Once again, another round of insensate indefinite strike by the Academic Staff Union ofUniversities (ASUU) has paralysed academic activities in federal and state universities nationwide. According to the union, the decision to go on strike stems from government’s insincerity andlack of seriousness, which led to the non-implementation of some provisions of the2011 agreement. Specifically, the issue concerns “earned allowances,” that is, allowances meant for the excess workload by lecturers, which include teaching more students than the recommended number, supervision of post-graduate dissertations, and sundry administrative functions performed by lecturers. For me, President Goodluck Jonathan is a greatdisappointment to his former colleagues, considering the fact that as a former lecturer, he should have invested heavily and wisely in the educational sector. When military dictators were in power, they put a lot of money into defence because that is their primary constituency. There is no good reason why a former academic should not give preferential treatment to the education sector, because well-educated human capital is the most important factor in national development. As I have always argued whenever ASUU resorts toindefinite strike, successive federal and state governments have never lived up to their responsibilities to institutions of higher learning in the country. This is because of heart-rending corruption and lack of deep appreciation by political officeholders of the fundamental role sound tertiary education plays in national development, especially now that we a living in a knowledge-driven globalising world. Speaking of corruption, Jonathan’s administration lacks the moral authority and iron will to deal with it decisively. Consequently, scarce public funds that ought to be used to improve education and other critical sectors of our national life are looted and the remainder is wasted on the sybaritic lifestyles of top government functionaries. Thatsaid, the reaction of Prof. Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) to the current strike is disingenuous. According to him, ASUU should have persevered because the amount it presented to government for settling the unpaid allowances was huge. Prof. Okojie ignored the fact that there is enough money tomeet most of ASUU’s demands, but President Jonathan and other top public office holders are not managing it wisely. Moreover, given government’s half-hearted implementation of agreements with ASUU in the past, the union is justified in thinking that government does not really intend to keep its own side of the bargain this time around also. Nevertheless, if indeed it is true, as Okojie alleged, that ASUU did not get back to government after its National Executive Councilmeeting at Olabisi Onabanjo University before announcing the strike, then the union acted in bad faith. Why is ASUU in a hurry to declare an indefinite strike just for earned allowances, to which only some lecturers are entitled anyway? In my view, considering the serious damages to the universities caused by frequent indefinite strikes, ASUU should have been a little more patient, no matter the level of frustration with the unnecessary delays by government in paying the allowances. From the foregoing, government is wrong in failing to abide by the terms of the agreement it has with representatives of the lecturers anddeserves blame for giving ASUU an excuse to embark on strike once again. Yet, it would be intellectually dishonest, and false, not to highlight some of the ways lecturers have contributed to the financial problems in various public-owned universities. To begin with, university authorities across the country, just like politicians in government right now, are guilty of financial recklessness and mismanagement of resources
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 05:36:54 +0000
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