ASUU strikes in universities: Any end in sight?

2020 was a year of many milestones—good and bad. Scientists created vaccines in months and Nigeria also became polio-free. On the bad end, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) went on its longest national strike action yet. 

What started as a two-week warning on March 9, 2020, due to the government's refusal to meet the memorandum of agreement signed in 2019, spiralled into a nine-month strike from March 24, 2020, till December 23, 2020. 

Although the school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic somewhat masked the strike's impact, it was still felt by students who missed out a whole session from their academic calendar, and staff who were not getting paid during the months of the strike action.  

Strikes are not new to Nigerian university staff and students. More often than not, students' degree tenures are extended by two to three years because of certain grievances that universities have