ASUU Strike: What Nigerians Should Know – Prof. Abu Sabo
HOTPEN – It was shocking when I heard few weeks ago that the minister of Education said in his ministerial briefing that the Federal Government has spent a whopping 6.8 trillion naira (without specifics) on education. This is for the six years of their administration.
Ironically, by the time the briefing was taking place, all the unions in the educational sector (ASUU, NASU, NAAT, SSANU, COEASU, ASUP) are on strike about underfunding of the education.
However, it is an understatement to say that the public seems not concerned about the real inner agenda of the ruling oligarchs in the presidency, an agenda of destroying the public Universities. This they do by caging and misinforming the fragile president about the actual situation about the country.
It is yet understandable that the uninformed public is much more concerned about reopening the universities that were closed for seven months. Yes, they need this at all cost so that they get relieved from their children sitting idle at home.
They ( the public) at any available time cast aspersion on ASUU, blaming the union for the present scenario, forgetting that a sizeable number of the union members (up to 90%) also suffer the same fate as them. This is to say the union members even suffer more hardships.
The public also quickly forgot that about 60 to 70 percent of the union members are also students of postgraduate studies of the same universities that were shut down. They are parents also, they have brothers and sisters as well as other siblings in those universities that were closed. Yet, they have no any means of taking their children to private universities because the present income cannot afford that.
To add salt to the injury, the union members lost salary and as a result, a significant percentage among them have either their children sent back from the private primary and secondary schools for the third term or perhaps have been on the verge of being ejected from their rented houses.
MAIN ISSUES
Let us call a spade a spade and endeavor to do justice to the narrative below so that we objectively asses the contending issues on ground between ASUU and the FG. After this, our conscience shall judge us about who really does not want the Universities to reopen.
- Government imposed a foreign payment platform which is inconsistent with our peculiarities, and is aimed at removing all the critical funding components of the Federal public Universities (Casual staff, contract staff, staff training and development on local bases, part time, adjunct etc).
The union rejected it and the government challenged the universities to either sources money from within by increasing tuition fees which by estimates goes into millions of naira per student or the union should provide an alternative platform that is better than the one which was rejected.
The union tasked itself and provided the alternative solution to the government’s imposed payment platform. The government subjected the platform produced by the union to several test and finally it passed all the tests based on the government set criteria. The results put ASUU’s payment platform (UTAS) first in the overall category of assessment, Followed by a distant second from a payment platform produced by our sister union SSANU (UP3) and the last position came from the government borrowed platform (IPPIS).
After all these tests from the government approved agency NITDA, the Government refused to accept it.
- Another area of contention is the issue of renegotiation of our condition of service. Worried by the incessant brain drain from our public Universities as a result of poor pay structure and general condition of service. An agreement which started in 1992 was reached and signed in 2009 by the government. The signed document specifies in detail how our conditions of service should be upgraded so as to stop University academics from leaving the service because of the poor pay. It suffice to say it is evident that lecturers in the polytechnics and the colleges of Education have a better pay structure compared to University academics. Nonetheless, the government sets in three different committees to negotiate with ASUU on this issue. The renegotiation after the document was signed in 2009 took 13 years of struggle before government finally sets in a committee to look into it. By then a significant and sizeable number of good academics have left the public university system.
From 2015 to date, three committees were set on different occasions by the government. All the three committees having sat with the union on different occasions, submitted their reports and recommendations. In 2022 alone, two committees ( Profs MUNZALI and BRIGS apart from WALE BABALAKIN committees, who are all pro chancellors of Public universities) gave the reports of their sitting with the union to the government.
The government having received Prof MUNZALI’s report dumped it without reason and sets another commitment all the same year and inaugurated another committee headed by Prof Nimi Briggs and without any explanation and prior notice forced the union to sat and negotiate with the committee. For peace to rain, the union accepted and sat vigorously with the committee. Having negotiated fully, with union the Briggs committee gave it’s report and recommendations to the government in June 2022.
The government dumped the whole negotiation again and In the last minute came up singlehandedly with meagre award of ” Take it or leave it”. An amount which is far below what was recommended by all the committees it set. To make matters worst, the government said it will not pay even the paltry unacceptable increment untill June 2023 after they must have left.
The question is, why did the government sets in two different committees in 2022 alone when the strike is still On and forced the union to negotiate with them knowing fully that it will not accept their recommendations? Why must it attempt to soil the names of the innocent professors of high repute like Munzali jibril and Nimi Briggs if the government knows it at end of the day rubbish their efforts?
The government deliberately discarded all what was negotiated without consultation with the union as enrishrined in the document they mutually signed in 2009. Let us not forget that the union waited for 13 years for the negotiations to even continue. Yet the government deliberately murdered it without remorse.
- For those who argued that the economic situation was bad and that the union should understand the present financial status of the government and the economy, this what happened: The government complained of lack of money as usual to fund what was agreed upon ( Despite the overglaring abuse of the public treasury which is evident from the alleged sleaze of hundreds of billions of naira by the public office holders)The union, nonetheless iin ts magnimity came up with an idea and suggestion on how revenue of the government could be increased. It was suggested that this could be done through tax increase from cellphone call and other sources.
The aim is to get more sources that will further fund Education. The government again took the suggestion, processed it and finally dumbed the idea of funding Education.
- The last straw that broke the camel’s back was while the union was still processing these bitter issues. The same cabals ran to the president and injected the funny idea of refusing to pay the backlog of salaries witheld for seven months. This no doubt further antagonises the already traumatised members against the government.
The funny trick is to further set the Universities ablaze should the union members return to school on this premise and abandon the 2021/22 session (since they are not going to be paid for it) and start afresh with the new 2022/23 session. No doubt, Students will not take it lightly and perhaps will demonstrate on that.
The question here is, why did the same government paid the same 9 months witheld salaries of 2020 strike action if really they know it wasn’t legitimate? If the government is truly sincere in its actions, why can’t it pay the union members, the earned Allowances they are entitled to since 2016/2017, 2071/18, 2018,19, 19/20….)?
Why did it take the government six months as the strike lingers before it now begin to negatively address the contending issues? If the government is up and doing and without any ulterior motive, those issues no matter how bitter should have been addressed by the government within the first week of the strike action. I bet the situation would have been a different one by now. By the time we eventually resume, most of the lecturers must have left the services of the public universities ( available estimates have shown that reputable professors in their hundreds have left our universities to other Universities in the neighborhood and overseas). Those who are left are demoralized, angered and virtually distressed.
The predators of public Universities and conflicts entrepreneurs in the government will no doubt continue with the onslaught until they achieved their mission. They have indeed in one way or the other established or promote their private institutions and universities. They have conspired to terminate the existing public universities so that they will pave way for a new and better market for themselves.
The trajectory of what has befallen the public primary schools and their counterparts in the secondary schools is fundamentally evident, imminent and set for the public Universities in Nigeria. The amusing part here is that the rest of the public and downtrodden who will ultimately pay the price are watching, clapping and enjoying the imminent doom.
Yes! It is certain, no sane man will choose hunger, intimidation, persecution and imminent loss of job for himself and his family, yet continue to stand his ground unless and until what he sees in the offing is bigger than all these calamities. It is also for sure that those pushing and laughing at our present condition will lament the same situation in the future (God Forbid). This is for you judge from the above scenario, but let it be on record that ASUU has stood and fought and will continue to fight this anti intellectual posture and oppression.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!!