When the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU, embarked on a national strike on July 1,
2013 due to the refusal of Federal Government
to implement the 2009 agreement it signed
with the union which had several components,
including adequate funding of education
sector, Nigerians feared another long winter
for their children forced to return home.
Strike by lecturers in public universities has
become a normal trend every two years. The
nation is accustomed to disrupted academic
sessions that at times linger on for about six
months.
To have an uninterrupted academic calendar in
the university system is abnormal. So the
strike factor is usually built into the calendar.
An academic programme scheduled for three
or four years, could last for seven years.
The blame for this can rightly be placed at the
door step of the Federal Government, fond of
breaching negotiated agreements reached with
ASUU. There is the question of failed
leadership, corruption, show of insincerity and
lack of commitment to agreements; knowing
that any breach would lead to shutting down of
the universities by a frustrated union which
feels government is unwilling to develop
education in the country. The government is
yet to understand that any refusal to honour
agreement freely signed without duress
tantamounts to a breach of contract,
actionable in law.
Already, the public university system is in
decadence in all ramifications. Most of the
over 30 Federal and 36 State universities are in
bad condition. Physical infrastructure for
teaching and learning are grossly inadequate,
dilapidated and over stretched. The
laboratories and workshops are obsolete, poor
furnishings, poor power and water supply,
outdated equipment, crowded hostels and
unhygienic living conditions.
Many of the universities don’t have video
conferencing facility, only a fraction have or
use interactive white boards. Many are without
public address systems in their lecture rooms,
while none of the universities had fully
automated library resources.
Education Minister, Prof. Ruqayattu Ahmed
and ASUU President, Nasir Issa-Fagee
Apart from all these inadequacies, it has been
found in a Federal Ministry of Education
Report, that many of the universities are
grossly understaffed, relying mainly on part-
time and visiting lecturers, with several under-
qualified academic staff, lacking effective staff
development programmes. Recently, the
National Universities Commission (NUC) came
out with a directive that all university lecturers
must possess Ph. D degrees within a given time
or lose their appointments. Only about 43% of
academic staff in the university system have
doctorate degrees, the remaining 57% don’t.
According to the report, there are 37,504
lecturers in public universities, but only
28,128 (about 75%) are engaged on full time
basis, the rest 25% are either part-time,
visiting, on sabbatical or on contract.
Against this sordid scenario, one can
understand the struggle of ASUU to reform and
transform public universities to meet with the
standards obtainable in other climes.
Our leaders are not ready to embark of this
transformation because they are not
committed to proper and adequate funding of
education of which UNESCO recommended
26% of national budget. But Nigeria allocates
less than 10% of her budget to education
which is even among the lowest in Africa. Yet
this nation can do better.
People in government and politicians are quick
to send their children to UK, USA, Canada,
Australia, Ukrain, Russia, and even nearby
Ghana, Togo, Benin for university education.
Because of their ill-gotten wealth, they can
patronise expensive private institutions, rather
than increase funding to upgrade public
schools at home.
Dr. Nasir Fagge, ASUU National President, had
explained that the strike was not just to
reposition the education sector, particularly
the university system, but to salvage our
country. He said ASUU was determined to
prosecute the strike to its logical conclusion,
and that the implementation of the agreement
was a cardinal issue that must be
accomplished by the union as this would
transform the country’s university system.
Government offered a paltry N100 billion for
infrastructure, and N30 billion for earned
allowances, a far cry from N87 billion
demanded.
On accepting the offer of N30 billion and
going back to class while reaching agreement
on when the next installments will be paid,
Fagge rejected this, saying, “We had made that
mistake before whereby only the salary
component of the agreement was singled out
and so we can not afford to make such a
mistake again. Until the whole agreement is
fully implemented, we are not going to call off
this strike.”
Over N500 billion is needed for infrastructure
upgrade.
President Goodluck Jonathan and other
eminent Nigerians had appealed to ASUU to
take the N30 billion offer by government and
return to classroom.
The union had demanded for N87 billion (not
N92 billion) in extra allowances translated as
excess work load, high carriage of students per
lecturer, responsibility allowance which
included supervision of academic projects for
final-year students, Masters, Ph.D theses,
course advice, administrative duties as heads
of departments, deans of faculties, hall
masters, etc.
Because of inadequate staffing, the work load
had been heavy with one lecturer to 200, or
even 300 students.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in
stating the government position had said the
money – N92 billion according to her, which
ASUU was demanding (but refuted by the union
to be actually N87bn) was not only unrealistic,
but also not within the reach of the Federal
Government.
Her words at a 2-day conference of
Commissioners of Finance and Accountants-
General of States Ministries of Finance held in
Minna, Niger State. “At present, ASUU wants
the government to pay N92 billion in extra
allowances when resources are not there and
when we are working to integrate past
increases in pensions. We need to make
choices in this country as we are getting to the
stage where recurrent expenditures take the
bulk of our resources and people get paid but
can do no work.”
Series of deadlock had characterised meetings
between ASUU leaders and the Federal
Government Team lead by Governor Suswam of
Benue State to resolve the crisis and pave way
for lecturers to return back to work.
Mr. James Bidemi, a Senior Management staff
in a public university, commended the ASUU
action which seemed good and appropriate,
but cautioned if the dispute is not resolved, it
could destroy university education in the
country. He called for state of emergency on
education.
“Government should meet at least 50% to 60%
of ASUU demand, and people will support
government in the appeal for the strike to be
called off. It’s about an agreement which
government was bound to implement and also
endeavour to tackle the decaying infrastructure
in the university system.” A university teacher,
in his reaction, wondered why the Minister of
Education failed to capture these earned
allowances owed to lecturers by the 2009
agreement in the 2013 budget. If they were
legislators, the funds will be available.
Meanwhile, the strike is biting hard as students
have been roaming the streets, lured into
criminality and social vices like prostitution,
drug trafficking, kidnapping and political
thuggery.
Chief Joshua Nwosu, a businessman with three
children in the university now at home blamed
bad and insensitive leaders for the horrible
condition of the education system.“The
government just refused to allocate sufficient
fund to education despite the abundant
financial resources available. Millions of our
youths are jobless, yet government is not
willing to provide adequate money for
educational development. Something drastic
must be done to save our education from total
collapse. President Jonathan should act fast
and be patriotic.”
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