It’s supposed to be the government of the people. But astonishingly, the government is so bold to keep the students in public universities at home without looking at the consequences. Of course, they’re comfortable doing that since their children aren’t in these public schools they’re determined to destroy. The culture is to take their children abroad or to private school once you get a juicy political office. Students could have ended the strike in a many days but the political leaders are apprehensive that this generation of students is too weak to make any case. But why will a leader that you hoped to have believed in the country and its capability be willing to supervise the destruction of its public institutions?
I lately read a piece with these citations from the Nigerian constitution.
(1) Government shall direct its policy towards assuring that there are equal and acceptable educational chances at all situations.
(2) Government shall promote science and technology
(3) Government shall strive to wipe out illiteracy; and to this end, Government shall as and when practicable give
(a) free, mandatory, and universal primary education;
(b) free secondary education;
(c) free university education; and
(d) free adult education programme.
How do you give equal chances as stated in the constitution when the leaders transfer their children to schools abroad and leave the public schools unfunded and demoralized? The people that swear to defend the constitution of the country have earlier created a class gap. How do you promote science and technology when our universities and the polytechnics are left without the needed laboratories and learning facilities to duly train the students for a technologically driven frugality? How do you intend to wipe out illiteracy when education isn’t duly funded at all situations. For some times now I can not figure out the part of government in education apart from paying wages.
I read some ignorant analysis occasionally back that Nigerian professors should be like professors in Germany if they want to earn the wages of professors in Germany. Of course, we’ve in our midst lecturers that have got no business with academia. But with the affair of some Lecturers and Professors in Nigerian universities despite the slave paycheck they’re paid, zero impulses, and zero encouragement, they will do much better than some of their counterparts in Europe if they’ve what they’re having in European universities. However, they will not be capable to do what we’re capable to achieve today, If universities in Europe should find themselves in our situation. You can not invest in eggs and anticipate an elephant. Its chicken you’re will surely get from your investment. That’s if pick a fertile egg.
The government that’s meant to promote science and technology in agreement with the constitution is destroying original content for vested interest. They aren’t indeed shamefaced of lying about it to the public. Nigerians are among the stylish software innovators in the world but our government prefers to import software and pay several millions of dollars for it. The government should be happy about the development of UTAS by Nigerian academics and the test results so far. They should be proud of them and insure that the software. But no! It mustn’t work. They’re determined to kill it for the imported IPPIS that was stationed without anypre-deployment test (vested interest).
Must we use IPPIS with all the alleged ridiculous costs when we’ve the capability to develop something better, more accommodating, and much cheaper? But, it has to be IPPIS because there are most likely people with interest in the system. Indeed a simple virtual lab that a roadside IT person can develop is imported. There seems to be a lot of particular interest in the business of importation within the government cycle. Individual interest against public interest? Can Nigeria be developed that way?
One of the core demands of ASUU over these times is the proper backing and monitoring of the universities. The main beneficiaries are the parents, students, and the country. The parents transfer their children to school at little cost, majorly on living expenditures. The students get quality education, and the country gets quality mortal coffers. This should give Nigerians equal and acceptable educational chances as stated in the constitution and the quality of the graduates will enhance productivity and original content development. But the parents and the students suppose ASUU is the problem and the hurdle stopping their children from graduating. They call the lecturers all kinds of names and rain all kinds of outrages on them.
I also began to wonder why ASUU is so determined to fight for the public despite the outrages. Also, I remember that an academic has 3 responsibilities teaching, research, and community service. ASUU may have conceivably picked up the fight for the proper backing of public university education for the people as part of the community service.
As parents contend for ASUU to think of the plight of the students and suspend the strike, they forgot that they also contended for the same thing in 2020. The government designedly refused to execute what was agreed in 2020 but the parents can not protest against the government that’s toiling with the education of their children. They should add their mouth to tell the government to be responsible for onetime and execute the signed agreement for the sake of their children, our dying public universities, and the stagnated country.
Women have been at the National Assembly demesne for over 4 weeks protesting the rejection of”Gender Bills”. The governors’ women’ forum joined the kick a few days ago. But their children have been at home for 7 weeks ( half of a semester) now, and still counting, due to the poverty of sincerity of the government towards the education of their children and they’re quiet and condemning ASUU.
It appears that all that this generation of parents want is for their children to bag a certificate. The quality of study isn’t important. Conceivably, ASUU is standing alone and seems to be the only stakeholder that’s bothered about the quality of study in public universities. The men are floundering for power and the women are more interested in the creation of political positions for them than the proper education of their children.
There are arguments that the government can not go to fund university education and education need to be introduced. Primary and secondary schools are also not duly funded. So, do they need to pay education in public primary and secondary schools to make them work? Should ASUU join the”siddon look”and leave them to do what they like with the public universities? Should the government capitalize education? How has privatization of public institutions worked so far? Is it the telecommunication where you pay for a bad network or have data that you can not use or data that’s running like Ferrari? Or the PHCN to DISCOs where you pay for darkness and NERC suppose they’re doing great?
Meanwhile,”Siddon look”is a pidgin slogan popularised by late Uncle Bola Ige that speaks of a decision to fold one’s arm and watch as effects unfold without an attempt of any resistance. It isn’t a apathetic trait but a display of frustration. The plan of the government’s insistent apathetic stance to ASUU demands despite the several strike conduct is to frustrate the Union and other stakeholders until they give up on their fight, the way they’ve given up on other issues. That’s why rather of making labors to end the extremity, they stop wages to torment and force them back to work. They intend to remove subventions on everything despite the low purchasing power of an average Nigerian and they’re arrogant about it. Crude capitalism.
We”siddon look”and subvention on electricity is gone unchallenged and electricity bill is now about the same as house rent or advanced. Nigeria is maybe the only country where mileage costs further than house rent. Subvention on diesel is gone and diesel is presently about N700 per litre. That has a multiplying effect on buying power and we”siddon dey look”. N220 per litre petrol is getting regularized. People are tired and now buy without complaint and we”siddon”and” look”. Subvention on security seems to be going. We’re left on our own to secure ourselves as bandits take control of our homes, roads, train tracks, and indeed airfields and we”siddon dey look”.
The Constitution says the security and well-being of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. There are consequences if the government fails to perform that responsibility. We’re formerly feeling the heat. Inflation is on the run, 95.1 million Nigerians are projected to go down the poverty line by the end of 2022 by the World Bank. The security of the country will be at stake if the well-being and education of the people are toiled with. And the fund you’ll use to fight the instability will be further than the fund you would have used to avoid it. We aren’t at war with any country and the security expenditure is on the rise every time.
Perhaps the”militarised” constitution of the country is part of the education problem. The constitution that said all you need to lead Nigeria and all their professors at all situations is just a school certificate may have contributed to the complete neglect of public education.
Just solicit that ASUU does not get frustrated and give up on the fight for proper backing of education and concentrate on theirwelfare. However, what the political class will do to students and parents will be worse than what the Diesel marketers and the DISCOs possessors in collaboration with NERC are presently doing to Nigeria, If ASUU should be plugged into the”siddon look”mode. Our capitalism is worse than that of the formulators of capitalism
Just solicit that the present ASUU leaders achieve the revitalisation hunt before the coming of the coming generation of ASUU leaders that are coming to change the narratives. They’re more concerned with the well-being of the members.
Meanwhile, I wish to remind ASUU leaders that I’m not against the fight for the revitalisation and proper backing of education. But I want the renegotiation of my wage and conditions of service to be prioritised to get me a wage that will take me home and farther. Also, we can come back to revitalisation.
I still maintain that the government can comfortably fund education at all situations to a certain degree if they review their rights-of-way and put on their allowing cap. A well- funded education will produce a knowledge- grounded economy and it’ll earn us good forex from education and living expenditures of transnational students. Numerous countries are erecting fortune with education tourism.
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