It is exactly 180 days of prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the uneducated Nigerians are yet to understand what the issues are and why the Federal Government is not acceding to their demands, instead, Nigerans are busy throwing tantrums and blames all over the place without taking into cognizance what the issues are.
Funding, or in this case, the lack of it, has been a great problem ruining Nigerian higher education, schools need adequate money to function optimally, a act many advanced and serious countries have recognised,thus but Nigeria as usual seems to be behind in this aspect, which is one of the reasons why we are yet to attract international students. Who would leave their countries where the educational system is well funded and come down to Nigeria to suffer through school.
Countries like UK,USA,Canada and others make a lot of money from Nigeria where our politicians and even top ASUU members send their children to, gladly paying huge amounts to get the educational value. Why is it now difficult for others countries to run to our schools?
Across the Globe,there is no country where we have ASUU,SSANU,NASU,NAAT going on strike like Nigera, do you know why?The reason is because Universities in the United Kingdom,United States of America and others generate high revenue from tertiary education. How?
Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Edinburg which are top Universities in Britain generates as high as £2.5b, £2.2b, £1.5B and £1.1billion annually respectively. In contrast, Nigerian Universities like University of Lagos,(UNILAG),University of Ibadan(U.I) and Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU) could only generate controversies like the chaotic selection of Vice Chancellor based not on merit but tribal and political considerations, supremacy battle among the top hierarchy, and all sort of financial shenanigans.
Many of the UK Universites that generate lot of revenues get only about 31% of their total revenue from tuitionfees while the balance is generated from Self-generated income,research grants and Government grants. The question now is, how much do the Nigerian Universites generate for the Government?
These might be one of the reasons why Nigerian University lecturers are one of the worst paid in the world, some people believe it’s because only a little percent are productive for their University and the Government. Lest I forget, appearing as returning officer for Independent national Electoral Commission(INEC) is not one of those ways lecturers are being productive, that is what we call a ‘side hustle.’
If you check my earlier summary of how Schools abroad generate revenue, you will see a total difference from our own system which is archaic and corrupt. This is part of the reasons why our univerisites don’t rank among the best universities due to strike and political disruptions. If other countries rely on 30% of government subventions, but here we are waiting for Government to carry the entire burden. It is an anomaly.
Many will ask why are our politicians collecting way more money than our distinguished lecturers in the ivory tower? My response is; we have failed to train quality leaders and that is why. Only defective leaders aim for positions and turn it into an opportunity to steal and embezzle.
ASUU is on strike because of Payment platform,IPPIS. I believe It is wrong for an employee to dictate the format to which he/she is going to be paid. It is abnormal. Also, the Federal Government needs to be responsible to allow autonomy for University councils to run their affairs and pay salaries without involving government. This will aid competition and University councils can pay based on grants and internal generated income. Salaries of academic lecturers necessarily might not be uniform.
ASUU is also on strike because of Pay rise. Yet it is my opinion that Pay rise is not bad, looking at how poor the ecomony is. tilting towards and the consideration of paying to publish because international journals have turned themselves to warlords as far as which publication gets published. The politics is hell.
ASUU is on strike because of the need for Government to revitalise the University system. Here, ASUU is fighting a wrong battle. The money for revitalization will not come to ASUU, it will go the University management and this can still be siphoned. That is the not the business of ASUU to the Government,it should be to their council who will inturn apply to the government for help in this regard.
Many Vice Chancellors today are living big, spending the University’s money on frivolity. Many projects today are uncalled for and the Academic Staff Union of Universities are there saying nothing about it
ASUU has gone on strike 16 times since 1999. The current one in 2022 is over 180 days already, with no end in sight. In 2021,it was 9 months and 2 weeks while in 2019, it was 4 months(Nov 4,2018- February 7,2019). Every single year or two, ASUU must come up with a struggle to disrupt the academic calendar.
The unfortunate thing is, while on Strike, some ASUU members go to private Universities to work part-time and earn their pay. After Strike, government still pays in full for the strike duration. This is totally bad and shameful.
Currently, Covenant University, Ota and Afe Babalola University in Ekiti are recently doing the Nation proud with grants winning and excellent service delivery but no Public University in Nigeria is qualified to come out and boast of non-interruption in the academic calendar and public education in Nigeria keeps dwindling.
Across the world, basic education is a right of every child but there is no law that makes tuition in the University free,it is expensive and must be paid for. Nigerian Universities still charge between 15,000 and 45,000 naira to study Medicine where private Universities charge in the region 4 million and above. Yet, students will graduate and travel abroad to earn big pay while the system that allows a poor man’s son to study medicine is currently suffering from brain drain.
Leadership problem is a big deal but the citizens are also unpatriotic. Many State Government’s budget on education is less than 20% and we want the best for our children. The budgetary allocation on education by the federal government is also abysmally low. Education is just not a priority for government in this part of the world.
From Statistics, over 22,000 Nigerian Students are currently studying in the UK. That’s a lot of money being paid for tuition and other expenses, into another country’s economy,at the cost of our own.
As we stand now,a total overhaul of our University system is needed without delay. Government can increase the pay of ASUU and other sister unions but payment platform should not be a subject of debate by the Union. Government should ensure strict monitoring on Public and private universities so many people can get jobs. A Professor working in three Universities will affect other professors seeking employment. The Government has been negotiating with ASUU for over 12 years and nothing good has come up. This 2022 negotiation also does not look like it will still yield any result yet. ASUU and FG have been dragging over a 13-year MOU without reaching an acceptable compromise.
It is sad that a Union like ASUU is keeping the doors of the University close because of payment platform and salary increase. This can take place while academic session is running. Once the strike is over, many Universities will organise exams for students who have been on break for over 6 months, what type of result do we expect from them?
Government is expected to draw a plan and hands off direct running of Universities if we are to move forward. If this is not done, the epileptic system will keep producing an unproductive set of leaders who will have no contribution to the growth of the country.
If knowledge is power, Government and ASUU should apply this and let the country move forward. The future of our youths should be of paramount importance.
Written by Tosin Adesile
I have the following comments –
1. The federal government should take steps to ensure that a professor for instance, does not work in more than one school, so as to make room for other professors to be employed. This will eradicate the argument on payment platform
2. Against the background of high population of students in schools, the fees students pay are enough to run, maintain and upgrade the school system provided that we have a corrupt-free management system at work.
3. Even if the school system is run by the school administrators, there should be a close monitoring from the government