agreement reached by the Federal
Government and the Academic Staff
Union of Universities may be the end of
all strike actions by the union, writes
ARUKAINO UMUKORO
Less than two weeks ago, the academic
community and Nigerians generally
heaved a sigh of relief when the Federal
Government reached an agreement
with the Academic Staff Union of
Universities to end its four month-old
strike.
The key factor of the agreement
reached by the parties was that the FG
would inject N1.1tn into public
universities in the next five years.
Beginning from 2014, the FG would
release N220bn per annum.
So far, the aftermath has not been a
pleasant one.
On Tuesday, November 12, the death of
a former ASUU President, Professor
Festus Iyayi, in a road accident may
have halted any further talks about the
process of the implementation, as the
academic community is presently in
grief. Iyayi was on his way to Kano to
attend the ASUU National Executive
Council meeting when one of the
vehicles in the convoy of Governor Idris
Wada of Kogi State rammed into the
vehicle conveying him and others on
Lokoja-Abuja Road.
If only the FG had honoured the
agreement that was reached in 2009,
Iyayi's death would not have happened,
noted Dr. Sola Olorunyomi, a lecturer at
the University of Ibadan and national
convener, ASUU, on Human Rights. "We
lost one of the brightest minds in
Nigeria and anywhere in the world. We
have to wait for our leaders to give us
direction," he said.
The incident aside, and all things being
equal, striking lecturers are expected to
go back to work soon. But will the 2013
agreement, considering the non-
implementation of the 2009 agreement,
be the end of future strike actions by
the union?
"Let us hope that our policy makers and
administrators would be able to make
our universities what it should be. If
that is done, you can say that this may
be the end of the strike. The fact of the
matter is that our leaders are not
serious about developing the education
sector, even though they get the best
from public funded education all over
the world, they don't want to give
Nigeria the best education, and as long
as that remains, this new agreement
may not be the end to strike actions by
ASUU," said Dr. Ademola Afeez, an
educationist.
While Afeez stated that he was certain
the present ASUU would do everything
possible to ensure the new agreement
does not go the same way like that of
2009, he called for accountability from
the body on how it allocates and spends
the proposed fund.
He said, "ASUU has not given us the
complete breakdown of the figure yet.
But be that as it may, whenever the
figure is made open, everything
concerning the agreement should be
made public so that each university will
know how much it is entitled to. It is
very important that there is
transparency within the university
system,
"ASUU should also be part of the
implementation committee in each of
the universities, so that every kobo
released could be accounted for and any
amount earmarked for any project
would not be diverted to other
projects."
The union has embarked on several
strike actions in the past to press home
their demands. According to The Scoop,
an online publication, lecturers have
been on strike for a total of "30 months
out of 156 months since 1999, the year
Nigeria returned to civil rule."
Beyond the FG honouring its part of the
agreement, another significant factor to
ending future strike actions is for the FG
to increase budgetary allocation to
public education, Olorunyomi noted.
"Despite that they have other
emergency efforts in their various
education sector, other countries have
between 23 to 26 per cent of their
annual statutory budget allocated to
education; like South Africa and Ghana;
Nigeria has barely eight per cent of its
budget for education. Our benchmark
should be 26 per cent. The poor funding
of public education is the major reason
for the dilapidated infrastructure in our
institutions," he said.
Infrastructure decay is a reason why
many Nigerians who can afford it now
prefer to further their education abroad.
In 2012, according to the Chairman,
Committee of Pro-chancellors of Nigeria,
Dr. Wale Babalakin, N160bn was spent
on university education by about 75,000
Nigerian students in Ghana.
If the issue of funding of public
education is properly addressed, the
exodus of Nigerian students to
universities abroad would reduce, Afeez
emphasised. He also called for
specialisation of programmes in the
universities to improve the standard.
"The universities should be more
focused. Let's know each university for
what it can produce, be it a university of
education, engineering or agriculture.
Let these institutions produce
specialists in these areas. There should
also be a synergy between the
universities and the industries, so that
research proposals can come to logical
conclusions. Also, industries can also buy
our products," he explained.
The new agreement will also ensure that
Nigeria universities compete favourably
with their counterparts abroad. This
would also help to improve the global
ratings of the country's tertiary
institutions, added a professor of
science and technology education,
University of Lagos, Duro Ajeyalemi.
"Improving the infrastructure in our
institutions is part of the reason ASUU
went on strike in the first place. If the
FG had been releasing these monies
from 2009 at N100 billion every year,
we would have improved on our
infrastructure and learning environment
greatly, and also have a stable calendar.
But government reneged," he said,
adding that there would be no reason
for the union to go on strike again if the
FG keeps to the new agreement.
For Olorunyomi, Nigerians should not
leave everything to ASUU; they should
also serve as watchdogs for the
country's public education system.
"There are no guarantees. It's up to
Nigerians to decide whether they want
the education sector to improve or not.
Nigeria has the largest concentration of
black people in the world, so the quality
of its education will inform how we
perform within and outside the
continent, "he noted.
When contacted, the ASUU National
President Dr. Nasir Fagge, neither
picked his calls nor responded to the
text message sent to his phone.
Source: punchng
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