Perhaps the 10-page Press statement presented to the media by the ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, issuing a 21-day ultimatum was a bit disappointing to ordinary ASUU members. The document did not fully convey the urgent need for action to address the dire state of the public university system nationwide. Perhaps Osodeke was displaying his new diplomatic mien, not to strike a match stick in a highly explosive atmosphere considering the growing tension after the recent hardship protest that claimed many lives with no significant change in the lives of ordinary Nigerians. This could be why the 21-day ultimatum did not mention the resumption of ASUU’s suspended industrial action if the government fails to do what is needed after the warning period. Whatever the case, the truth must be told to avoid repeating the ASUU-FGN imbroglio of yonder. The university system in Nigeria faces several herculean challenges that affect its efficiency and quality. These problems have persisted for decades and negatively impact students and academic staff.
One of the significant problems is insufficient funding. The underfunding of the university leads to poor facilities, outdated equipment, and a lack of teaching and research facilities. The overcrowding of students exacerbates the situation. Students in Nigerian public universities are congested in overcrowded lecture halls and hostels and have limited access to libraries and labs, which lowers the quality of education and negatively impacts the student experience. Another critical issue is poor infrastructure. The system has dilapidated buildings, inadequate lecture halls, and poor laboratory facilities. Some do not have sufficient student hostels, forcing many to live off-campus in the so-called students’ village under unsafe and inconvenient conditions. The situation is compounded by poor working conditions, low salaries, and limited professional development opportunities, causing a brain drain. Many qualified lecturers and researchers leave Nigeria for better opportunities abroad. The take-home pay of a professor at a Nigerian university at the bar is about $ 325 per month, a scandalously under-valuing scholarship and ridiculing the university system. It is the best way to erode the quality of Nigeria’s university education.
The academic staff who, out of patriotism, refuse to JAPA and remain to work for their fatherland are facing persecution and severe hardship in an unfriendly environment, resulting in the deaths of a few out of intense work pressure in the last three years. As mentioned in this column, several university lecturers died due to hardship during and after the 2022 industrial action. For example, Dr. Ayo Ojediran of the Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, slumped and died in his office in November 2023; the University of Calabar alone lost over 15 teaching staff within the period of the industrial action. On December 8, 2023, Prof. Tanko Ishaya, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos (UNIJOS), reported that over 20 lecturers in specialist fields died due to severe stress from an acute workforce shortage. The university system inches into an abyss of sordidness, which will be dangerous to the nation. No thanks to decades of decadence, gross underfunding, negligence, and emasculation of the university system by the Nigerian leadership from the military to the current democratic dispensation.
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As the university system continues to deteriorate, ASUU, the nation’s conscience, the primary stakeholders’ union is struggling to reverse the trend that has led to persistent industrial action in the last decade. The union has consistently pushed for implementing the United Nations Fund of Population Activities (UNFPA), which specifies a 15% to 20% annual education budget for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria. However, the national budgetary spending on education has remained below 10%. It is imperative that the nation wakes up and addresses the issues raised by ASUU for a promising, glorious future.
University education, the bedrock supporting pillars of societal development, is the brooding house for tomorrow’s leaders. It is the epicenter of integrating hypothesis and empirical concepts, the meeting point of theory and practical reality, and a home for creativity and innovations. The falling standard of the university system produces half-baked graduates. Engineers who do not know how to engineer, lawyers who are ignorant of the laws, accountants who neither understand checks nor balances, and medical practitioners whose services often send their patients to graves rather than healing. The university system is designed to provide workforce development that solves a nation’s developmental challenges. Therefore, all deserving citizens should have access to university education for the nation’s progress. Can the nation ill-afford another round of ASUU strikes? No, the country should address all contending issues amicably and bring sanity to the university system for many reasons.
First, the nation desperately needs salvation due to economic hardship, which the recent public protests exhibited. The atmosphere is pregnant with flammable air waiting for a minute spark to explode, and ASUU’s resumption of strike can provide the impetus for the explosion. The government should immediately and peacefully lend a listening ear to ASUU for the amicable resolution of the issues.
Second, the ASUU strike is an ill wind that does no good, with the nation, workers, and university system being losers. A responsible government should discharge its responsibilities to the country without being arm-twisted. The government has a crucial role in resolving the issues at hand, and it must act swiftly and decisively for the good of the nation.
Third, on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, an APC presidential candidate, promised to end the ASUU strike during his campaign if elected into office. Nigerians duly elected him President, and, therefore, he should address the causes of industrial disharmony in the university system for the good of the nation.
Fourth, the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman SAN, an erudite scholar, was once the Director General of Law School and a Vice Chancellor; thus, he has over thirty years of intensive experience in the university system. The minister is best suited to counsel and direct the President appropriately in stopping the collapsing university system.
Fortunately, the minister is finding his feet on the matter. After a 2-hour closed-door meeting between ASUU and FGN held on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, Prof Mamman said, “Most of the issues raised by ASUU are being attended to. For instance, the President has resolved the exit issue from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). Bureaucracy is the reason for the delay in implementing that directive, but some of these issues would be discussed and resolved”. IPPIS, a privately owned firm, is a cat with nine lives; it has survived all kinds of accusations and is still foot-dragging in allowing the university workers to exit from its grip. Can the minister pull the string and bring respite to the university system?
As the countdown to the 21-day ultimatum closes, Prof. Mamman must triple his effort to save the situation. Minister, you are in the center of the storm, and history is watching you. However, with commitment and a sense of responsibility, the minister’s name may be written in gold while assisting the President in fulfilling his campaign promise. The moment has come to overhaul and improve the university system; the President and minister have an excellent opportunity. May the Almighty give Mr. President and his ministers the wisdom to do what is needed and prevent a repeat crisis in the system. Amen.
