Federal Government-ASUU Dispute Over University Autonomy and Industrial Disharmony in Federal Universities in Nigeria, 2009-2023

The university is a citadel of academic excellence, a centre of learning, where knowledge is created and shared for the purpose of economic, social, political, scientific and technological development of society. It is therefore expected to operate in an atmosphere of peace, order and without tension or any form of disharmony to achieve its goals. Unfortunately, this is not the case with federal universities in Nigeria that have been in a perennial state of industrial disharmony. Extant literature attributes this situation to poor leadership and struggle for power and influence within the union as well as the conflict between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities over non-implementation of extant agreements. However, not much research has been done with respect to the impact of the FGN-ASUU dispute over university autonomy. Therefore, this study sought to examine the nexus between the FGN-ASUU dispute over university autonomy and industrial disharmony in federal universities in Nigeria based on a research question. This study is anchored on the Marxian conflict theory. A time series design was adopted for the study. Data were collected through qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative descriptive method was used for data analysis. Results of the analysis showed that the FGN-ASUU dispute over academic freedom, administrative autonomy and financial autonomy account for frequent strikes, frequent dialogue and negotiations, and protests and confrontations in federal universities in Nigeria between 2009 and 2023.