Adaptation and Survival Among the University of Nigeria Nsukka Academic Staff: The Double Tragedy of “No Salary” and “Lockdown” Policies

The study examines the existential challenges of the University of Nigeria Nsukka academic staff (university faculty members of various ranks [1]) during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic–induced lockdown. The objective of the study is to examine these professors’ adaptive ingenuity for survival in the face of lockdown, withheld salaries, and other consequences of legalistic pursuit of collective bargaining between the government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities. A mixed-methods approach, combining interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and documentary evidence, was adopted for data gathering. The collective bargaining theory was helpful in highlighting where both parties erred in the course of interpreting their bargaining rights. Our findings show that, left with no alternative of navigating between the twin challenges of lockdown and withheld salaries, the academic staff resorted to self-help financial collectivization. Again, we found that the Nigerian government’s style of legalistic pursuit of collective bargaining is not just power-centric, but a demonstration of power asymmetry. This does not offer a sustainable resolution to the labour conflict, as it poses a serious threat to the universal right-of-workers-to-strike and to manpower development. The study recommends that the principles of horizontal bargaining, cooperation, and complementarity should form the rallying point of government-labour relations at all times.