Onyekakeyah: ASUU strike: A systematic destruction of Nigeria
THE return of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the
Federal Government to the trenches after a short truce shows that the
incessant battles of the two parties that have practically ruined
Nigeria’s tertiary education system is not ordinary. There is something
that more than meets the eyes behind it. It seems to me that there is a
systematic design to destroy Nigeria by way of “strikes” in the
education sector. This design is being implemented consciously or
unconsciously by both the Federal Government and ASUU.
Otherwise, how is it that Nigeria is constantly under threat of strikes? Between 1988 when ASUU was formed and 2013, (a period of 25 years), ASUU and the Federal Government have battled ten (10) “strikes”. Cumulatively, about two academic sessions have been lost! The impact of the “strikes” on scholarship is enormous. The university calendar has been permanently distorted. No public university in Nigeria today has a calendar. The institutions run on ad-hoc basis as the next day is unpredictable. Students no longer graduate on schedule. Above all these, the so-called graduates of these ill-fated universities are half-baked.
Today, in Nigeria, most university graduates can’t write simple application letter for job! The situation is so bad that even most “first class” graduates are unemployable! They can’t stand job interview in their field of study. That is the extent this madness has taken Nigeria and still government and ASUU don’t seem to appreciate it.
If I may ask, if ASUU is a manufacturer of industrial products (in this case graduates), that are not on demand, how would it feel? If a factory keeps producing goods that are unsalable in the market, wouldn’t the factory close up? So, why is ASUU doing as if it is doing the system any good by churning out thousands of half-baked and unemployable graduates? Why can’t the body persist in making sacrifice in the interest of the students and the country at large?
For instance, reports say the latest round of ASUU “strike” was embarked upon over non-payment of a meager N12,000 academics earned allowances, which is part of the 2009 agreement reached between Government and ASUU. It is unthinkable that ASUU should down tools over an allowance. Allowance is allowance; it is not the main wage. The music maestro, Stephen Osita Osadebe, in one of his hits said, if one’s salary is not enough to meet his needs, is it allowance that will do? Why should payment of allowance be brought to the front burner this time around to disrupt semester examinations and other academic activities all over the country’s public universities?
The other demands such as upward review of the retirement age for professors from 65 to 70; adequate funding to revitalize the university system; progressive increase of budgetary allocations to the education sector by 26 per cent; transfer of federal government property to universities; setting up of research and development units by companies; payment of earned allowances; and renegotiation of the signed agreement, are long-standing issues that should be tackled systematically over time. There is no way any agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU this time around would be binding on government given its penchant to renege on host of similar agreements reached in the past. Government, as the economic owner of capital has proved to be insincere in its dealings with ASUU.
It is important to stress, however, that ASUU has always been forced to embark on “strikes” because of the failure of government to honour agreements it consciously reached with ASUU. If government had for once abided by the terms of agreements it reached with ASUU, most of the “strikes” would have been avoided.
For instance, the declaration last week by the Minister of Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu, which the agreement government consciously reached with ASUU using experts in its fold is impossible to implement, is disappointing. It shows how government has been fuelling ASUU strikes and by extension destroying the universities and Nigeria’s future.
How could Wogu say that he inherited the agreement as if government is no longer a continuum? What about the money and other assets he inherited? Did he throw them away because they were put by the previous government? Why should he infuriate the lecturers the more instead of finding solution to the problem?
Each time there is this battle called “strike”; both parties are adamant, unyielding and unconcerned about the damage that is visited on the education system? It is not that Nigeria is so poor that government has no money to fund the universities to the required standard. Nigeria is very rich and has what it takes to equip the universities and pay lecturers commensurate remuneration. The wealth of the country is being wasted while education upon which a brighter future is built is being destroyed.
I am no longer interested in who is right or wrong in this matter. Both parties have contributed immensely to the impasse we’re facing. Every now and then, there is a “strike” that is followed by agreements that are not meant to be kept by government. Once education, the bedrock of modern civilization is destroyed, the country is finished. What would be left is mediocrity - a citizenry bereft of knowledge needed to pilot the affairs of the country. This is already happening in many sectors.
The country will be unable to manage itself. And because nature abhors a vacuum, foreigners will naturally flock into the country, to take over the positions that Nigerians can’t fill. The foreigners will preside over and direct how the huge untapped natural resources of the country are exploited. Nigerians will be sideliners, with no power to dictate how the wealth of their nation is exploited or used. This is already happening in the oil sector. It gives insight into where the assault on education will lead us to. There may be no end to it. It would be naïve for any right thinking person to think that these “strikes” are ordinary. Far from it. The country is being blindfolded not to see the light. And the only way to do it is to destroy education. There is nowhere in the world where the sort of “strikes” occurring in Nigeria have been witnessed.
Worldwide, strikes are part and parcel of social re-engineering that workers employ to get their dues when the controllers of economic capital fail to be sensitive to their plight. The controllers could be foreigners, national governments or indigenous capitalist entrepreneurs. Elsewhere, when there is strike, the owners of the capital, being aware that they stand to lose if the strike lingers, would do everything to address the workers’ demands so that production can continue. Most of the time, they will give in to the demands as a way of assuaging the aggrieved workers, if possible on permanent basis. That is how strikes are handled in sane climes. I must stress that the owners of the capital, would, at no time, pretend not to be sensitive to the workers’ demands, not to talk of engaging workers on long and frequent strikes while production suffers as it is done in Nigeria. Government should stop this ignominy by abiding with its agreement with ASUU.
Otherwise, how is it that Nigeria is constantly under threat of strikes? Between 1988 when ASUU was formed and 2013, (a period of 25 years), ASUU and the Federal Government have battled ten (10) “strikes”. Cumulatively, about two academic sessions have been lost! The impact of the “strikes” on scholarship is enormous. The university calendar has been permanently distorted. No public university in Nigeria today has a calendar. The institutions run on ad-hoc basis as the next day is unpredictable. Students no longer graduate on schedule. Above all these, the so-called graduates of these ill-fated universities are half-baked.
Today, in Nigeria, most university graduates can’t write simple application letter for job! The situation is so bad that even most “first class” graduates are unemployable! They can’t stand job interview in their field of study. That is the extent this madness has taken Nigeria and still government and ASUU don’t seem to appreciate it.
If I may ask, if ASUU is a manufacturer of industrial products (in this case graduates), that are not on demand, how would it feel? If a factory keeps producing goods that are unsalable in the market, wouldn’t the factory close up? So, why is ASUU doing as if it is doing the system any good by churning out thousands of half-baked and unemployable graduates? Why can’t the body persist in making sacrifice in the interest of the students and the country at large?
For instance, reports say the latest round of ASUU “strike” was embarked upon over non-payment of a meager N12,000 academics earned allowances, which is part of the 2009 agreement reached between Government and ASUU. It is unthinkable that ASUU should down tools over an allowance. Allowance is allowance; it is not the main wage. The music maestro, Stephen Osita Osadebe, in one of his hits said, if one’s salary is not enough to meet his needs, is it allowance that will do? Why should payment of allowance be brought to the front burner this time around to disrupt semester examinations and other academic activities all over the country’s public universities?
The other demands such as upward review of the retirement age for professors from 65 to 70; adequate funding to revitalize the university system; progressive increase of budgetary allocations to the education sector by 26 per cent; transfer of federal government property to universities; setting up of research and development units by companies; payment of earned allowances; and renegotiation of the signed agreement, are long-standing issues that should be tackled systematically over time. There is no way any agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU this time around would be binding on government given its penchant to renege on host of similar agreements reached in the past. Government, as the economic owner of capital has proved to be insincere in its dealings with ASUU.
It is important to stress, however, that ASUU has always been forced to embark on “strikes” because of the failure of government to honour agreements it consciously reached with ASUU. If government had for once abided by the terms of agreements it reached with ASUU, most of the “strikes” would have been avoided.
For instance, the declaration last week by the Minister of Labour, Chukwuemeka Wogu, which the agreement government consciously reached with ASUU using experts in its fold is impossible to implement, is disappointing. It shows how government has been fuelling ASUU strikes and by extension destroying the universities and Nigeria’s future.
How could Wogu say that he inherited the agreement as if government is no longer a continuum? What about the money and other assets he inherited? Did he throw them away because they were put by the previous government? Why should he infuriate the lecturers the more instead of finding solution to the problem?
Each time there is this battle called “strike”; both parties are adamant, unyielding and unconcerned about the damage that is visited on the education system? It is not that Nigeria is so poor that government has no money to fund the universities to the required standard. Nigeria is very rich and has what it takes to equip the universities and pay lecturers commensurate remuneration. The wealth of the country is being wasted while education upon which a brighter future is built is being destroyed.
I am no longer interested in who is right or wrong in this matter. Both parties have contributed immensely to the impasse we’re facing. Every now and then, there is a “strike” that is followed by agreements that are not meant to be kept by government. Once education, the bedrock of modern civilization is destroyed, the country is finished. What would be left is mediocrity - a citizenry bereft of knowledge needed to pilot the affairs of the country. This is already happening in many sectors.
The country will be unable to manage itself. And because nature abhors a vacuum, foreigners will naturally flock into the country, to take over the positions that Nigerians can’t fill. The foreigners will preside over and direct how the huge untapped natural resources of the country are exploited. Nigerians will be sideliners, with no power to dictate how the wealth of their nation is exploited or used. This is already happening in the oil sector. It gives insight into where the assault on education will lead us to. There may be no end to it. It would be naïve for any right thinking person to think that these “strikes” are ordinary. Far from it. The country is being blindfolded not to see the light. And the only way to do it is to destroy education. There is nowhere in the world where the sort of “strikes” occurring in Nigeria have been witnessed.
Worldwide, strikes are part and parcel of social re-engineering that workers employ to get their dues when the controllers of economic capital fail to be sensitive to their plight. The controllers could be foreigners, national governments or indigenous capitalist entrepreneurs. Elsewhere, when there is strike, the owners of the capital, being aware that they stand to lose if the strike lingers, would do everything to address the workers’ demands so that production can continue. Most of the time, they will give in to the demands as a way of assuaging the aggrieved workers, if possible on permanent basis. That is how strikes are handled in sane climes. I must stress that the owners of the capital, would, at no time, pretend not to be sensitive to the workers’ demands, not to talk of engaging workers on long and frequent strikes while production suffers as it is done in Nigeria. Government should stop this ignominy by abiding with its agreement with ASUU.
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