Nigeria’s educational system is on hold at the moment, after Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), announced on the 14th of February 2022, that the union will embark on a four weeks warning strike to send a final warning to the federal government who have paid deaf ears to their demands. This will be the 16th ASUU strike since 1999 embarked upon by the union.
ASUU strike has become a routine and a toxic show of shame. The strike is now a group identification for ASUU. Since Nigeria’s democracy in 1999, all the past administrations in Nigeria to date, none have shown sincerity, political will, and action to end this unnecessary display of muscle between the government and ASUU.
There is a growing disdain for the ASUU strike recently. ASUU has lost public support each time they chose to embark on a strike only to call off the strike after a few billion have been released for their earned academic allowance (EAA) while others remain a promise for the future which the government never fulfils.
It now appears as though the federal government and ASUU enjoy the romance and show of power always or perhaps every ASUU executive council would have to embark on a fruitless strike to be considered successful by their colleagues. Why can’t ASUU and the federal government find a sustainable solution to these incessant, frivolous, and unproductive strikes?
Since 1960 till date, Nigeria has had fifty-one (51) ministers of education and ministers of state for education, out of which twenty-three (23) were teachers at different levels before their appointment, fifteen (15) read educational courses in the university and colleges of education, while eleven (11) have been seasoned educational administrators or university dons (Professors or senior lecturers).
Since 2007 till date, the Vice President or President of Nigeria have been either a university lecturer (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, 2007-2015) or a university professor (Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, 2015-date), which clearly shows they were former members of ASUU and are very knowledgeable on the educational challenges in Nigeria. Why they have failed in addressing the rot and retrogression in the education system of Nigeria remains a misery.
This is a clear indication that even members of ASUU who have led Nigeria or the ministry of education are clueless or lack innovative solutions to the present reasons behind the persistent strike actions in Nigeria. Beyond the poor remunerations and condition of service and lack of funding of the universities by the government, ASUU has done little or nothing to other issues that have bedeviled Nigerian universities.
There have been persistent cases of sex-for-grades, money in exchange for undeserving grades, witch-hunt of Nigerian students by some lecturers that poses as ‘demi-gods’, corruption by university management and administrators at all levels.
These issues have been equally responsible for the decay that has affected the education sector in Nigeria. ASUU has failed to look inwards and fight against these issues among its members. While ASUU challenges governments’ insensitivity to the plight of lecturers and being responsible for the decades of decay in Nigeria’s education, ASUU and their members have equally been insensitive to the plight of Nigeria’s students and have also contributed largely to the failure in the system.
Read also: ASUU strike: FG seeks end to the impasse – Adamu Adamu
With glaring evidence of how education and research have transformed nations through investment, the case seems different for political leaders in Nigeria. They have displayed a lack of seriousness to the problem of education and research in Nigeria.
Despite the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) benchmark of 26 percent for education, from the 2022 budget (N17.1 trillion), only 7.2 percent was budgeted for education.
Again, despite a promise by the present administration to increase budgetary allocation for education by 50 percent in the next two years and 100 percent by 2050 at the Global Education Summit in London, that held in July 2021, the government have continued to display a lack of concern towards the education sector in Nigeria.
At the moment, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world according to UNESCO, mainly as a result of terrorism. The figure is predicted to increase as some schools in the northern part of Nigeria remain close due to the activities of bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists.
The present ASUU strike comes with its consequent implications. The last ASUU strike gave enough youths the opportunity to be involved in the End SARS protest in 2020. The government and ASUU cannot hold the education system in Nigeria to ransom over inconclusive strike actions.
The government must implement and not renege on the previous agreement with ASUU. ASUU must remain resolute in their demands as frequent strike actions won’t be tolerated any longer by the government and Nigerians.
Alikor Victor is a development & health economist
