Why ASUU must NOT call off its strike by Tope Adesipo Abio

Tope Adesipo Abio: Why ASUU must NOT call off its strike

By Tope Adesipo Abio on August 26, 2013

Great Nigerian students, when the strike first began we thought that this ASUU members have started again, for once we were all tired of the incessant strike over wages and allowances the question that kept coming to our mind is what do they want again? after-all,school fees has been kept reasonably constant in federal university for some years now.

Our mind was definitely filled with different sentiments but after taking a closer look at the agreement the federal government signed with ASUU in 2009, the nitty gritty of it,which we believe that an agreement is supposed to be an honourable contract between two parties Contrary to this, the President Jonathan’s government has been unfair to the letters and spirit of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.

For instance, while the agreement stipulates annual increases in budgetary allocation to education between 2009 and 2020 until it reaches 26%, the Federal government budgeted just a paltry 8.5% to education this year.

All ASUU is demanding now is that the agreement must be fully implemented. To all students, we cannot be indifferent to the content of this agreement just because of our fears about the academic calendar! and our not too friendly lecturers.

If this agreement is fully implemented, together with democratic management of schools to include elected representatives of education workers and students, it would mean better funding of education and a great relief to overburdened students. It is therefore, in our best interest as students to ensure this agreement is fully implemented by supporting the implementation and fighting to save public education from collapse.

Of course, if we look at the condition of facilities for teaching and research in most state universities and federal universities,you can not but sincerely agree that there is an urgent need for us to act now to save Nigeria’s education sector from a total collapse! it is reported that the Nigerian government has amassed huge fortune since the democratic experiment began in 1999. It will interest us to know that between 2000 and 2011, Nigeria government earned N48.48 trillion from the sale of oil alone against N3.10 trillion earned between 1979 and 1999 (Guardian, 24/3/13).

With this tremendous upswing in the revenue at the disposal of the Nigeria government, one would have expected it to translate to a commensurate improvement in the quantity and quality of Nigeria’s public education not only that, the government is quick to tell us the country is broke but it didnt take sanusi lamido sanusi time to inject 600billion naira into failed banks of politicians and their cronies. 200million dollars was used to bail out nollywood..

Unfortunately, given the present state of public education it is very clear that it’s more than ever enmeshed in a monumental crisis largely characterized by poor funding. As a matter of fact the budgetary allocation to education has fallen from 12.22% in 1985 to 8.5% in 2013. Comparing this year allocation of 8.5% with UNESCO recommendation of 26% budgetary allocation to education it is very clear that Nigeria government is not really interested in funding education.

Here in Nigeria, more than half of the nation’s budget goes to salaries and allowance of political office holders. This is an embarassing paradox in a situation where many countries with smaller GDP have their percentage budgetary allocations to education as follows: Ghana (31%) ; Cote d’ivoire (20%); Kenya (23%); Morocco (17.7%); Botswana (19.0%); Swaziland (24.6%); Lesotho (17.0%); Burkina Faso (16.8%); Uganda (27.0%) and Tunisia (17.0%).
in the Nigerian universities, laboratories are overcrowded, stove are still been use in the 21st century, water do not run in the lab and often times lectures are suspended due to lack of electricity.

It has also been reported that in 2013, 1.7 million candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and from the available space in all the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country only less than 29 percent of the total candidates will be admitted, thus leaving out over 1.2 million candidates.

No Nigerian university is ranked among the best 5,000 in the world or among first twenty in Africa. foreign professional use to be at the university of Ibadan, today, they have deserted and our own lecturers are also running for greener pastures . There are just about 34,504 lecturers left in the Universities out of about 50000 needed for optimum efficiency.

A visit to the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye sums up the Nigerian scenario the university has been turned to a mere glorified secondary school. The facilities are dilapidated and lecture rooms looks like a pig cage the same scenario is what we have in University of Uyo, University of Calabar and other universities are also in crisis with decaying infrastructures. At the Osun State University, about three sets of medical students are in limbo between pre-clinical and clinical stages because of the lack of a teaching hospital.

I strongly believe that the fight to save the education sector from collapse and underfunding is a fight we must champion and pursue as students who are the major stakeholders in the universities, polytechnics and monothenics

We must also know that this fight cut across board and all political parties in Nigeria are united in their anti poor policies. You will recall that the ACN that calls itself the progressive Only last year callously increased the fees of the Lagos State University (LASU) from N25, 000 to between N280, 000 and N345, 750. A development that has led to sharp drop in the number of students picking up admission because they cannot afford it. Of the 5,000 quota given to LASU by the NUC only about 1,200 students had applied as at today.

This has contributed to the planned rationalization of program and departments in LASU. This means that departments will be scrapped or merged.

Greatest Nigerian students, it is in light of this, that I call on students to boldly and continue to make this sacrifices by backing the genuine demands of ASUU so that our generation can get it right once and for all.