If you’ve followed ASUU strike since 1999 when the democratic dispensation began you’ll notice one trajectory: ASUU and government relation is like a relay race; one regime passes the baton to the other without resolving the underlying reasons for the strike. At times, emotions are brought to bear by appealing to striking lectures to “take the interests of the students into consideration” and call off their strike.
The crises in the system are quite glaring. Already the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU) and the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) are already waiting “patiently” in the wings for the government to be done with ASUU before they put their broth on the table. As we grapple with some of the challenges the strike has thrown up, former president Olusegun Obasanjo blamed the then government of late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for agreeing to certain demands made by ASUU.
OBJ, who spoke at a book launch in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, noted that the administration should not have allowed itself to be stampeded into signing agreements without full consultations. Equally too, Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, said last week that the demands by the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) were unrealistic in light of the economic situation in Nigeria. She called for a structural and policy change which will allow public and private investments to be integrated into the university system.
Beyond these, is there really a future for Nigerian public universities or are we going to witness a full system meltdown? My major grouse is that it appears no one really cares about sustainable solutions that ensure there is no repeat of the same situation over and over again. It does not take a soothsayer to see that each government – for mainly political exigencies – deals with ASUU in a way that ensures ASUU returns to the classrooms, knowing fully well that the underlying problem of why ASUU goes on strike remains perpetually unresolved.
What this means in simple terms is that we are not going to fix our universities and the recurrent ASUU challenge will subsists as in the past. The challenges of our universities, and indeed other tertiary institutions, are not that these challenges exist; it is that these challenges more or less remain the same over decades.
Emotions aside, Dr. Ezekwesili, in her comments about the strike raised some salient issues that I believe should be looked into. “Money,” she stated, “is not limitless and yet everyone must acknowledge that investment in education is crucial and it is key. There are, however, some fundamental reforms that the sector needs in order to ensure that it is not about the size of the funding but about the productivity of the funding. You cannot simply express a desire, it must be founded on reality and that means you must know what can be achieved within a given period.
I have spoken to university administrators who are very critical of ASUU even though they cannot publicly express their views like Obasanjo and Ezekwesili did. Since they’re in the system they feel ASUU members should take mirrors and look at themselves intently and put their house in order, especially in the area of attitude to work. One told me point blank that for some of them, the university is simply a launch pad for their various consultancies, relegating research – which should be their primary concern – to the background.
This notwithstanding, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND admitted that there were some lapses on the part of government and promised that the strike would be called off this week, as the sum of N53 billion would be released to the union.
The issue of accountability was raised at that hearing. “ASUU asked for N23 billion to be paid, but we said the condition for getting the N23 billion was for them to account for the N30 billion they had taken and they were not able to account for it. The Minister of Finance undertook to do the audit from the ministry and we agreed that the result would be known in six months. During the six months, government undertook to be paying ASUU N1.5 billion each month.”
I find it quite disturbing that ASUU needed to be asked to account for the money previously collected before doing so. I believe firmly that a union attuned to the values of accountability and transparency would not have needed to be told to do the right thing. But even more fundamentally, I fail to see how meeting ASUU’s immediate demands can be a realistic solution in the long run. From an economic standpoint: will the economy, in its present state, be able to support ASUU’s demands, let alone the needs of the education sector?
In all these, one fact remains; our leaders, including even some of the privileged lecturers have their children in schools everywhere but public schools where they are exposed to some of the menace that are too well known to detain us here. Like with most of the challenges Nigeria has had to deal with over the course of almost its entire Independent existence, part of the problem is centralisation and control by the Federal Government. The structure does not work and we already know that. What we probably aren’t so sure of is how to move forward.
I was at the unveiling of the board of trustees of a private university recently and what I witnessed was quite instructive. The founder of the university picked a prominent ex banker as the pro chancellor. The banker was able to pull his colleagues – and others from corporate Nigeria – who donated, or pledged resources to the university. They came up with several initiatives, including giving their time and experience to ensure the university succeeds. Some even promised to lecture from time to time and impart the knowledge they have gathered over the years.
Can this happen in our public universities? I’m afraid not. One of the major problems for us in the country is that we are often scared of new things. Why can’t we explore the option of running our universities as Trusts? Government should simply give grants. Trustees should include accomplished private sector achievers that can help raise money and endowments for the University. They will also check fraud by the VCs, which – rather unfortunately – is becoming very rampant. If I get my facts correct, at least six former or current Vice Chancellors are under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
I’m afraid it will be difficult to pull the issue of Trusts through. The reason is clear: those that benefit from a decadent and porous system of waste and lack of accountability will do everything possible to ensure it never sees the light of day. A university don wrote an op-ed in several newspapers where he outlined how funds are siphoned through endless and unnecessary meetings and endeavours that add little or nothing to the development of the university system.
It is disheartening and painful to note that university administration has since been taken by the general Nigerian malaise; corruption. If my facts are accurate, the quantum of ASUU’s claim is put at about N1.2 Trillion. In 2009 when this was agreed, this was about 25% of the Budget. Someone was illogical enough to sign this on behalf of government. To move forward, there may be a need to overhaul the system altogether. This reset of the system could even cost an entire academic year but if it fixes this particular problem permanently, it would be a very useful sacrifice to make for the sake of the future.
The government needs to cut a deal with ASUU but must think sustainability when going to the table. A recent news report has the current Education minister Adamu Adamu saying the ASUU strike will be over in a matter of days. This simply means that we are about to revisit the old playbook which will result in another strike after some time. Rather, what is needed is an overhaul this system.
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