ASUU Strike: “Our businesses on the verge of collapse” – Uniuyo business owners cry out
Business owners on the three campuses of the University of Uyo have lamented over what they described as lack of patronage of their businesses following the one -month warning strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, across all the federal universities in Nigeria.
The strike which began on February 14, 2022, is in a bid to compel the federal government to honour agreements it had reached with the union, as well as address some other lingering problems bordering on implementation of the white paper reports of the state of Nigerian universities and the acceptability of the University Transparency and Accountability System, UTAS, which ASUU had proposed.
Our team of reporters who visited the three campuses of the university last Thursday gathered that the entire business premises had become a shadow of itself, as the usual bubbling of business activities within and outside the campuses had fizzled out.
In an interview with our reporters, Etim Okon Emmanuel, who owns a computer centre on the main campus of the institution, complained that the strike had taken its toll on his business, as there were no students in school who would have patronized him, a situation he described as most unfortunate.
According to him, “you can see that the situation is not beneficial at all. My shop is empty because students have been sent home. I do not make as much sales as I used to when students were around. I am calling on the government to provide a lasting solution to this constant strike in the country”.
Another business woman, Mrs Udeme Samson, who sells sachet water, snacks and soft drinks at the town campus, said the industrial action had grossly affected her business in a way that might signal imminent closure if nothing is done immediately to reverse the ugly trend.
“Prior to the strike action, we made lots of sales. In fact, we always sell all the drinks we bring here when students are available. But today, our sales have dropped drastically, even food vendors are not available as there are no students to patronise them.
“We are begging the government to fulfil the promises it had made to ASUU. Let there be sincerity”.
Reacting to the development, a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication Arts, Dr Nsikak Idiong, said the strike would linger for as long as the federal government would refuse to bend to the will of the ASUU.
The Communication Scholar who expressed disappointment over the lackadaisical attitude of the federal government towards education in the country which ought to have been on the front burner, wondered why matters of education have received such an undeserved attention from the government.
According to him, ” the ongoing strike action is for the good of the students, as it will force the government to take the agreement between her and ASUU seriously, and also provide more infrastructural facilities for the students’ use in the Universities”.
He therefore, called on the federal government to take immediate actions to save the university education from further decay.
