All who have meditated on the art of
governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depend on
the education of youths. Aristotle who made the above declaration would
be sad indeed, if he were to observe the lackadaisical attitude to all
levels of education by the Nigerian State. And nothing evidences this
attitude than the fact that the ASUU has been on strike-off and on-
since 2007 over the same set of issues.
On 1/7/07, ASUU called off a 98-day old
strike because the then new president Yar’Adua promised to resolve
pending issues speedily. That is where we are till today. President
Yar’Adua, and his team, Drs Jonathan, Egwu, and Akunyili, [all on leave
of absence from the academia] did not fulfill that promise. It took
another 100day strike in 2009 before an agreement was reached and today,
President Jonathan who was a part of the previous negotiation has also
sabotaged the agreement. Perhaps, ASUU expected too much from government
in terms fulfilling its agreements because it is not in their
character. Between 1981 and 2005, the FG entered into 18 agreements with
ASUU and never fulfilled any of them and between 1993 and 2003,
Nigerian universities on the average lost 36 months to strikes. While
lecturers would prefer to go on with their lectures uninterrupted, it is
on record that all improvements in facilities, institutional
arrangements and conditions of service have only resulted from strikes.
Discussions, appeals and lobbying do not work. Courts can make
declarations and award damages but that is where it ends. So what kind
of system is this; where government agents and agencies will not do
anything without a wrestling contest?
That ASUU has been on strike for one
whole semester is no longer news. What is news however is that the
strike appears to be heading to gear four as the Government is busy with
its campaign of misinformation and disinformation. As usual, the public
reactions are dictated by vested interests: students want to complete
their programmes ‘today today’ while parents want their children as far
away from home as possible[whether they are learning or not!]. Bishop
Kiagama of the Catholic Diocese of Jos has withdrawn his solidarity for
ASUU because of their ‘utter insensitivity to the plight of
students’[Punch, 7/10/13] while Governor Kwakwanso took time of his
theory and practice of kwankwasiyya to lash out at ASUU for persisting
with an expired strategy that was causing untold hardship and
jeopardizing the entire system.[Thisday, 3/10/13, p10]. Tolu Ogunlesi,
charged ASUU of insanity-doing the same thing always and expecting
different results; punishing the victims for the sins of oppressors;
making people believe that the government is the only problem and
inability to communicate effectively that its fighting for better
education [Punch, 7/10/13, p27]. NANs and National Youth Council see the
strike hypocritical and engineered by sinister motives.We are yet to
ascertain whether this is authentic or newer NANS and which faction of
NYC was involved. Meanwhile, NUT, NLC and NUEW have threatened to
practically sympathise with the ASUUists in a session when doctors,
polytechnic and college of education lecturers are on strike over non
implementation of validly negotiated and signed agreements!
It should be clear to all by now that
ASUU does not have any disagreement with the FG and that ASUU is not
making any fresh demands. It is just asking the government to pay the
allowances due to people since 2009 and provide for the funding of
universities as agreed in 2009 [N1.5trn] and re-agreed in 2012[N1.3trn]
and even reinforced by its needs assessment [N800bn for 2012-13]. By
releasing N100bn in 2012, it fulfilled 6.7% of the 2009 agreement or
7.7% of the MOU or 12.5% of assessed needs. And this was even possible
because of the strike. Yet, it expects applause. The earned allowance is
also not a new demand; it was part of the 2009 agreement and why
government should keep silent about it since then or act as if ASUU is
presenting a fresh demand is baffling. Of course, the amount so far
released for EA is just for Federal universities; so those who wish to
plead with ASUU tomorrow should better ask the state governments to
start putting their acts together today! When Nigeria spends .07% of its
GDP on education [$1.96bn out of $262.2bn] as against 7.8% in Botswana,
3.4% in B/Faso, 4.5% in Niger, 8.1% in Ghana and 4.8% in Rwanda, then,
we should all be worried. The same budget for the entire Education
sector in 2012 is just 44% of what Penn State university budgeted in
2013! Those who have not visited any Nigerian university of late can
check out ‘Nigeria University Premises in Photos’ in the net and have an
eyeful. Of course while President Jonathan has time for urgent matters
of the state like new or newer PDP, it has no time for ASUU! That shows
our priorities.
It is in view of this strike and more
strike in the face of Government irresponsibility and infidelity that I
feel that we may have a second look at the BusinessDay model. The paper
in its editorial of 3/9/13 [Nigeria’s inefficient university system]
argued that the problems of our universities cannot be solved with
indefinite strikes and insincere negotiations, stating that only a
negligent government will sign an agreement, plan not to honour it until
it is threatened by strike and then borrow money to pay arrears earned
by staff of vital institutions without demanding improvements. The core
of the model is that since government claims that it costs N2m to train
each undergraduate, this amount should be directly paid to the
universities of the student’s choice. The universities should then be
given the independence to manage its income and mandate to produce
reasonable results such that autonomy is combined with responsibility,
competitiveness and freedom of choice is enhanced. Universities would
then focus on being competitive and on satisfying their students-as
students will ‘port’ from non-performing universities. If this is the
case, Universities will then set their agenda and priorities, streamline
their operations, charge the fees that will enable them create value,
offer courses where they have comparative advantage and be managed in a
system that involves the lecturers and students. Performance contracts
will become imperative and there should be no micro-managing.
But we should all remember that our
educational system does not begin and end with the universities. The
primary and secondary schools are in a big mess. And without a solid
foundation, we can only be making progress in a negative direction!
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