The Zonal Coordinator (Calabar Zone), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Happiness Uduk is an Associate Professor, Department of English Language, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. She spoke with our correspondent in Uyo on Friday, where she gave an insight on how the union has fared over the years, its encounter with governments and other sundry issues. Uduk, who is the first female zonal coordinator of the union and first female officer at the National level by virtue of her recent appointment as the Financial secretary, also narrated her challenges and how she has been able to balance her work, unionism and family. Excerpts:

Not at all, our demands have not been met, so many things are still pending, the renegotiated agreement has not yet got to the president, we have the three and half months unpaid salaries, among others. The trajectory changed towards the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration; the last time we went on strike, we suspended that strike from the court. The then Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, took the union to court, and there was a ruling even though we were divided as a union in terms of obeying or going on civil disobedience.

We have been talking and this is three years, nothing has changed, our agreement that we started renegotiating since 2017, as we speak, the president has not even gotten the documents not to talk of giving assent. We are still working with the 2009 agreement, our salaries are still based on the 2009 Agreement.

We are not handicapped, just as I said, we will use all tools, persuasion, negotiation until we have a total collapse, then we bring our trump card which is strike.

Let me throw back the question at you, if you say we should come up with another option, can you suggest one for us? We have used every strategy, and nothing worked except strike. What you should know is that before ASUU embarks on any strike, it must have used every other means, if all fail, what do you expect us to do?

Besides, ASUU is not the only union that uses strike as the last resort. Strike is always the last resort and the only language that the government seems to understand. We’ve had governments that seemed to be deaf – they won’t hear all that you have been saying as a union and if need be for you to go on strike so that your members will have something, why won’t you? We are seen as strike mongers, it’s like our trump card.

You know we played that card in 2020 for seven months, nothing happened, we played it again in 2022 for eight months and we are yet to recover from it.

Our three months salaries are still pending, again we lost our members. You know for the first time we were on strike, salaries were not paid. We always tell the government that we are not core civil servants because when core civil servants embark on a strike, they come back and continue as if nothing happened. But, lecturers don’t continue, rather, they begin from where they stopped.

In teaching, you must teach to the end and administer exams, that’s why we tell the government you don’t need to bother stopping the salary because you will still pay. Also, those salaries were budgeted for, yet we have not been paid, where are the monies? They paid four months last year. What of the remaining three and half months?

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Well, it’s settled, but we are still under the shadows of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). Government has not been fair to the union. Before embarking on that strike, we told the government that we hate neo-colonialism and neo-liberalism, we can’t be tied to the apron strings of those who colonized us. We have the wherewithal, we have the human resources and capabilities, we know that IPPIS has something to do with the Bretton Woods Institutions.

So, the union told them that information about the workforce in Nigeria should not be outsourced to foreign institutions. We told them also that we can’t be teachers and then cannot come up with a platform to pay our salaries. They said we should go ahead to create a platform for that and gave us three months.

We finished that work before three months and till this moment the government has not accepted it. Three times it went through a test with NITDA, it never failed, the last time, it came out 93.5% and I’ve never seen where 93.5% is a failure. That platform was adjudged the best but has not been accepted. The good thing is that we are selling our products and some universities have agreed to adopt it. Since we moved unto GIFMIS, we are still under the shadow of IPPIS because after preparing the payroll you still need to send to IPPIS for vetting for onward transmission to the office of the Accountant General.

We learnt that the reason the government did not accept it was due to its failure to bar lecturers from getting multiple jobs around the university system.

Why should it? All their private universities, where are they getting lecturers from? Is it not from public universities? Think of it, if you ask me as a person, I prefer my children going to public university, they have intellectuals and professionals at the public school and that’s why private universities get lecturers from public schools to teach the students. A lot of them don’t even have permanent lecturers. Our work and conditions of service allow us to go on adjunct and sabbatical and it’s the standard practice globally.

Well it’s been taken care of. There is something in the 2025 budget that is captured known as non regular allowances from which universities can get their adjunct staff and pay them and even contract staff that we didn’t have over the years.

No, lecturers are not motivated, the government is not funding universities, nobody is motivated when salaries are at the same level, same pay for more than sixteen years since 2009.

But the government is busy establishing new universities…

This is because they use them as payback for those who helped them during their political aspirations and campaigns. That’s why one thing that ASUU has been fighting against is proliferation of private and public universities because a government that is not even able to take care of the few, is setting up more to come and struggle for the little resources.

TETFund was not set up for that purpose, that is why it is called tertiary education trust fund. It was supposed to be for infrastructure and development of the workforce both teaching and non teaching staff in the universities. It’s from TETfund that they fund staff training, I have  benefited from the fund at  both masters and PhD levels.

Unfortunately, monies are now borrowed from TETfund for NELfund which is a clear violation of TETfund mandate. Sometime ago, we saw in the news that EFCC was after some universities because of mismanagement of NeLfund money and there was somewhere it was written about what was taken out from TETFUND. This is very wrong, you set up a commission with a mandate, yet you do something else.

This is not the first time that we have a student loan scheme in Nigeria. It was there in the ’70s and it failed. That is why ASUU has been saying to the government, if somebody whose parents are poor is placed on loan and our society is not where you will readily have jobs after graduation, how do you expect the person to pay back? Are you not plunging that person back into poverty? Why not isolate people and give grants? When you grant, it’s better.

Normally, we don’t put our strategies out there, but for the first time different people have been selected from different branches and we are going to put our acts together, understudy the situation, and brainstorm. We will rub minds and I’m sure the superior argument will carry the day.

ASUU is one Union in which everybody is equal. We don’t consider gender in our union. I’ve not really had that kind of thing where people will say, “she is a woman. Don’t give her the responsibility”. Perhaps it happens covertly without them knowing because of the chauvinistic tendency and patriarchal nature of the society, it may show up in some persons but it’s not something that has become the norm. Our union does not look at stereotypes. That’s why officers are called Chairpersons and not chairmen because that seat can be sat on by both male and female. I have not had that kind of stereotypical treatment, in any case I don’t even allow it, I announce it, if you want to put me in a box or frame, I won’t allow it, if you say this post is for women, I don’t want it, by God’s grace I can compete favorably without sounding immodest.

Initially, when I emerged as the first female chairperson of the branch, I was told that the branch was not ready for a female chairperson. But it was actually the men who picked me. They said, “we want to change the narrative”. They nominated me and I’m sure they didn’t regret it.

Challenges on how I’ve been able to meet up with roles as mother, as wife, yes, I’ve blended because the children assist now, I don’t feel it much; sometimes, it dawns on me that you are a wife you should be back home. When my kids were much younger, I cooked everyday. When I’m done in school and on my way back home, I stopped by the market and got food items to cook. The moment I hit the house, I went inside the kitchen to cook. Maybe that was why I’ve not had too many problems because I did not allow the home front to suffer. I have to understand that not because God has raised me to this level that I should play down on the other roles of being a wife and mother.

I don’t think it has, there may be internal politicking, I’ve not lost any promotion until I got to the associate professorship level. Associate professor and professor, are political because they are actually in the hands of the Vice Chancellor. He decides when you must have sent your work to him. You send out your published works to three people in three different universities. You can send your work and it can remain there for years. I sent mine either in January 2023 or December 2022, till now, I’ve not been announced, I can’t say that’s victimization, I believe it’s bureaucracy. My promotion has not been delayed except when I got to the professorial cadre.

My associate professorship was supposed to be in 2019 but I was announced in 2021 though it was backdated to 2019 and by 2022 I began processing for this (professorial). So I’m waiting to be announced, I won’t say that I’m being victimized, I can agree that sometimes some people take these things personally but we don’t take these personally we are only agitating for the welfare of members who elected us to fight for them and to be their voice where they can’t reach.

I’m a firm believer in God, God’s timing is usually the timing that we can’t tell when it will happen, but when they come we see the good in it, so I’m waiting on God for my announcement.

Also promotion does not come from South East, North and West but from God. If it’s stepping on toes, yes I’ve stepped on toes, several toes, those who have refused to talk to me or pick my calls again, one thing that makes me happy is that I disturbed their sleep to ensure that my members are happy. We will do more, what we are asking is for God to give us grace, good health and open doors that will help us to do our best and leave legacies. It’s just two years and if after that, my people say I should go again, I’ll stand elections again for another post, if not I go home and rest

The basic thing is to know where you are going, be open, transparent and truthful. Know your limit, it got to a point when I said to myself when I leave office, I’m not taking any work so that I can concentrate at home.

Also, it’s not that when we go out people don’t talk to us about something but set a boundary. Then you don’t allow anybody to push you down whoever it is, I’ve trained my girls also not to allow anyone push them down, if you know what you want, you go all out for it, above all, is God because if you know God and fear him and practice it, he will go along with you, don’t be stereotyped.

Finally, this job we do, when it’s time for promotion there is no gender specification, nobody will say because you are a woman, submit three papers while men should submit five, no, everything is equal at that level; the person reviewing your work is blind to gender whether you are a male or female. It’s the same number everybody must submit.

As a woman we need to work harder, you know you face home, you have the job, when you get back home, you head to the kitchen, your husband may sit and read newspapers, it’s not a problem. Just make food and after eating you have other responsibilities as a mother and wife at home, and your job too. Don’t allow anybody to deceive you, women are endowed by God to carry out those responsibilities.

Women can multitask and the result will be fantastic. So for those young girls coming up, know what you want, and face it without distractions and when you get married, you must balance it with responsibilities at home, don’t allow anyone to suffer, above all pray for good husbands like the one He has given me. What he (my husband) tells me is just keep going, keep going, I am solidly behind you, the sky is not your limit but just a playground for you (laughs).