Averting ASUU’s ‘Mother’ of all strike

The recent observance of a no lecture day by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as a prelude to declaration of yet another nationwide strike by its almost 100,000 members is a major issue that ought to have sent shivers down the spine of any discerning Nigerian considering the negative impact of incessant industrial actions of the lecturers on the nation’s academic community in particular and the Nigerian economy in general.

 

The previous strike by ASUU which lasted for nine months was the longest lasting protest in the nation’s history regarding an industrial dispute between an employer and his employees. Consequently, we demand that no stone should be left unturned in averting the looming strike.

 

It is rather very unfortunate that authorities of the Federal Government seem to have resorted to ensuring the collapse of every facet of activities of governance to the extent that it now takes foreign interests to interrogate the relevance of government to the Nigerian populace, an inquisition which none of the three tiers of government comprising the executive, legislature and the judiciary have the answers to.

 

It beats any logic and reasoning that agencies of government, in this instance, the Ministries of Employment,  Labour and Productivity, Education and that of Finance, Budget and Planning cannot muster the common intelligence and sincerity of purpose towards implementing earlier agreement reached with the union towards ensuring the smooth administration of education at the level of what used to be called ivory tower.

 

Short of apportioning blames, we strongly take exception to any contraption which could lead to the shutting of our public universities again and shutting students out of their classrooms in the name of strike.

 

We, against all odds, are challenging the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to do all that is within its powers to ensure that the Nigerian academic system is not disrupted further on account of another strike by university lecturers because to allow that would mean the confirmation of insinuations that the present administration is not only rudderless and incompetent but insensitive to the demands of ASUU”.

 

It is our considered opinion that the issues responsible for the incessant shut down of academic activities in the nation’s tertiary institutions consist mostly low hanging fruits which any government which is founded on the philosophy of doing greater good for the greater majority would easily resolve and mobilize resources to implement except that the Nigerian situation appears to have degenerated to the point that the populace live to sustain the government, its agencies and departments instead of the other way round.

 

There are no other ways to explain the fact that an agreement which was willingly entered into way back in 2009 could still be an issue which will continue to determine the basis, functionality or otherwise of our public varsity system and by extension, the quality and quantity of manpower at the disposal of the state.

 

There is no contesting the fact that the Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered into between the FG and ASUU will have positive impacts in the future of university education in Nigeria. Though majority of the items were reached in “principle” the lecturers are  still being intimidated into supervising students on credit; endure excess workloads without pay and work in a dysfunctional system where academic excellence is subdued by the political-academics.

 

It is sad that the agreement over the revitalisation of the universities which ASUU is still fighting to implement was meant for 2009 (N472,031,575,919), 2010 (N497,531,778,701), 2011 (N548,768,190,681) totaling N1.52 trillion, the  N200 billion released in 2014 by the Goodluck Jonathan administration remained the only revitalisation money  released by the FG except the N50 billion paid in 2020 which was meant to be a sign of commitment to honour the earlier agreement.

 

Founded in 1978, ASUU is known to have spent 1,500 days or 4.09 years on strike since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. This implies that about 19.5 per cent of every academic year is spent on strike. According to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, about 94 per cent of students attend Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions. However, most students spend more than the necessary time in school due to the usual clash between the government and lecturers.

 

The discovery that threats and clampdowns by various administrations have failed to intimidate university lecturers and return sanity and decency in the otherwise ivory towers presupposes that the government must learn how to encourage excellence in our tertiary school system if we must continue to train people who are found worthy in both learning and character to take charge of our nation building.

 

For example, in 1992, during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, a decree was promulgated which made strikes by teachers a treasonable felony. The lecturers stuck to their guns and the then Babangida junta bowed to pressure. However, the return to civilian rule on May 29, 1999 seems not to have improved tertiary education in Nigeria going by the frequency of strikes.

 

There is no gain in saying that the FG is paying lip service when it comes to encouraging the growth and development of the nation’s education sector going by its consistency in observing in breach every of its obligation to the sector and by extension, the lecturers culminating in the deteriorating standard of products of the tertiary institutions. Part of the consequences of the decay in our education system is evident in the increasing number of poorly trained architects and medical doctors culminating in regular building collapses and below average performance of medical doctors respectively that often claim dozens lives.

 

A cursory look at the contents of the various Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered into by ASUU and the FG at all times revealed the selflessness of the university lecturers considering that over 80 per cent of those agreements centre more on the development of the university system as opposed to the welfare of the agitating lecturers thus raising critical questions as to what governance is actually to Nigerians if it has remained adamant in implementing a 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement that includes funding for the revitalization of the public universities, earned academic allowances and the renegotiation of a 13-year-old agreement.

 

The situation has been  compounded by the introduction of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with its attendant consequences of the mutilated salaries, promotion arrears and absolute rejection of a home grown University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). It should be a matter of concern to note that Nigeria loses over N1.5 trillion annually to overseas studies on account of the nation’s deplorable varsity system. Ghana alone is estimated to be benefitting about N160bn from hundreds of Nigerian students.

 

At the heart of the matter is the apparent low budgetary allocation to the education sector. While some stakeholders are recommending  ascribing of 16 to 26 per cent of our national budget to education as matter of emergency, the FG is still notching 6 per cent to the sector with a minimal one per cent increase in 2022 budget over the  2021 budget allocation to education

 

It is our considered view that  the FG should urgently negotiate with ASUU in ensuring that the current crises in our educational system are addressed. There should be a strong forum where the three parties (ASUU, the Federal Government and Senates) meet and collaborate to identify and resolve common concerns instead of resorting to strikes. Nigerian universities and the education sector should receive increased budgetary funding from the Federal Government. It is the FG’s responsibility to work diligently to make sure domestic and external factors relating to education, as in other sectors are dealt with decisively.

 

For a better society