A Forestry Institute in the thickset of Crises
The angry façades and uproarious din that was a distinguishing mark in the gathering, spoke volumes of the reason behind the tumultuous assembly of men and women. As they moved from the massive gates of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, FRIN, Ibadan, they chanted solidarity songs replete with their angst and displeasure with the […]
The angry façades and uproarious din that was a distinguishing mark in the gathering, spoke volumes of the reason behind the tumultuous assembly of men and women. As they moved from the massive gates of the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, FRIN, Ibadan, they chanted solidarity songs replete with their angst and displeasure with the authorities. The riotous crowd had one mission: to disclose to the public government’s insensitivity to their plight and welfare.
The crowd comprising the youthful as well as the aged, however, say that they are not only fighting for better welfare packages and increased salaries. They are equally decrying what they term the authority’s neglect of a crucial fiber of the economy , which the institute and many others across the country represent.
They say that the issue of funding of qualitative research in the country, has been sacrificed by the government on the altar of political expediency.
The tumuttuous crowd of disgruntled public servants are not in the mood at present to entertain any entreaty from the government. They say similar ones in the past failed to yield the needed fruits. Economic activities are grounded on the numerous streets of the Jericho suburb, where the institute and one of its colleges is located. Motorists are forced to park to allow the massive irate crowd pass unimpeded. At the gates of the research institute, stern looking members of the local chapter of the Non Academic Staff Union( NASU )man the entrance and calmly turn back visitors. For the aggressive ones however hot verbal exchanges ensue, after which in most cases, the striking workers gain the upper hand due to their superiority of numbers. The rampaging workers say that rallies and picketing will continue unabated until the government meets their demands to increase salaries and improve funding of research activities.
Their demands
Comrade Alhassan Kadiri is the state chairman of the local chapter of the Non Academic Staff Union, (NASU), FRIN. He says the strike is total and is meant to paralyse research activities , until the government responds positively to their various demands. He notes that two previous meetings between government officials and the representatives of the various unions, were unsuccessful in resolving the crisis due to insincerity on the part of the government.
“We have submitted a list of our grievances since last year with no encouraging response from the government. We were thinking that by now that they would have called us for further discussions. We actually met about twice with the committee they set up to address these issues. Since those meetings, they have not indicated any interest in meeting with us again. We feel that the authorities are not serious about the welfare of our workers. If they say that they want to achieve vision 20-20 without research , they cannot achieve that.
Other advanced countries take care of their research industries , but here, it is not so. What we want is the promised increased salaries and then the increased funding of the institutions. Then we want them to adequately fund the various institutes under us , so that their productivity in terms of research findings can be improved upon,” he enthuses.
On the strike action, he says they have embarked on it as a last resort , to attract the government’s attention. He notes: “We have decided to take this course of action , so as to draw the attention of the government to these issues since they have declined to meet with us. Now, all that concerns the government is how to conduct the 2011 elections while they have neglected the various research institutes. We are not concerned with the constitution of the committee set up by government as being criticized by some sister unions of ours. This is as, long as they have governments mandate to act on its behalf. If they have the authority of the government to make agreements that are binding , then we are fully persuaded to work with them. But they have even refused to meet with us since the last two meetings we had. At the third one, they didn’t show up . Our requests are simple: increase the salaries of our workers, and substantially increase funding for the various institutes. We do not have to even tell them this is the exact amount we want. They know what is required to make the institutes to be at par with the other ones around the globe.”
He also believes the establishment of a supervising body as against the current government policy of attaching research institutes to various ministries, would go a long way to address some of the challenges being faced by the institutes. “We are also saying that they should put in place a supervisory body such as the National Universities Commission( NUC) to be called the National Research Commission, NARECOM. This will go a long way to turn around the fortunes of the research industry. The establishment would be able to handle the affairs of research institutes the way they ought to be administered,” he posits.
He adds: “We are a mature union. We will not resort to violence. We will do things in a dignified manner. It is a democratically run union , and yes we do not destroy. We are different from other unions. Any of our members who crosses the line will be dealt with appropriately. We have an internal monitoring system that deals with errant members who would want to foment trouble.”
End of a glorious era?
Elderly members of the union who have tasted the early blossoming years at the research institute , say much needs to be done to return the institutes to its once glorious era , when it was a pride and privilege to work at such government establishments.
Balogun Mohammed , popularly known by his younger and more energetic colleagues as ‘baba youths’ is in his late fifties, and has worked at the research institute for over 19 years. He says that the fortunes of the institutes have drastically declined and a lot of attention is needed to revamp the system. He says: “we totally support the strike action. They (union) are defending our interest , and we are in total support of their actions so far. There is so much cheating and treachery in the system. This was not so during the early years of the institute. Things were run very well , unlike what we have today in the various research institutes in the country. Things have turned for the worse. Only a few are enjoying the system , while the majority of workers are in dire straits. There is a great difference in the way things were done in terms of welfare of staff then , than what holds sway now. That is why we are downing our tools now to show our displeasure. The problem we have now appears to be stagnation , in terms of staff welfare and quality of service. For instance, there is no promotion amongst the staff for quite a while now and this is very demoralizing. All our benefits have also been stalled and no reason given. We are asking for an increment in salary. There are so many other entitlements that are pending that they have not paid us. We want these paid with immediate effect. We are working for money. We all have children in school. We also have to pay for house rent and other essentials. The cost of living is high. Our take home pay is very low. Even at that the promised increment in salaries has not been implemented. When we are able to meet our responsibilities, we will function better as workers and our productivity will be higher. We are not getting the commensurate rewards for our labor.”
Mrs L. O. Kolawole is another distinguished elder in the union. She says she has spent a greater part of her life as a worker at the institute. “I have worked with the government for over 27 years. Things have indeed degenerated. When I first started work things were very rosy then. The terms of employment were so attractive. Then, the government took the welfare of its workers very seriously and nothing was spared to ensure that the workers were adequately taken care of. The running of the various institutes was also smooth. The relationship between the government and the workers was friendly and there was mutual respect. All that is missing today. Then, I remember quite clearly that whenever workers demanded anything, the government was always willing to meet their demands , or at least listen to their requests. Today, that willingness is not there. We have to fight for even very small requests. Then, what we were earning may not have been up to what we earn now , but the cost of living was lower than what obtains today. And the salary was paid as and when due. And there were so many allowances that are not there today , but which were paid then, especially the education allowance for our wards and leave advance. These were removed during the Obasanjo years. Many of these have been cancelled with no reasons given. The new salary increment has also not been implemented. We are angry,” she laments heatedly.
A forerunner in the group of research institutes in Nigeria The Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) was initially set up as the Federal Department of Forest Research in 1954 to conduct research into all aspects of forestry and forest products utilization and for the training of technical and sub technical personnel for the forestry services in the country.
The mandate has since been extended to include research in wildlife, watershed management and agro-forestry.
The Institute’s Decree of 1973 and the Order establishing Research Institutes of 1975 later superseded by Decree No. 5 of 1977, soon changed the status of the Department to an Institute not without its own fair share of controversies then.
The institute, a semi-autonomous organization is presently under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Environment along with sixteen other agricultural institutes.
The institute’s headquarters is located at Jericho Government Reservation Area, Ibadan, while outstations are maintained in Kano (Kano State), Samaru-Zaria
(Kaduna), Sapoba (Edo State), Umuahia (Abia). It has 4 colleges under its supervision: Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan, Federal College of Forestry, Jos, Federal College of Wildlife Management, New-Bussa and Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afako-Kaduna.
The institute , amongst other things ,is expected to see to the conservation and improvement of genetic resources of forest trees and eco-system for economic development, improvement of silvi-cultural practices relating to forest trees of economic importance, mechanization and improvement of methods of cultivating, harvesting and processing of forest trees of economic importance and the improvement of the utilization of forest products and wood residues. It is also mandated to carry out studies of the ecology of pests and diseases of forest trees and their control, development of agro-forestry systems for the integration of forest trees of economic importance into farming systems in different ecological zones of Nigeria, wildlife management and production and the study of the socio-economic importance of forestry in the Nigerian economy including issues such as forestry education and training, forestry extension and dissemination and sericulture. But many pundits believe that it has yet not lived up to the noble objectives necessitating its establishment.
Despite challenges, FRIN remains focused.
The executive director, forestry, of the institute, Professor Olufunmilayo Badejo, however believes that the institute will continue to fulfill its statutory mandate despite all odds facing its success. In an interview granted a national magazine recently to mark the nation’s golden jubilee, he opines that the institute has done a lot in the area of qualitative research and especially the conservation of its huge forest reserves and will continue to fulfill its responsibilities for a long time to come.
He also posits spiritedly: “we are following our mandate very strictly in order to achieve this. If you look at the whole hog of our mandate, it has a big and broad program on environmental protection which includes deforestation especially in the rain forest areas of the country, gully erosion and desertification. Deforestation for instance, involves the cutting of woods for firewood and logging. This poses a lot of problem leading to deforestation in a number of places and then leading to degradation of the environment. So, our own major issue is now to conduct research in order to look for ways to sustain the environment which we have been doing. We have also developed viable seedlings through research which have proved to be useful and effective in controlling a number of environmental problems in the country.”
He adds that deforestation remains a major challenge of the institute, noting that until the authorities implement stringent punitive measures to curtail the activities of illegal hewers of trees, the problem may remain unresolved.
“Education and enforcement of edicts is required. It is not that these edicts are not there but the problem may be enforcement. Where there is enforcement, a lot of illegal things will stop. By and large, education is also very important,” he says.
A summary of achievements
The management of the institute also states that despite criticisms from its workers, the institute has indeed achieved a lot. They enumerated several of such laurels which include: the development and dissemination of techniques for plantation establishment in different localities of the country based on provenance research studies which led to the introduction of exotic tree species such as Tectona grandis (Teak), Gmelina arborea (Gmelina), Pinus species (Pines), Eucalyptus species and Azadirachta India (Neem) into the country, development of agroforestry programmes which have enhanced the development of fruit trees such as Irvingia gabonensis, Irvingia wonbulu, chrysophyllum albidum, Parkia biglobosa, Dacryoides edulis, Treculia Africana and Anacardium occidentalis, Forest biology studies in the Institute had led to the identification of some pests and diseases militating against successful regeneration of some Nigerian hardwood timbers and their control measures and the identification of physical and mechanical properties of many Nigerian hardwood species (strength, elasticity, density, impact etc) and their appropriate uses which also involves the seasoning and chemical treatability of these hardwood species. They cite others such as the development of techniques for processing and utilization of small size diameter logs and spent rubber-wood, development of an innovative process technology for use of sawmill wood-wastes (principally sawdust and wood shavings) from sawmills and plank markets for the production of decorative face ceiling boards, floor tiles and wall tiles, establishment and maintenance of the largest Forest Herbarium (FHI) in the West Africa sub-region with a collection of 107,294 plant specimens inclusive of the documentation of the medicinal uses of some of the plants, development of technology for the cultivation of edible mushroom as well as mushroom seed production for use by mushroom growers with identified growing media using agro-industrial wastes such as sawduget, cotton wastes, oil palm wastes and corn and the development and multiplication technology for cane-rat (Grass cutter) and snailery domestication. The institute has also developed and perfected the technology for the domestication of some mangrove swamp tree species.
With the current face off between the authorities and its workers though, the colorful strides made at the institute appears to have been flung to the background probably until the warring parties eventually sheathe their swords.