With the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) having downed
tools for over three months now, and the commencement of a nationwide
strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities
(ASUU) last Tuesday, Nigeria’s public higher education sector can be
said to be in a state of emergency.
The ASUP and ASUU strike has been
criticised from various points of view by the general public, some
criticising the Federal Government for promises unfulfilled, while
others are criticising the lecturers for constantly striking for
monetary reasons selfishness; not considering the students who are going
to bear the major brunt of the issue. CLEMENT IDOKO and MOYOSORE
SOLARIN spoke to stakeholders:
Mrs Adesuwa Ifedi, Country Director, Enactus
When
you put it in the constitution that people have the right to embark on
strike actions to show their protest, then the lecturers are only
exhibiting their rights. We need to put our money where our mouth is, if
education is important to us, then we should treat our lecturers right.
We should not degrade them to a place where they have to embark on
strike actions and you now turn the tables on them, talking about how
committed they are when we haven’t even shown our commitment in the
amount of income that we dedicate to the education sector its unfair. I
think the government should do the right thing first and not put the
cart before the horse.
Chuke Steven, student, Enugu State University of Science and Technology
I
blame both the Federal Government and the lecturers for the strike
action because to some extent, the lecturers are greedy. However, on the
part of the government, a contract is binding, so if they reached the
agreement back in 2009, the government should by now have implemented
what was agreed upon. This strike is going to shatter hopes and kill the
morale of students, as there are some who should be writing final year
examinations, but these are now indefinitely on hold.
Mr Tonye Cole, Sahara Group
I
think it’s a matter of insensitvitiy. Its about finding a balance
between two disagreeing parties and if this is not done. It is the
students that will suffer. It is the students that are suffering the
most for the strike. I think this is beyond insensitivity, I think we
need to always know that when we are looking at the nation, we are
thinking about the future generation. Once we can work on this, we will
realise that strike actions will become less. This strike is a wrong
step in the wrong direction, regardless of what type of strike it is.
Uduakk Inuk, Post graduate student, UNILAG
I
think the government is being highly insensitive, the agreement made
with the lecturers was in 2009 and between now and then, there have been
series of strike action. For me, the best thing is that everybody
should stand up in support of the strike, including students, for the
issues to be addressed finally. What the lecturers are fighting for is
their right, which they obviously deserve. To me, the strike action is a
fight for a good cause.
Olasunkanmi Salau, National Youth Corps Member
The
strike decision by the lecturers is not in the best interest of anybody
but they have waited for almost four years which is highly unfair and
insensitive on the Federal Government’s part. These lecturers also have
families to take care and with the continuous down turn of Nigeria’s
economy, they need to keep their head above water and survive.
Mrs Yinka Ogunde, Chief Executive Officer, EDUMARK
It
is difficult apportioning blame to anyone in this kind of situation.
The strike is, however passing across a message that we are still not
getting things right in the country, especially at a time when we are
trying so hard to revamp the falling standards of the education sector.
We must not always close the door on a negotiation table, I will plead
with both parties to for the sake of the students who are going to be
the most affected please go back to the drawing table and find a final
solution to this problem as soon as possible.
Dr Fawziyya Abdulkareem, medical doctor
This
simply shows the level of government’s commitment to education, one of
the most key sectors to any country’s development. They waste money on a
whole lot of things that are not so important, yet, the government
cannot adequately pay the people who are responsible for grooming the
youth, Nigeria’s future. This speaks of how bleak Nigeria’s future is.
Same goes for the health sector.
Mr Ojo, parent
The
whole issue is a very disturbing one and it will definitely have
adverse effects on parents, the government and as well as the students.
The school calendars are being disrupted, this will further elongate the
number of years the students are supposed to spend in school which is
very bad. Government needs to rise up to its responsibilities.
Mrs Folashade Otapo, trader
The
lecturers are being selfish, each time they embark on a strike, it is
always about money. I understand the government had an agreement with
them, but I believe the government has so many responsibilities on neck.
Things are already bad in the country and this strike will make it
worse. My children have been home since the polytechnic strike began and
I can tell you as a parent, they are already beginning to misbehave out
of idleness. Lecturers should call of the strike and continues with
their jobs, I believe the government will attend to them when due.
Busola Kilaso, Methodist University College, Ghana
The
issues of strike is why I travelled abroad for my masters degree as
much as I would have loved to study in my country. Lecturers need to be
encouraged, they do a lot of work and are severely over-burdened on
their responsibilities. How does the government expect them to put in
their best and produce quality graduates? Of course as citizens we share
in some of the blames but the government is too non-committed. A lot of
brilliant Nigerian youth are being frustrated out of the country year
in year out and it’s a big shame.
Vice Chancellor, Crawford University, Professor Samson Ayanlaja
My
advice for parents is that they should send their wards to where they
will not be hindered by strike actions. As the government universities
obviously at one point or the other have usually their calendars
interrupted, which cannot happen in private universities.
Professor
Tunde Solarin, former Minister of Education, has described the
incessant strike actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) as destructive to development of Nigeria’s education sector.
He said: “It has always been my prayer and desire that an end should
be put to strikes all the times because they are very destructive to
development not only to education sector alone. It affects other areas
and has serious social implication in the society”.
ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, in an interview, said the strike
was inevitable in view of the fact that the Federal Government was not
serious about honouring the agreement it entered with the Union.
He added that education at all levels in Nigeria, has never received
due attention. He said: “It’s clear that if we take all levels of
education, the basic and tertiary education and we look at the three
issues of access, quality, and delivery, it is very clear that we have
not reached where we want to reach in terms of delivery”.
Fagge, noted that some of these issues bedeviling the Education
sector were identified in the report of the Needs Assessment Committee
to Nigerian Universities, which he said the government has refused to
implement.
He said: “if you look at what is happening, the issues that are in
the report, if you look at it independently, you will see that we have
not been able to achieve our target. In the issue of basic education, in
spite of the funding that has been increased, if you look at the access
and quality, you will see that we have not really been able to move the
system forward”.
Dr. Fagge added, “We that teach in the universities receive the
product of this lower level, we have to go back and try to brush up and
make sure that you polish the foundation to make us catch up with the
new knowledge you are going to put on them. In reality, in both basic
and post basic education, we still have problems.
“On tertiary education, over the years, we have not been able to
address the major problems of brain drain, riot in the system and decay
of infrastructural facilities and that is the evidence that the report
on the Need Assessment that was handed to the government on July, 2012
clearly indicated that we have serious problem in the system
particularly in the university education.
“So what we need to do is to ensure that we implement the
recommendations of that report. But sadly, we have had an agreement with
the government in 2009 on four issues which includes: Funding,
University autonomy and Academic freedom and then conditions of service
and other matters but four years after, the provisions of the agreement
have not been implemented.
“We have had cause to go on warning strike, indefinite strikes on
number of times prior to 2012 and the last one was suspended on 2nd
February 2012 after we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the government on how best to implement the 2009 agreement. Sadly, one
and half years after, we are still at the drawing board. We have not
been able to implement even the provisions of that MOU.
“Out of the provisions, government has been able to implement two
which is the “review of the retirement age of academics on the
professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years and the reinstatement of the
Governing Council of universities. It will be recalled that government
without notice dissolved the Governing board of universities, and we
took it up, that the government action will not favour the university
system.
“One particular aspect of the whole issue to us, is the issue of
funding of the universities and what we accepted to do was to set aside
N100 billion for 2012 as immediate intervention in the system to address
infrastructural decay and to set aside additional N400 billion in 2013,
2014 and 2015 but the universities are yet to draw from the N100
billion,” ASUU President stated.
He further explained: “We have realised that we reach agreement with
the government and government finds it difficult to faithfully implement
the provisions of the agreement and that is the reason why our members
nationwide advised that we just go back to the trenches.
On the argument by the Federal Government that ASUU has no reason to
go on strike given that the government was still meeting with them on
the matter, Dr. Fagge said strike was a fundamental right of a worker.
He said: “Well, a strike is a fundamental right of a worker. If it
becomes clear to a worker that the dialogue with his employer is
becoming the dialogue of the deaf and dump, the worker has the right to
withdraw his services. That is a fundamental right, it is enshrined in
the ILO conventions and it is part of the right of Nigerian citizens. We
don’t have to inform anybody that we are taking an action when it
becomes clear to us that what we are doing cannot make any headway and
that was what our members looked before embarking on the strike.
“You should ask the government, out of the nine provisions of the
MoU, how many have been implemented by the government? Have we addressed
the problems identified on the Need Assessment report? Our universities
are still the way they are; we don’t want to continue deceiving
ourselves. We expect that dialogue should produce results. We have been
dialoguing for one and half years and we are tired of doing that, we
want actions”.
When asked on which way forward, the ASUU boss said, “The strike
continues or be called off depending on government’s decision. If the
government does what is right, I assure that we will call off the strike
immediately. We will look at what government has and we will review the
situation.
“Part of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement was that each university council
should put in place a budget monitory committee. The committee will
comprise both ASUU and other trade unions in the campus, Student Union
Government (SUG) and representative of Senate and Council.
Shade Aromire, secondary school leaver.
I just concluded my
secondary education and wanted to study here in Nigeria but with this
strike, my parents are already considering sending me abroad. It would
only waste one’s time and students wil end up spending five to six years
for a four-year course and even after graduating there is still no job
plus Nigerian certificates are not recognised in developed countries
around the world. There is very little to be proud of about this country
right now an am very sad about that.
