ASUU strike: Gainers and losers Posted on August 06th, 2013 by Editor-In-Chief AS the latest strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) enters the second month, the preoccupation by government should not be suspending the strike that would be resumed in a short while. That cycle should be broken this time around for peace to reign on campuses. Taking drastic steps to ensure that the needful is done to stop permanently the frequent assaults on tertiary education in the country is what is required. Enough is enough of the incessant strikes that have made a mess of tertiary education in Nigeria. Nigerians are tired. The world is laughing at us. The concept of university has been totally eroded in Nigeria. The time to act decisively to save the country and its future is now. Rushing to weld together another ad-hoc phony agreement that is not meant to be kept will not resolve this shame on the nation. That approach has failed several times. It has not worked. If the agreements government reached with ASUU in the past had been faithfully implemented, we would not be in this mess. Something else should be done to achieve a lasting solution. It is time to shift and let the universities take their rightful position in the scheme of things. There is no country in the world where two or more universities join forces to confront the government. It is only in Nigeria. And, it is the system that has allowed it. Otherwise, why should universities in far away northeast or northwest and those in southeast or southwest of the country have a common ground to fight the system for a common objective? The universities should be independent of one another like in other climes. Each university has its own needs that it should pursue. The need of one university should not be extrapolated to another. The universities should compete among themselves and not be at par without distinguishing features. Before I say what should be done to stop the incessant battles in the ivory towers, I would like to examine the gainers and losers in all the ignominious battles that have been visited on this country. For the purpose of this analysis, there are three parties to the battles, namely: ASUU, students/parents and the country as a whole. ASUU, the belligerent, is a gainer in all the battles. How? In all the battles, ASUU members gain in several ways. First and foremost, they receive all their salaries and entitlements irrespective of how long the strikes lasted. This is the single most potent factor that prolongs the strikes. ASUU members are most comfortable during strikes, even if the entire academic year is lost, so long as they still receive their statutory emoluments. The provision of no work no pay has never been enforced on ASUU. Instead ASUU is paid for doing no work during strikes. There would have been a different attitude, more introspection by ASUU, if their salaries had been denied whenever they embarked on strike. There is nowhere in the sane world where an employee is paid salary for not doing any work. It is only in Nigeria. As employees, paid with taxpayer’s funds, ASUU should be made to forfeit their salary whenever they are on strike. Apart from the free salary, ASUU members gain free time to engage in private money-earning businesses. Many also teach in private universities. The strikes provide ASUU members with the opportunity to earn multiple incomes from different sources. It is therefore not surprising that ASUU is frequently desirous of embarking on strikes at the slightest provocation. People who have often been in sympathy with ASUU are concerned with a situation where the system is being destroyed. There is need for order. At the receiving end of the numerous strikes are the students and their parents/guardians. Students and their parents are losers. Millions of students and their families have been frustrated by the incessant strikes. The strikes have completely destroyed university calendar such that no student graduates on schedule. Quality is gone. A course programme designed to last for four years now lingers for five to six years. Some students spend seven years to graduate. Students are frequently exposed to the roads travelling to and fro. Some die in road accidents caused by strikes. The lengthy period means more unbudgeted expenses on the part of the parents. And it is not that the parents would gain anything soon after the students graduate. Thousands of the graduates are not employable. The frequent disruptions of the academic programme have ruined scholarship. Crash programmes have replaced methodical and ordered teaching. Handouts have replaced textbooks. Because the students are not properly taught, they are half-baked. They graduate with nothing in the head. Most are unable to write common employment letter. Thousands can’t stand job interview in their field of study. All these have befallen the students because of the frequent strikes. Another loser in the frequent ASUU strikes is the country as a whole. The country has been made a laughing stock. Certificates from Nigeria’s tertiary institutions are rated low outside the shore of this country. Even within the country, some companies have a list of universities they consider their graduates for employment. Graduates from institutions outside the list are automatically blacklisted. The assault on education is dealing a deadly blow on the country both now and in the future. It is beginning to show that some key sectors of the economy are manned by foreigners. The oil industry, for instance, is being controlled by foreign experts. After about 50 years of oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria, the country has not been able to produce experts to man this key sector of the economy. The same fate befalls engineering infrastructural development. Major infrastructural development projects in the country are given to foreign companies. The in-road being made by the Chinese is a pointer to the future. The country’s universities are there in the catalogue without the capacity to produce well- rounded engineers and scientists needed for national development. The country’s space programme is foreign based. The British, Russians, Ukrainians and Chinese man it. Their Nigerian collaborators are mere on-lookers. Nigeria pumps money into a space programme that is manned by foreigners. Where are the Nigerian scientists? What are the universities doing? As sensitive as space programme is, should it be manned by foreigners? Which country engaged in space technology doesn’t have its nationals totally in control of it? The Americans, Russians, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Pakistanis man their country’s space programmes. We’re in this mess because the universities and research institutes have been ruined. What do we do to reverse this ugly situation? Elsewhere, universities are there to compete with one another. It is like business. Call it academic business. Businesses compete to outshine one another. No business sells its secrets to its competitors to use against it. Universities in other climes compete to be on top. But in Nigeria, there is no competition. ASUU and government have made all the universities to remain at par – at the same low level. That explains why Nigerian universities are not found among top class universities in Africa or the world. To break this impasse permanently, government should use the opportunity of this strike to grant automatic autonomy to the universities. Each university should exercise independent control of its day-to-day activities and curriculum. That will engender competition. Government should give the universities grants based purely on specific academic and infrastructural needs. The culture of doling out billions to be shared by the universities is counterproductive. Once each university is completely independent, there would be no need for ASUU, which should be disbanded because trade union in the university is an anathema. Author of this article: By Luke Onyekakeyah
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 18:44:52 +0000
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