The downside of ASUU strike

Economically the University community generates millions to the Nigerian government and has created a lot of job opportunities. In the university community for example there are taxi drivers or in some cases okada riders, cyber café, food sellers, carpenters, cosmetics, tailors, hair dressers, mobile and computer accessory shops etc. All of these are business people […]

Economically the University community generates millions to the Nigerian government and has created a lot of job opportunities. In the university community for example there are taxi drivers or in some cases okada riders, cyber café, food sellers, carpenters, cosmetics, tailors, hair dressers, mobile and computer accessory shops etc. All of these are business people with dependents; is anyone thinking of these
people and how they are faring?
A good percentage of Nigerian entrepreneurs are under this cover, so I wonder how we intend to reduce unemployment when such opportunities are shutdown. Implication is that when unemployment increases then the government should be ready to adjust its security budget in order to manage crime and crisis, so that when the focus is on crime it becomes difficult to achieve any meaningful development.
The quality and effectiveness of learning largely depends on the process in which knowledge is acquired and unnecessary interruption is capable of reducing the morale and the passion to study, little wonder students only read and pass exams, in the end what do we get?
Half-baked graduates then we hear complaints by employers of labour about applicants inability to meet up with the demands in the labour market and blaming it all on the unseriousness of students whereas nobody is talking about how the process of acquiring the knowledge was
interrupted by incessant suspension of semesters.
The human mind often needs to be engaged in a productive venture otherwise it will search for satisfaction either dubiously or legitimately. With the advent of information and communication
technology, an average Nigerian student who is expose to the internet is left with no option than to engage in unhealthy social networking or watching of endless movies without looking at the time, these on the other hand is capable of crippling the creative mind from productive reasoning and I think somebody should ask how the same person can be productive to the Nigerian economy. Of course this is not aimed at condemning leisure or social interaction but it takes a highly discipline mind to strike a balance.
It is unfortunate that education as key sector to the countries growth is suffering such neglect from the same generation of Nigerians who were paid to be schooled for themselves and for the greater good of the state. We see another generation who will do anything to be schooled and yet being frustrated, has it become a crime to pursue knowledge? If the entire polytechnics and universities of a country like Nigeria will be shut down for months and the major stakeholders comfortably go to sleep, then what will be the fate of the generation to come.
Leaders ASUU/FG should know that education as a lifetime investment is the hope for the progress and development of any given society, if not for a country where mediocrity is celebrated in place of merit, educationist, academicians, scientist and technologist
should be celebrated. Emphasis should therefore be laid on human resource development.
Ayuba Iliya <[email protected]>