Following the protracted strike action by ASUU to enforce the
funding agreement of 2009 with the Yar'Ardua/ Jonathan Administration there
have been attempts to shift the focus of the public from the real issues and
portray ASUU as an insensitive organization. We have tried to explain how we
tried desperately to avoid the strike by virtually begging for meetings with
the Federal Government for over three years to no avail.
As a last option to draw attention to our plight and get the
government to talk, ASUU has had to devise an instrument of warning strike to
force a dialogue and hopefully avoid the need for a strike. We believe that
Nigerians remember that a warning strike was applied without the desired
attention from government. Over and over again, we have been advised to
adopt alternative methods to strike actions. ASUU has a permanent lobby in
Abuja and regularly seeks the help of traditional rulers and influential
individuals to persuade government to talk to her. Nigerians should not forget
that governance in Nigeria is a big racket and leadership has one focus;
unbridled appetite for power and money. Those who talk about the need for
dialogue to resolve labour issues need to understand how the Nigerian
Government and political environment functions. ASUU does not have the
financial means to induce support of officials and mobilize the political
apparatus. Even if we had the means, it is against our policy to give or accept
bribe.
Those who accuse ASUU of being insensitive need to realize that it
is easier for ASUU to concentrate on its conditions of service alone (as some
have repeatedly suggested) and leave the government to do what it likes with
the Universities. We have ready examples of national assets such as NITEL,
RAILWAY, and NIGERIAN AIRWAYS among many others that collapsed because the
workers paid attention only to their narrow interests. Members of ASUU often go
without salaries for months during strikes and are subjected to untold
hardships and indignities. Wouldn’t it just be easier to take our salaries and
leave Nigerians to decide the fate of their institutions? Is this what
Nigerians want? Do they want to finish off the Universities as was done to
public primary and secondary schools? Will there be opportunities for the poor
to have university education if we fold our hands and allow the public
universities to be destroyed? Will the poor be able to send their
children abroad or pay the exorbitant fees of private universities owned by
politicians and their friends?
IS ASUU DISRESPECTFUL TO THE PRESIDENT?
There have been insinuations that ASUU has come up with new
demands following the meeting with Mr President. In spite of the fact that we
believe that Mr President could have thrown his weight behind a resolution of
the crisis very early in the strike and in fact, he could have prevented the
strike from happening, ASUU was very appreciative of his intervention. It is
important to note that while the political machinery of government was more
interested in the resolution of the current strike, ASUU, in addition, was
more concerned about ending strikes for the foreseeable future in order to
bring the university system to stability. Perhaps, government did not see the
need to find a sustainable solution to the problem. Following the discussions
with Mr President, a number of decisions were taken. Out of respect for Mr
President, ASUU did not insist that the minutes of the meeting and decision
extracts be produced, vetted and signed before leaving the venue of the
meeting. ASUU’s experience in its dealing with government has been that Civil
Servants routinely doctor minutes of meeting for political and selfish ends. We
are also quite familiar with the fact that successive governments starting with
the Abacha era have consistently disowned agreements with ASUU at the slightest
opportunity. Nigerians are familiar with the burden of history and the
“integrity challenge” which those in the highest offices in the land bear. The
spoken promise of a President should normally be cast in stone. However,
is that our experience in Nigeria? If agreements are not important
then what is? If leaders violate agreements entered into with the cream of its
intelligentsia, then the mass populace is doomed. We should not turn against
the man whose rights have been violated because we think it is the fastest way
to peace.
It is important for Nigerians to know that nothing new was
demanded by ASUU. In fact, we were simply winding down the strike when our
former president, Professor Iyayi was killed by the Governor of Kogi State.
What was left after the meeting with the President was mere paper work
and implementing our constitutional process for calling off a strike. The
paper work was simply to ensure that ASUU and Government were on the same page.
ASUU wanted the government to deliver on its promise by releasing immediately
the 200 billion naira it promised earlier in the strike. It also requested that
a high- ranking government official be assigned to sign the resolutions reached
at the meeting with the President. Please note that one of the grounds given by
the SSG Chief Pius Anyim for repudiating the 2009 agreement was that it was
signed by a person of inconsequential status, a mere Permanent Secretary.
We had been reliably informed that
Government was not really interested in fulfilling its agreement
notwithstanding our meeting with Mr President. Nevertheless, ASUU did not think
that the highest office in the land will be involved in gimmickry and
politicking with the destiny of our youths. Moreover, we had been advised even
by some of the vociferous critics of ASUU that it was unlikely that any funds
not released by the end of this year will ever be available next year because
government will be mobilizing all available resources for the elections.
What Nigerians do not know was that there are some influential
officials in power who actually hoped that ASUU will not respond positively to
Mr President. Remember that soon after the death of Iyayi, it was stated in
some circles that ASUU will not call off the strike until 2014. It was a rude
shock to these individuals that ASUU went ahead to start the process of calling
off the strike.
Is ASUU engaged in subversion?
Was government truly interested in ending the strike? If indeed,
it was serious, the frantic escalation of the crisis at a point where
only paper work was
left to call off the strike is very suspicious. Does the minister of
Education have another agenda or is it just a case of immaturity and power
intoxication on his part? Is ASUU engaged in subversion as suggested by the
President? Over the years, ASUU has been accused of playing politics
and acting like an opposition because of its principled position on the funding
of education in Nigeria. It is yet unclear to Nigerians what constitutes
subversion in ASUU’s insistence on minimum requirements of civilised conduct.
An agreement is a sacred document which should be respected and not treated as
a mere text in a sheet of paper. The same mindset that has led to the breaching
of ASUU’s agreement also has informed the impunity with which the constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has been treated over the years. It also
explains why laws of the land are not respected and why the nation has become a
fiefdom of a few powerful individuals who must maintain power and relevance at
all cost. These individuals think that governance is about wearing a bowler
hat, talk tough and take inspiration from Africa Magic. Leadership is not a
movie.
Those who are engaged in subversion are those who use state
apparatus to do oil bunkering, who fail to tackle corruption and are profiting
from terrorism. They are the ones who fail to fund the educational system
adequately, but send their own children to schools abroad. These individuals go
to cure a headache overseas while leaving the poor to die in derelict health
facilities at home.
Is ASUU also responsible for the crisis in the health and
power sectors? Are we to blame for the fact that in all development indicators
we are at the bottom of every positive indicator and at the top of every
negative one? Nigerians should not be deceived. In the 80s, the heroic
actions of the NUT were subverted and today we have the kind of primary and
secondary schools that turn out illiterates.
The NEEDS Assessment report of government shows clearly that
ASUU is not crying wolf. What we hear from critics is that we should relent and
pray for divine intervention. ASUU believes in work and pray. While some people
closed their eyes, they allowed the vultures to build nests over our heads.
While we slept, the enemy sowed tares in our field. And now at the apex of
national affairs, have emerged agents of midnight!
We implore all Nigerians to hold their future in their hands and
rise up to challenge every form of oppression and corruption. We cannot afford
to let the privilege few who have cornered our common wealth to turn our
children to slaves in their own country. If the nation lacks resources , let it
affect everyone down the line. If we need to tighten our belt, let the leaders
give example. If they truly believe in our country, let them show patriotism by
withdrawing their children from foreign schools to Nigerian Universities. If
these schools are not good enough for their children, why must we be the ones
to carry the burden always?
ASUU is resolved to see an end to this strike, and other
strikes in the foreseeable future. Hence, we need the support of all Nigerians
to ensure a sustainable resolution of the current crisis so that strikes will
become a thing of the past in the university system.
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