By Sani Sa’i’du Baba
My dear country men and women, earlier in the week, I watched a video of one student that went viral, where he was mobilizing his fellow students from all over the country to contribute the sum of N2,000 each from all universities and give to the Academic Staff Universities Union (ASUU) so that the Union will forget about the government and the strike, and allow students have uninterrupted sessions. Funny though it was, but pregnant with deep implications. This certainly shows that both the students and ASUU have lost hope and confidence in the government. And also that the students believe that ASUU-strike is completely about the association struggling and bargaining for money and that’s all. Well, I will not fault them.
However, let me begin by making a quick clarification that I am neither a lawyer nor in the Nigeria judiciary. But even the dumbest of persons in Nigeria will tell you that the law guiding education in Nigeria is violated. The long-lingering ASUU strike and their negative actions are a clog to the already tottering and hemorrhaging Section 18, of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended. It is abundantly clear to all that the Nigerian State has no socio-educational blueprint and vision for its people. Let me briefly drop what the three main objectives of the section entails here. Firstly, government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels. The second is that government shall promote science and technology. And finally, government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end Government shall as and when practicable provide free, compulsory and universal primary education; free university education; and free adult literacy program. And it is expected that this constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Based on this unfortunately, it is not unfounded that the government is desperately working to not just impoverish the people through denial of adequate education but more so, to keep them in an asphyxiating and hemorrhaging educational system. The educational system is most amorphous and this has what has brought it to a nadir.
The reason of my write up today is due to the recent ASUU’s notification about their looming strike action. About a year old strike that they called off only a year ago now. Although it is not their fault to some extent, but they are also to a large extent to blame. You cannot be doing the same thing over the years and expect different result. It is just not possible! So ASUU should begin to shift strategy for something better. The lack of political will to honor agreement on the side of the government has led to frustrations of the ASUU, hence the unending misgivings and mistrust of the government with which it signed an agreement way back in 2009. How sad it is knowing that ASUU will soon slam the doors of the lecture halls for what it called “total and indefinite strike”, leaving our innocent brothers and sisters, sons and daughters at home. It is still fresh in our memories how parents and students have been left counting days which melt into weeks and developed to months while those involved in ending the industrial action dilly-dally within the same cycle of deadlocked meetings last year.
Based on my understanding, I see the whole altercation as needless as the issues at stake are in no way ambiguous. What the lecturers’ union demand from the government is for it to honor its own promises made in 2009 and some recent ones for improved funding of the university system and working condition of the lecturers. Though the government has now device means of strategically disowning the 2009 agreement signed between its representatives and ASUU, it should be reminded that government is an institution and not persons. Change of administration should not be an excuse to renege on binding commitments made by the government especially that relating to a critical area like education.
Underfunding of the education sector, over the years, has had collateral effects on the country. Our universities, which hitherto were exemplary centres of excellence that attracted academics from far and near, have now become grotesque carcasses of their former selves. In a shameful development, Nigerians from lower and upper classes fall over themselves to leave the shores of the country for studies. A report released recently put the figure of what Nigeria lose to overseas studies at N1.5 trillion per annum. It could be higher. Embarrassingly, countries like Ghana, Uganda, Togo, etc that were hitherto considered far below ours in all respect, have now turned to our saving grace to educate our people. Ghana alone is estimated to be benefitting about N160 billion from hundreds of Nigerians trooping to pursue university education there.
While those who should act to better the system of education send off their children to choice and high class universities around the world, the result at home is a further nose-dive of what remains of quality in the universities. Almost every season, our leaders and their teams vacate to attend their sons and daughters graduation ceremony abroad, while leaving those of the commoners in a dilapidated state. Very sad! I refer you to 2012 committee report headed by erstwhile Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, which conducted a need assessment of Nigerian universities; a very embarrassing report.
To resolve a problem, the root cause of it must be known. It is therefore most pertinent to know where our problem is coming from, to know how to handle it, if not we might be playing the “merry-go-a round” game. But based on my opinion, the lack of political will to fulfill promises and the fact that education is not one of the government’s priorities constitutes the main problem. And my reason is that, ASUU had been ‘striking’ even before the 2009, 2017 and 2020 memorandum of action drawn up by the government and ASUU. The crying question which needs a patting is, what has stopped or is stopping a government who took oath of office by a constitution from carrying out their own part of the signed MOA, if they have the goodwill of the state at heart? Could their actions be to water the appetite of their excessive greed or they are just being wicked?, Why should the government allocate a higher budget to the oil sector than the educational sector?, is it that the Nigerian people prefer oil to education? Why should the senators continue to enjoy luxurious senatorial allowances at the detriment of the moribund educational system? I leave you to answer these questions that possibly might raise other questions in your minds.
The ASUU’s style in getting their demands from the FG can be described as ‘elite struggle’. And what I mean by this is that, ASUU engages in a big-man struggle, which entails sitting at home and doing nothing. The government will not take them serious.
Moreover there isn’t just one way to bell a cat. The government is used to ASUU’s ‘strikes’ and have become complacent to it. Honestly, if ASUU has the interest of the students at heart and the betterment of the educational system, then they must change their modus operandi on their demands getting fulfilled by the FG.
To see what ASUU can do for their demands to be met, I refer you to Mr. Ibrahim H. Abdulkarim’s brilliant recommendation during a television interview on “ASUU strike” that he posted on his Instagram page (Ziter001) on 17th November, 2021. Interestingly, there was no strike in what he recommended, but only an application of the fact that power is truly with the people. What remains is the exploration.
Lastly, no politician in Nigeria that has not seen some of ASUU’s professors low. It is the highest form of disgrace to education if some professors would allegedly allow themselves be used to alter election results or declare loser a winner. Although not in every situation, but of course that has become a norm that politicians, especially those in power utilized to win elections in Nigeria. Some attributes the current happenings with the academia as a repercussion of that, which I personally disagree with. But I do hope that ASUU by now have learnt their lesson.
