By: Muhammad Adeyemi
It was on Thursday 7th of February 2019, when the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended its nationwide industrial action conditionally after exactly 95days of agitation with series of meeting held together with the Federal government delegation which most time ended in deadlock.
The National Executive committee, NEC took the decision after consulting their local chapters, nationwide, on referendum exercise which took place earlier this week. Most chapters voted for the suspension of the strike if the FG are ready to meet up their slated conditions, which happened to be the good news for students as the strike was suspended later in the week.
The long awaited news floored major social networks, stirred up students of Universities. Unamusingly, Students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University are not left out. It is realistic to say that; there are four categories of students in Nigerian Universities, most especially in UDUS, during the embarked strike due to the multiethnic groups of students from different states in Nigeria.
First category happened to be those who resided in a nearby place to the University location. These set of people didn't have any resentments to show, because they are believed to live close to their family/home which is easily accessible for them. Few had resumed for introductory lectures before the strike and many didn't resume till the strike came up. Mostly, they are students from the Northwest region where UDUS is sited.
Those who resumed earlier and came from far distance are another set of students, their journey, perhaps, is closed to 10hours or more from their state. They are students from other geopolitical zone(apart from the Northwest) of the federation. Majority of these students after exercising little patience later left Sokoto for their hometown, when the two parties, Federal government and ASUU failed to resolve the crisis in due time.
Another set of students are those tagged "the lion and lioness of the desert". They came from far distance but never left school or Sokoto state, that hopefully the strike might be suspended soon but it took them 95days of hardworking and prayers to get the positive result.
They are the category, that seems to be the first class followers of FG - Asuu meeting. Even though, many were fed up with the reportage and the unyielding dress put on the Federal Government, but still deemed it fit to stay and endure the weird weather.
The last category in the list, happened to be the most favoured disciple; they are from far distance as well, but didn't resume since the last sessional break. They had nothing to loose during the strike as they were caught with the industrial action while still enjoying the break.
This strike has proven to us the weakness, failure and unreliability nature of human beings both from the Federal government and the Union leaders and that we should entrust our hope and aspirations with God only, the Almighty.
In conclusion, The wisest lesson is that delay isn't denial. The management of the University will release the new calendar soon. For that, We have to go back to classes; learn, read and explore. I am wishing all Danfodites a prosperous resumption in advance.
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