Nigerian universities have been buffeted with agonising
months of strikes for over a decade and until now, the story is pretty
much the same. Government is still unwilling to give the education
sector a shot in the arm.
Academic Staff
Union of Universities, ASUU, has been on strike since June 30 and has
dialogued with FG over 11 times, albeit, inconclusively.
This
underscores the lukewarm posture of government towards the striking
lecturers and from ASUU’s body language and utterances, they have made
it abundantly clear to anyone who cares to listen that they are ready to
continue the strike even if it takes years, insisting that their
decision was adequately taken in a bid to revitalise Nigerian
universities.
The bone of contention is lucid in
itself. An agreement was reached in 2009 that all federal universities
would require a total sum of N1.5 trillion spread over three years
(2009-2011) to address the rot and decay in the universities.
But,
in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed between the union and
the government in 2012, FG decided to extend the gesture to include both
federal and state universities. After the 2012 review, it was agreed
that instead of N1.5 trillion, FG would infuse a total of N1.3 trillion
into the universities over four years.
Almost
four years down the line, FG has refused to fulfill its end of the
bargain. Rather than respond to the issues raised by the union that
would ensure quick resolution to the imbroglio, government boycotted
ASUU to summon a meeting with Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of
universities, offering them N130 billion with a matching order to
lecturers to resume work immediately.
But the
union is insisting that by throwing money at universities in that
manner, government has repudiated the 2009 agreement it entered freely
with the union and the 2012 MoU. ASUU is not making any fresh demand but
has maintained that the 2009 agreement must be honoured.
It
is ridiculous that government officials were quoted as saying ASUU’s
N1.3 trillion demand is capable of shutting down the country. No. Their
insatiable and rapacious greed will.
The private
jets in the presidential fleet can fly, centenary celebrations is a
priority to government, there’s enough money to pay humongous salaries
and allowances to federal legislators and other political office
holders, enough to forfeit to oil subsidy thieves, enough to pay
militants bogus amnesty cheques and phantom contracts while they
continue to bunker our crude oil like never before, there’s enough money
to beg Boko Haram to accept amnesty but there is no money for law
abiding Nigerian students who want to eke out a living using university
education as a stepping stone. It is this kind of attitude from the
government that provokes the use of brute force by some regional groups
to attract government’s attention to their problems.
Government
cannot claim it has no money to fulfill this agreement. A country with
109 senators earning about N19.6 billion a year, while N51.8 billion is
spent on members of House of Representatives for the same period,
totaling N71.4 billion.
This sum, N71.4 billion, represents
17.8 per cent of the N400bn yearly intervention fund recommended by the
Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities. Surely, our
lecturers and universities where they were trained deserve more.
When
we talk of heath care, government official and the ruling elite go
abroad for medical attention; we talk of bad roads, they fly private
jets; we talk of power, they run their homes on 24-7 alternative
electricity source; now we’re talking Education, their wards are in some
of the best universities abroad. There is no way the myriad of problems
bedeviling the country can be tackled if the political elite don’t feel
the pangs.
That Mr. President has taken out time
from his ‘busy’ schedule to constantly parley with the warring factions
of his party, PDP, but has never sat down with ASUU members to chart a
course for Nigeria’s leaders of tomorrow clearly shows his priorities.
Party affairs and chasing perceived enemies of his 2015 ambition around
with apparatus of state are far more important things than bending over
backwards to pander to the demands of the striking lecturers.
But
then, government must take into cognisance the fact that, the longer
the students remain at home, chances are that they will be lured into
social vices. The aftermath can be disastrous for the state.
There
are misplaced calls in some quarters for ASUU to be ‘reasonable’,
accept FG’s offer and return to classrooms. Others lambast them for
being self-centered and unpatriotic. It is unfortunate that Nigerians
are always looking for quick fix solutions to monumental problems. Less
endowed countries like Ghana, Botswana and Angola are making giant
strides on all fronts because the citizenry have at one point or the
other insisted that the needful be done. Here, anything thrown at us is
accepted with glee.
We must get our priorities
right as a country. Government must curb its own excesses. Education
must be given the attention it deserves. Education of the citizenry
should not be subjected to any form of Negotiation. Negotiating the
education of our leaders of tomorrow is more or less negotiating the
future of the country.
Government deliberately
wants the strike to linger, first, to blackmail the opposition. There
have been several unsavoury comments from the government’s divide of the
negotiation table that ASUU has been infiltrated by moles from the
opposition, alleging that the strike has lingered to gain political
capital. That is how low this government can stoop. We have seen it
before. It is an irresponsible and shameless government, one that lacks
integrity and honesty that will blame the opposition for all its woes.
It is unbecoming for the government of the day to continue to heap its
failure on the doorstep of the opposition and ASUU strike is just
another avenue to paint the opposition black before the public.
Second,
is to send a strong signal to other unions who might be contemplating
similar action to have a rethink. Perhaps, government thinks by acceding
to ASUU’s demands, other Labour unions might toe the same path at the
slightest excuse.
Third, the ultimate aim of
government is to paint a bad image of the association to Nigerians, at
least, for as long as the strike persists. The Governor Gabriel
Suswan-led NEEDS Report Implementation Committee mediating on behalf of
the government has unfortunately taken a position that is false,
dishonest, and calculated to misinform the public and cause disaffection
towards the union.
Rather than seek cheap popularity, Governor Suswan and the rest of the FG team should tow the part of honour by asking
President
Goodluck Jonathan to honour the 2009 agreement. There’s no basis for
turning the heat on ASUU and the campaign of calumny.
It
calls for worry, that same government that has always maintained that
‘our graduates are unemployable’ and our universities churn out
‘half-baked graduates’ find it difficult to commit the much needed funds
to revamp the universities.
culled from http://news.naij.com/
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/47703.html
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