As the strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) lingers beyond the fourth month, government’s insensitivity to a serious national issue deserving prompt action has degenerated into a posture of haughty nonchalance, going by the administration’s reaction to the crisis. The last fiat by Mr. President to his team to end the impasse by all means showed a glaring lack of sincerity of purpose that has further aggravated the already distrustful ambience between government and ASUU. To address the remote and proximate causes of the strike, government must, without delay, honor the agreement it signed with ASUU and make available the funds ASUU is demanding. N92 billion is not beyond the reach of this government. Nigerians have been told by the same government that the country is not broke. Given the colossal waste and looting in government, it is obvious that Nigeria’s problem, truly, is not money but where to spend it.
According to ASUU, the strike is to register the displeasure of university teachers over government’s failure to honor a Memorandum of Understanding it signed on January 24, 2012 to comprehensively implement the 2009 Agreement signed by both parties. The main thrust of that agreement include: funding for infrastructure; university autonomy and academic freedom; improved staff welfare and condition of service to attract the best hands and discourage brain-drain. Of the nine items further delineated by the MoU, the government is claiming to have fully implemented two: review of the retirement age of professors in the professorial cadre from 65 year to 70 years and the re-instatement of governing councils. The remaining seven items bordering on funding of universities, university autonomy and academic freedom, staff welfare and condition of service have not been addressed.
It is demeaning, despicable, and a lack of integrity on government’s part to renege on its promise. One of the hallmarks of good governance is integrity; and this is an all-important virtue required of those who claim to superintend such an important sector as education. The excuse that the government cannot afford to adequately fund university education is dishonest in the face of the unconscionable pillaging of state funds by public officials. It is a shameful representation of the leadership quality of those in the corridors of power in this administration, just as it is an indictment of academics and their inability to lead at the highest level of governance. For how can one explain the leadership quotient of a government saturated with academics, and, ipso facto, ASUU members; including Jonathan himself, yet so incapacitated to raise the bar in the education sector?
Compared to ASUU’s comprehensive articulation of its grouse, the government’s response has been an uncanny silence and unnecessary haughtiness that typifies the usual posture of this administration. Since the 2009 agreement, government has set up fact-finding missions to ascertain the state of Nigerian universities. Panels of inquiries for needs assessment have been set up and reports submitted, yet education authorities have shunned implementation of the recommendations. Meanwhile, the budgetary allocation for education is still nowhere near the 26% UNESCO benchmark. With overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated infrastructure, ill-motivated staff and students and, in some cases, unqualified staff, Nigerian universities have become routine producers of uneducated school leavers.
Nigeria cannot pretend that all is well. Ever since the strike began, Jonathan has demonstrated supreme contempt for university teachers and the quality of university education in the country. The government has failed to resolve persistent problems that have undermined research, teaching and learning in the universities. Based on the impression that higher education didn’t matter in Nigeria, Jonathan and his ministers have ignored the striking varsity dons to the detriment of the students and their parents. The outcome has been four months during which the universities produced nothing – no graduates, no new knowledge, no lab-based scientific research and no groundbreaking publications in top tier journals. Some time ago, the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Professor Olugbemiro Jegede, rattled sensibilities when he announced that 55 million Nigerians who should be at different levels of formal education are not in school owing to infrastructural problems. That figure represents nearly one-third of the country’s population. In a country richly endowed with natural and human resources, it is a disgrace that Nigeria is breeding a new generation of illiterates.
The quality of our educational institutions and their products must continue to disturb the minds of all those concerned citizens who are worried about the future. Not long ago, Nigeria had some of the finest educational institutions in Africa, with graduates among the best in the world. But today, it is sad, that Nigerian degrees are now considered inferior at the same time as Nigerian universities decline in world rankings. The performance of Nigerian students in West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which is the springboard to higher education, has been unsatisfactory. This can only be a reflection of the crass deterioration in the country’s education standard, aggravated by the unhelpful reasoning of education policy makers.
It is also this seeming disregard for the Nigerian people that is reflected in the government’s reaction to ASUU. If government is truly hamstrung by the non-availability of funds to address ASUU’s demands, there are more decorous manners of conveying such misgivings. It is bad enough that the government cannot honor an agreement it freely went into with university teachers; this volte-face is a poor example of how political leaders should treat the people, on whose behalf they exercise power. By this gesture, the government has floundered in the commitment necessary to build the nation’s human capital. It seems to misconstrue this all-important aspect of national development as a dispensable contract. If the government is desirous of taking university education seriously, it must be aware of the wherewithal to make the universities world class institutions of learning and character.
Education is a constitutional issue. The Constitution, which Jonathan swore to uphold, bestows the right to education on every Nigerian. Section 18 (1) stipulates that “Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.” Sub-section (3) (a, b, c, d) states that “Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy” through free, compulsory and universal primary education; free secondary education; free university education; and free adult literacy program. On this basis, therefore, education is not something that should be toyed with as it is currently being done. The importance of education is underscored by its direction to the youth of this country who are the leaders of tomorrow. To ignore education as a critical aspect of youth development is to destroy the country’s future. The widespread youth restiveness in different parts of the country gives an insight into what the future would be without mass and qualitative education.
The message must therefore be conveyed to Mr. President, in whatever language he understands that education is the only thing that will take Nigeria into the future. Nothing else will do. Nigeria badly needs an education policy with skill acquisition as the main focus. That is what has transformed China into an economic giant. In this, as in all other aspects of national development, leadership is the issue. As a former university teacher, Jonathan has an historic opportunity and so much is anchored on Mr. President as the pilot of the ship of state. Jonathan should be concerned with the future that he bequeaths the country, as well as his legacy. History is beckoning on him to re-invent the wheel of education. That is the transformation the country needs. And Jonathan alone, as the President, has the duty of providing the necessary leadership for this great work.
