ASUU strike is now in its six month. University students in Nigeria, the proverbial leaders of tomorrow have now been idle at home, for a better part of one academic session, and counting. And as the debate on who is right and who is wrong, rages on, one can only wonder what role this association is playing in the development of Nigeria’s educational institutions. At the crux of the current crisis is the refusal/inability (delete as appropriate) of the Federal Government of Nigeria to honour an agreement reached with the body in 2009 to inject an estimated N1.5 trillion into Nigeria’s university system in three years. Consequently, for the umpteenth time since the formation of ASUU in 1978, university lecturers have vacated theatres nation-wide. However, the important question some are asking is this: would N1.5 trillion, in three years, solve the problems of Nigeria’s educational system or even those of Nigerian universities? The categorical answer, I believe, is NO. The challenges facing the country’s educational sector are beyond cash alone. There is a total collapse of the educational system; and that entails the acute lack of openness, transparency, professionalism, fairness, dedication, philosophy, and of course investment which reflects the negligence of all the actors and players in this all-important sector. The hypocrisy of ASUU though, is that it exclusively focuses on the excesses of the government. For example, although the association is in a running battle with the government over how much cash the universities should be given, it has done little to push for a more transparent and prudent administration of resources in Nigerian universities. As members of the association complain that the universities are under-funded, they have failed to rigorously assess how “the little” they get is used. It is known that some universities are given between N100 million and N200 million monthly, the bulk of which is spent on recurrent expenditure (yes! The universities too); and although, contrary to global practices, Nigerian universities almost exclusively depend on Federal Government’s allocation and grants, they still generate decent revenue from other sources, such as consultancy and charges such as “acceptance” and registration fees which run into tens of thousands in most universities. Do they publish these? How are these funds managed? And more importantly, how was N1.5 trillion arrived at? Also, this umbrella organisation of Nigerian academics, appear to be comfortable with the level of mediocrity in the university system. Perhaps that explains why, as an organisation that aims to improve the overall condition of university education in Nigeria, their union has virtually shown no commitment to ensuring compliance with standard university procedures among the members. We are not aware of any strike action, or any other action for that matter, against lecturers that only go to classes once or twice at the very end of the semester because they have been ‘busy’; or those that trade grades for sex or money; or those that victimize the students out of sheer cruelty; or those that award degrees to graduates who cannot fill their forms properly at NYSC camps; or the many “professors” among them who do not have the requisite 40 publications in peer-reviewed journals; or those that hold two or more full-time appointments in different universities. Denying that any of these is the norm on university campuses all over the country would be self-delusion, and yet, this is not a N1.5 trillion problem. It is not even a financial problem at all. Again ASUU has played no small part in the neutralization of student bodies nation-wide. Members who also act in various administrative capacities in the universities have both actively and passively supported the existence of sterile student unions. In some universities, the conventional Student Union Governments (SUGs) are banned altogether for years and ASUU does nothing about it. In others, there are caretaker committees or executive councils practically appointed by the university management. This has accelerated the transition from the student unions made up of vibrant, active and cultured student of the 1970s and early 1980s to the ones made up of hungry, ignorant and unrefined ones of today, whose only ritual is giving awards to the highest bidder. This criminal role of ASUU in the gradual erosion of student activism is partly responsible for the timid and inexperienced graduates churned out from the universities nowadays. Additionally, ASUU’s vision and agenda is too narrow and parochial. The association purportedly pursues not only the development of education, but the economic progress of Nigeria. If this was the case, they would have realized that there is more urgent need for investment at lower levels of education – so they could admit suitable and capable undergraduates – than in the universities and they would have acted accordingly. If the universities get N 1.5 trillion in three years, what would the polytechnics, monotechnics, colleges of education, secondary and primary schools get? Has ASUU asked? Have they, as the intelligentsia, made an analysis of the impact of such investment on other sectors? Do they even have a blueprint of how the funds will be used?! Clearly, ASUU needs to be more self-critical. Professionals have forced tyrants and kleptocrats – and our leaders are both – to surrender throughout the 20th Century; but that is hardly achieved through intermittent strike. The more ASUU goes on strike, the more ineffective, less intelligent and toothless they appear to be, and that is because strike is the easiest thing they could do. What happens if the government enters into another agreement with them and then reneges? They go on strike again? Isn’t that what they have done in the last three decades? The time of acting like some Soviet-era factory workers – singing, punching the air and calling each other comrade – is long gone. This is 2013, the era of openness, social media and democracy. If the government says there is no money and ASUU thinks there is, then they should openly and critically scrutinize public spending and policies; they should literally put the government in the spotlight and make their case through the National Assembly rather than use students as human shield. They must learn to respect the institutions of governance in a democracy they have also fought for; and they must also duly and honestly discharge their responsibilities before asking for more money. This is a critical time for ASUU, just as it is for Nigeria; and like Nigeria, the association must reinvest itself, before it self-destructs.
Mahmud Abdullah mahmudma80s@yahoo.com @maestro_MA1
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