Don’t blame ASUU

It shouldn’t be so. It will be of great pleasure for ASUU to see all Nigerian public universities performing optimally in this 21st century, but reverse is the case. As an organized and voluntary union, it main task is to protect and promote the interests of it members and by extension putting pressure on government […]

It shouldn’t be so. It will be of great pleasure for ASUU to see all Nigerian public universities performing optimally in this 21st century, but reverse is the case. As an organized and voluntary union, it main task is to protect and promote the interests of it members and by extension putting pressure on government to arrest the falling standard of university education in Nigeria.  
Come to think of it, most ministers of education were once members of ASUU before their appointments. To some extent, expectations are always high if this becomes true, but reverse is always the case. These academics turned politicians are not always allowed to perform their functions freely. In other words, they are often forced to do what they may see as anti-university progress.  In all advanced and some developing countries, reserve is the case. Educational technocrats are allowed to freely run such ministries with little government control. This often generates needed results at the end. Before the unfortunate strike, the Minister of Education and the SGF had held series of sterile meetings with the leadership of ASUU; still no result.
Students and parents should not blame the union for embarking on strike. It seems, this is the only language Nigerian government understands after series of meetings, lobbying, prayers, etc, are made to persuade them to implement their demands. It is certain most Nigerian politicians do not have the interests of education in this country at heart; if they do, what’s wrong for them to simply implement an agreement they fully went into with ASUU in 2009? After that, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was reached by both parties, awaiting the federal government to fully implement it for over three (3) years, still nothing happened. It was only two of such agreements the government met: extending the retiring age of lecturers to 70 and the return of governing councils. While the rest on the agenda remained untouched.
Nigerian leaders don’t have the interests of developing the education sector, that’s why lip service is always the game whenever education sector unions go on strike. For over 3 months our polytechnic lecturers have been on strike, they don’t care, because none of their children is in these public institutions. Monies are available for such projects to use in advancing education in Nigeria, but they prefer to loot and buy private properties abroad with the names of their business associates. Worse still, these are the same politicians we see dancing in churches praising God and fervently praying to Allah in mosques. Who are they deceiving? Even when spirited Nigerians are sponsoring bills to bar all political office holders sending their children abroad for education, they often scuttle such bills in the house of assemblies. They don’t have the interests of Nigeria education at heart, if they have, they know what to do.

Emmanuel Mohammed, Abuja<[email protected]>;