death of Prof. Festus Iyayi in an accident involving the motorcade of the Governor of Kogi State. (The Kogi Governor had been involved in an accident not too long ago and one had expected that he and his aides had learnt a lesson in road terrorism, but do they ever learn?) In my view, the leadership of ASUU mismanaged the post-Jonathan, post-accident events. Yes, a tragedy had happened. Nigeria had lost a great scholar. ASUU had lost a dependable leader. We had all lost a fantastic friend. The union could have gone ahead to quickly hold a meeting and thereafter inform the nation that the strike would be called off as soon as the body of their late leader was interred. Nigerians would understand that position as a mark of respect for the dead. But to stall and hide under one excuse or the other in a moment of national crisis such as we have? No, that is not the way to manage a crisis. In all humility, having contributed some quota to the history of struggle for the democratisation of educational opportunities in this country, I fully understand where ASUU is coming from. I could see why they have had to take to the trenches now and again. But this latest one ought not to end up as the ultimate self-demystification of ASUU. As unionism veterans know, there could be a cocktail of tactics within a strategy. The fact that ASUU was able to sustain the strike for so long is a testimony to its cohesion. However, the impression one gets at this stage is that the union’s leadership has lost touch with the public, the same public that has always stood by the lecturers even in those dark days of the military. A strike cannot be an end in itself; otherwise it becomes strike for strike’s sake. Can anything be more analogue than that in this digital age? Prof. Michael Wheeler, who occupies the chair of Management Practice in Harvard Business School, recently authored a new book, The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World. I think ASUU leaders should avail themselves of Wheeler’s creative postulations. In a recent interview about the fresh perspectives opened in the area of Negotiations by his new book, the scholar said: “Negotiation cannot be scripted. Your goals may change during the course of negotiation, a little or a lot. Unexpected opportunities and obstacles may pop up. Your across-the-table counterpart may be more or less cooperative than you expected.” He explains further: “There’s a misperception that military strategy is very rigid. Yes, there’s a chain of command, but there’s also a military saying: ‘Plans go out the window with first contact with the enemy.’ In an uncertain situation, you have to think through your best- and worst-case scenarios. It’s imperative that you assess, ‘Under what case might my counterpart be eager to deal with me?’ and also, ‘What could turn things for the worse?’ Good negotiators think about a Plan A, B, and C; and they even have an exit strategy if things don’t work out. Military doctrine can teach us a lot about decision making in rapidly changing environments.” Even if one could excuse some loud-mouthed war drummers in government who have been fouling the air with their wild tongues (they are mere political jobbers), I expect the striking lecturers to take a cue from their fellow scholar quoted above. Knowing how widely ASUU consults, I can wager that I won’t be the first person to counsel them that it is time to overhaul the old tactics that had served the union well in earlier years. That is their medium-term assignment. Right now, in view of the fact that the president has more than met them halfway, what they have to do is call off the strike and let normalcy return to our universities. In one word: don’t play the tortoise.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 04:13:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015