Academic Staff Union
of Universities, ASUU, have 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 N130billion 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 bad roads, they fly private jets; we talk 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 the 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 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
toe 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.
Theophilus Ilevbare
is a public affairs commentator. He can be reached via theophilus@ilevbare.com.
Engage him on twitter, @tilevbare. He blogs politics at http://ilevbare.com
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