Many business owners on campuses are not happy over the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) warning strike, billed to last for four weeks. It is affecting their businesses negatively.
ASUU declared the strike on Monday, February 14. ASUU strikes, from history, always come with concomitant hardships not only to the academic unit but also to the economic units making up the university campuses. These economic units are businesses on the campuses that rely on the students to survive.
Emmanuel Osodeke, the national president of ASUU had in a media brief stated that the strike would last for an initial period of 4 weeks in the hopes of getting the federal government to commit to agreements earlier reached and that should the government fail to address issues accordingly, then the strike will be comprehensive and total.
Most of the business owners on campus who spoke with BusinessDay on their first two weeks’ experience of the strike lamented the massive sales drop effects of the strike.
Alarape Kazzim, a business owner inside the campus community of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), vehemently opposes the strike, stating that it is causing entrepreneurs on campus massive sales drop.
“It is obvious that when students are not there, businesses on campus suffer. The strike is affecting us seriously, daily sales have dropped to less than 10 percent,” he said.
Read also: ASUU-FG meeting to reconvene Monday — Ngige
Kazzim disclosed to BusinessDay that many students have gone home as a result of the strike; hence, candidates for projects are not there to type, print, or photocopy their works. Besides, he stated that those for online registration are not there also.
According to Kazzim, “Families of many of those who have businesses on campus are suffering because they rely on the proceeds to survive. Many of us are idle these days due to the strike.”
Another business owner at the Moremi hall end of UNILAG who identified himself simply as Yusuf decried the declining slide in businesses activities on campus as a result of the strike.
“We are experiencing a massive sales drop as a result of the unavailability of students on campus. On a normal day, we would make about N40, 000 but now if you get N5,000, that is about 87.5 percent decline. The difference is quite clear,” Yusuf said.
He called on ASUU and the federal government to see reasons to resolve the impasse and save families the hardship.
“Even now we are not having steady power supply due to the strike action, in fact, everything is just grounded,” he stated.
Tega Obada, from the University of Benin, Edo State said though the businesses are still running but at a very minimal level.
“Though customers are still patronising, it comes with extra costs due to the logistics involved as the electric power providers are not helping matters, besides, the usual campus shuttles are not handy, causing a hike in prices and the resultant low patronage,” she said.
A business centre owner at the faculty of education in UNILAG identified himself only as Lanre said the business is groaning due to the strike.
“I have to ask some of my boys to stay back because the daily income cannot cater for their wages again. When the students were there, I used to have up to 5 staff, but as the students who are the key customers are not here, I have been forced to reduce the number to 2, to enable me to run the business profitably well,” Lanre said.
Meanwhile, students are lamenting the agony of being left on campus without lectures. Many of the students are pleading with ASUU and the federal government to do the needful and call off the strike.
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The federal government and ASUU have resolved to meet again at the reconciliation table on Monday, February 28 to find an end to the strike after the meeting on Tuesday ended inconclusively.
It is expected that both parties will reach a cordial agreement that would spur the return of not only academic activities but also economic activities to the campus community.
