Any new disruption in the academic calendar due to industrial actions by university-based unions will escalate the crisis in the university system. This must be stopped at all costs.
In this, the Academic Staff Union of Universities recently handed a 21-day strike notice to the Federal Government. This was one of the decisions of ASUU’s leadership during its National Executive Council meeting at the University of Ibadan from August 17 to August 18. ASUU’s national president, Emmanuel Osodeke, said the federal and state governments have refused to address the issues that prompted ASUU’s previous strikes. This is unfortunate.
He said the NEC received “alarming reports” on the failed promises the government made during the 2022 strike. He rejected the “slow pace of the intervention” by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, in resolving those issues.
Osodeke cited the review and signing of the renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement, the demand for impactful funding, and the need for an emergency revitalisation fund for public universities. He cited the payment of outstanding earned academic allowances, release of withheld salaries, promotion arrears, and third-party deductions targeted at its members.
In the 2009 agreement of N1.2 trillion, the Federal Government committed to servicing it with N200 billion annually. This did not happen, forcing a renegotiation under President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012. President Bola Tinubu should pay up instead of splurging on jets.
Osodeke said ASUU is aggrieved about illegal recruitments, the proliferation of public universities, and the abuse of university laws.
He demanded that the universities be removed from the Treasury Single Account and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System to aid university autonomy.
Previous strikes in the last four years followed the government’s failure to implement the 2020 MoA, and the failure to adopt the University Transparency and Accountability Solution for salaries and allowances. Other niggles are the failure to release the EAA for lecturers, improve welfare, fund revitalisation, and autonomy.
These are germane to the development of tertiary institutions, yet the Federal Government continues to display insensitivity to the plight of universities, the staff, and students.
The government must find the funds. It should do this by cutting luxuries and waste elsewhere. It is a question of priorities. Education should attract the necessary funding.
Insensitive as ever, political leaders are frequently photographed celebrating the matriculation or graduation of their children in overseas universities. A few opt for local high-priced private universities. They have lost faith in Nigeria’s public education system. It reflects the country’s poor leadership.
Many, including this newspaper, had long urged ASUU to adopt alternative strategies beyond the counterproductive strike option. While the dons should not give up on this, their persistent rebuttal that they are dealing with deaf and uncaring leadership has won them wide sympathy.
The government must honour its agreements, pay lecturers’ EAA and revitalise the deplorable tertiary education sector. According to the Centre for World University Rankings’ 2022 report, no Nigerian university is among the world’s top 1,000 universities. The University of Ibadan was ranked 1,172; the University of Nigeria placed 1,775. But Cairo University was ranked 531; the University of Johannesburg, 629.
Nigerian universities suffer from underfunding and are under-equipped in material and human resources. Frequent shutdowns and subsequent rushed teaching and examinations degrade standards.
ASUU’s demands include reviewing the proliferation of universities. The government and the National Assembly should stop the irrational creation of higher institutions.
The Federal Government should, therefore, fund the universities appropriately and pay commensurate wages to the lecturers. It should agree with the union and faithfully implement a phased release of the revitalisation fund. The government can look beyond the normal annual budgeting appropriation process to raise the money. It should go the extra mile as it does for security funding.
