Federal Government’s ultimatum to striking university teachers further compounds students’ ordeals, CHARLES ABAH writes For over 150 days, Emmanuel Eze, a post- graduate student of Mass Communication at the Benue State University, Makurdi, has been idling away at home, no thanks to the nationwide strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities. Like thousands of other students in the country, Eze initially hoped that the strike would be short. But it had dragged on indefinitely and in the process, delayed the progress of his academic programmme, which, he thought, would have ended last September. To make matters worse, just when he had begun to look forward to a resolution of the conflict, his hope was suddenly dashed as the Federal Government, through the Supervising Minister for Education, Nyesom Wike, issued a directive to the striking lecturers last Thursday, ordering them to go back to work before December 4 or face dismissal. ASUU had quickly responded by asking its members to ignore the order. Shocked by the new development, Eze wonders what has gone wrong again. Surprised that the matter has taken a different turn, especially at a time the affected students are expecting the industrial action to be called off, he has silently asked what has come over ASUU leadership and the Federal Government. Up until Monday, Eze was still at the crossroads, not knowing who to believe between the government and ASUU. But he is not alone in this catch-22 situation. Mr. Chike Ogbonna, whose two sons are undergraduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, is in a similar quandary. Indeed, Ogbonna has not allowed his children to return to school as directed by the UNN authorities because he is not sure whether or not their teachers will go back to the classrooms. Instead, he has decided to simply wait and see what happens next. Even as stakeholders were contemplating the development, President Goodluck Jonathan and one of his senior aides, Dr. Doyin Okupe, fired another salvo. While Jonathan said the striking teachers’ action was subversive, Okupe noted that the enemies of the state were behind the five-months-old strike. However, the teachers seem unperturbed by the FG’s position. The Chairman of the University of Lagos chapter of ASUU, Dr. Karol Ogbinaka, insists that they are not returning to class. Also Ogbinaka’s counterpart at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Akinola Adegbola, says Wike’s directive will not alter the union’s position on the ongoing strike. As Ogbinaka and Adegbola continue to sound tough, many universities have asked their students to return to the classrooms immediately. Among such are UNN, Enugu State University of Technology, Enugu, University of Abuja, Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo and the Abia State University. Yet as the face-off rages, not many of the students, are happy with the FG. For instance, a student of the University of Lagos, Vincent Obia, describes the latest directive by the government as undemocratic. Obia says, “I feel the FG is being autocratic. It is gradually going back to the heyday of the military. ASUU is a legitimate union and the FG should honour its agreement with the body instead of threatening to sack the lecturers. “Although we students are suffering, I feel that what ASUU members are demanding is a necessary request that will help to restore sanity in the nation’s university system.” Just as Joshua Adeyemi, a Guidance and Counselling undergraduate of the University of Ibadan, notes that the FG’s directive to ASUU will not yield positive results, Oluwafemi Ogunjobi of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife thinks the government is dishonest in its approach to resolving the crisis. The OAU student, who urges his colleagues to be patient in returning to classes, says, “ASUU has come a long way to turn back at this critical stage. “The threat to resume on December 4 shows the government’s insincerity, not only to the education sector, but also to the demands of good governance. It further shows that the last FG/ASUU meeting was a mere bait to trap the striking teachers.” But another student, Eyitayo Ifeoluwa of the University of Abuja, think differently. She says the FG and ASUU should share the blame in the face-off. According to her, both parties are not sincere in ensuring that normalcy returns on campuses. “The current misunderstanding between ASUU and the FG borders on sincerity. The government and ASUU are insincere in their dealings and that is why the strike is taking this long to resolve. Assuming there is trust, we would have passed through this stage by now,” Ifeoluwa says. However, another OAU student, Damilola Ajoke, says the larger portion of the blame should go to ASUU, for refusing to shift ground. The young woman, who says her support for ASUU has waned and that she is tired of staying at home, urges the striking teachers to return to the classroom. Proffering solution to the logjam, Ogunjobi, however, urges the two parties to shift ground in order to arrive at “a mutual agreement.”
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 08:31:29 +0000