ASUU strike awakens students’ survival instincts

It is still a long journey to ending the strike embarked upon by the nation’s university teachers, CHARLES ABAH writes

Eneke the bird says since men have learnt to shoot without missing, it has learnt to fly without perching. This is one of the Igbo proverbs that readers come across in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Like the bird, a good number of students of various universities across the country have learnt to convert the adversity provoked by their lecturers’ ongoing strike into positive ideas.

Although there is the fear that many of the thousands of the undergraduates forced to stay at home may be tempted to engage in untoward activities, investigation by our correspondent shows that some of them are going into positive and meaningful ventures. For example, Oluwaseun

Sanusi, a final year Sociology student of the University of Ibadan, says the strike has opened up a vista of business opportunities for him.

Instead of idling away during this period, he engages in marketing Information Technology gadgets online. He sells and delivers online, items that include BlackBerry phones, Ipods and MP4s, to buyers.

“Just today, I sold and delivered an iphone that a cousin of mine in the United Kingdom sent to me for N70,000 and made a profit of N8,000. Agreed, the venture is not an everyday thing, I have no regret taking to the business while I wait for my teachers to end their strike,” he notes.

Another student, Ronke Adefalujo, of the University of Abuja, is now a make-up artist. From the initial N10, 000 the Theatre Arts student was making at the beginning of the strike, she now makes between N20, 000 and N30,000 daily.

The ‘breakthrough’ is not peculiar to Adefalujo and Sanusi.  Tom Usen of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, says the strike has enabled him to go far in his final year project and IT knowledge. For the Akwa Ibom State-born geologist in the making, there is no regret so far for the industrial action.

Indeed, there are many students who have mapped out surviving strategies for keeping body and soul together, just as there are many facing hard times, following the strike, which started on July 2, 2013.  Since the shame that the strike ought to represent seems to have become the lot of the nation, the students, who remain the biggest victims, are finding the means of taking their destinies in their hands.

According to Ore Adejobi, a 400 level Statistics student of the University of Ibadan, the best thing is not to agonise or grumble too much, as this would not lead to anything meaningful.

He says, “As far as I am concerned, I have a lot of things lined up for me. I am a creative writer. So, I have stepped up my writing since the strike started. I have also been reading a lot – including fiction, Christian books and those about capacity building. I am planning to register a non-governmental organisation that will focus on literary matters and youth development.

“The strike started just when we resumed for the semester. I am aware of its consequence on the academic calendar, but I don’t let it bother me too much. This is the advice I want to give my fellow students across the country. I guess the struggle boils down to nation-building. It is a national thing. But it should not present an excuse for grumbling. Already, I have started exploring the course I want to pursue during my master’s programme.”

As if heeding Adejobi’s call, Eludayo Ekundayo, a Part 1 English major at the  Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, explains that since the strike has continued to linger, he has decided to return to the shop where he sells animal feeds and drugs.

He notes, “At least, I earn about N10,000 a month,  which is something. Not that I am happy doing it, but I cannot just sit at home to watch ASUU and Federal Government waste my time. In fact, I have learnt a lot of prescriptions for animals during this holiday. I hope the strike will not lead to a change of career for me, because I think I am knowledgeable enough to give drugs and feeds.