Adamu Adamu and education in Nigeria

Adamu is the sitting Chief Executive Officer in charge of Education in Nigeria. This definitely is an enormous responsibility. But Adamu Adamu is not a lay man as his greatest and most cherished tag is Malam. He is definitely not a novice on this turf.  Malams know the worth of education and are often products […]

Adamu is the sitting Chief Executive Officer in charge of Education in Nigeria. This definitely is an enormous responsibility. But Adamu Adamu is not a lay man as his greatest and most cherished tag is Malam. He is definitely not a novice on this turf.  Malams know the worth of education and are often products of an educational system and are epitomes of knowledge, wisdom, fairness and justice in the conduct of all affairs.

As an adult and a Chief Executive Officer of a national ministry, of education, you are not aware that tertiary institutions in your ministry are on strike, you are not aware that salaries of staff of universities supervised by an agency, National Universities Commission, under your ministry are withheld by another federal ministry? That your outing at the briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID 19, only betrayed the non-governance of your ministry and education in Nigeria.

Is it that you are not bothered by the closure of over forty institutions and several thousands of youths impatiently waiting to return to their studies?  If you are bothered, you need to engage your colleagues in ministries of  finance and labour and explain to them what it takes to practice a profession and what a university stands for.  The explanation is necessary as some professionals have abandoned their rigorously earned skills for easy life in politics. The burden is on you not to talk and reason later. You have to reason out an explanation for them. Those two ministries are only determined to destroy tertiary education under your tenure.

In the other two ministries where safeguard officers for IMF and World Bank projects in Nigeria work, the concept of a university is  not known.  It is incumbent on you to explain to them what a university is.

A university is a universal place of learning, teaching and research for the progress of humanity. It always the engine room of national development. It is only in Nigeria that universities have no value and everybody forgets about them. Can you see why there is a nonexistence or poor link between our universities and industry including formulation? When asked what government is doing on the claims of cure for COVID 19 by herbalists and scientists, your colleague in the Federal Ministry of Health barely struggled to remember a drug development unit in the ministry.

The faculties of pharmaceutical sciences in universities and institutes that dot places in this country were out of memory. The honourable minister forgot.  This is unfortunate because a university in Nigeria is only different by its location. Otherwise, it is a universal citadel with its laws, statutes, practices and procedures consistent with global citadels.

The laws and conditions for employment as an academic in all universities provide for a sabbatical leave of twelve months. The sabbatical is only for senior academics and it is allowed once in six years. This leave is approved by the vice chancellor subject to securing a place for academic or industrial activities within or outside Nigeria. In whatever way, the staff remains on the payroll of the university. Is it that if one went to South Africa, Europe or the Americas that person can only be paid there but cannot be paid in Nigeria?

Mind you, a sabbatical staff enhances the system by what is brought to the table at places of sabbatical and own university in terms of knowledge, perspectives, experience and professional collaboration. That is how universities operate and grow.

The visiting and adjunct staff positions came through inappropriate policies of your ministry and NUC over the years. In collaboration, the Ministry and NUC created universities without any consideration of the needed academic staff and yet you have no manpower development plan for these universities. Since universities are not primary schools where a teacher teaches all subjects or secondary schools wherein a teacher teaches a subject, there are problems with where to obtain teachers to teach aspects of subjects.  So, for each bachelor Programme, I want to imagine how many teachers are needed and are available to teach a student before graduation.

The Vice Chancellors, the shop floor managers ensure that students are taught all aspects before graduation by recruiting visiting staff. The lucky vice chancellor may find retired personnel to engage on contract.  This is not outsourcing and therefore are not consultants so they are payroll matters. Your IMF and World Bank operatives, who only know of wages and consultants, must understand this. No universities in Nigeria pay consultancy fees for teaching.

It is your responsibility to make them understand. Otherwise, you will be the Ozymandias of our time standing battered in a ruined empire. God forbid that the education system be ruined.  There are clear efforts to permanently delete you and your ministry from existence. God forbid. Otherwise why should a director, this time in another ministry write ahead of you to agencies under you? There is a breach of communication lines. You must urgently deal with this. In ensuring accountability and transparency, the distortion of the system should not be tolerated. The letter from IPPIS Director to the NUC Executive Secretary is less than normal.

The spirit of the letter is at par with the Presidential Order and effectively sabotaged the order. Nigeria is not the only country with IPPIS. And yet, globally, employment structure is changing. Currently in Europe an Academic can have multiple employments. I know in Sweden, academics take employments in proportions. For instance, one can have 40% employment in Federal University, Gusau, 30% in Usumanu Danfodio University, Sokoto and another 30% in Ahmadu Bello university, Zaria as in Europe. Will you refuse to pay the staff because of a BVN or he has only a bank account?

Under the supervision of ministry of finance is the Pension Commission. The alleged huge fraud perpetrated there is not and is never attributed to manipulation of salaries and wages. The alleged perpetrators must have BVN, where did the monies go? Yet, the same Pension Commission has not paid entitlements of staff that died in service two to three years ago. The accountability and transparency arrow heads in the Ministry of Finance are yet to be aware and react to this. What we are seeing is either a deeply nursed hatred for universities or wilful destruction of universities.

Beyond traveling allowances in Naira and foreign currencies in the guise of monitoring and evaluating World Bank and IMF projects, Nigerian paid officials need to be truthful to themselves and the nation on policies and practices that are detrimental to our common good. The annual verification trips to universities and expected allowances can not continue to be a strong force. People, including state officials, must come to terms with reality – university managements are battling brain drain due to extremely poor reward system, unexpected externally driven expansion and lack of academic staff development plan. This must not be worsened in the guise of public finance system reforms.

Mallam Minister, you might wish to establish the number of roads to the market. What makes the IPPIS sacrosanct? The World Bank and IMF? Their one dress fit all is not workable.  Listen to the university teachers and the Vice Chancellors you appointed. The are citizens and talking about institutions of  their own country. The manner  your colleagues are pushing the issues is prone to suggesting something more than official interest. Everything human has alternatives except if not explored. Your colleagues think otherwise and you must talk to them. You have to stand up for your ministry as a matter of responsibility. That is the only honour of a Mallam.

Mohammed Bello Yunusa, Executive Director, Socioeconomic and Environment Advocacy Centre, Zaria