The Monday Column published on this page last week with the title, ASUU: Time to call off the strike, has drawn reactions and feedback from our esteemed readers which we hereby share with you.
I have read your column contribution urging ASUU, that it is time to call off the strike. You felt the government has given enough concessions for ASUU to reciprocate by returning to the classroom. But the snag here is that the government has not shown enough credibility and commitment to follow through on agreements. For instance, if the initial agreement will require about N1.6 trn to implement, if the government comes up with between 400 and 500 billion, that could be seen as reasonable. And we need to consider the inflation/ exchange rates which have devalued what projects/facilities that amount can fund today as against if it had been provided four, five years ago. If ASUU, after going for broke, does not get substantial concrete funding executed, it would have been railroaded into a cul de sac, as returning to strike would rubbish the group completely. So, this may be the last opportunity for ASUU to get the university system significantly funded to be up and running again. Imagine the amount – running into hundreds of billions of naira – the federal government is being made to pay for signing crazy, unimplementable contract agreements foisted on the nation by civil servants and the political class: and for them, that is okay to pay. It is a racket. Of course, ASUU cannot have all its demands fully met, but in the interest of university education, it must dig in to get the most favourable terms that will make ULTIMATE COMPROMISE reasonable.
But Hameed, does it bother you that we have a government that is losing more than a third of its oil production to theft, running into trillions of naira and the government can wring its hands in helplessness and surrender to oil barons. Oil tankers carrying stolen goods are very visible Big Ships and yet they could not be seen by security agents patrolling our creeks and coastline! It is all a scam. For over 20 years successive Nigerian governments failed to make the refineries work leading to financial bleeding called oil subsidy. Education sector should not bear the brunt of reckless corruption of the political and civil servant elite. Having come this far, to now accept a pittance offer by the government will amount to a sell out. We are watching developments. Regards.
Bisi Olawunmi, PhD, Ede, Osun State
Your column is apt and is also my line of thought. It is incisive and objective. In fact, my first published article titled “Between ASUU, Government and Reason”, published in the Nigerian Standard of August 14, 1994 captured the same reasoning you enunciated here. I believe the current ASUU is being persuaded by political sentiments because if the present govt had made some concessions and attended to some of the demands, the union should have shifted grounds. But insisting on a 100% resolution of all their demands is not feasible. Many other labour unions have issues with government regarding their welfare but these consultations and negotiations can never been achieved in a day. It is a continuous process and ASUU should have called off the strike at this point. These agreements were entered into by previous administrations who later discovered they were unimplementable. I don’t see any government whether present or future meeting up these demands. But ASUU is clearly holding the Buhari administration by the jugular because of the 2023 elections. Unfortunately, ASUU is fast losing integrity and credibility and the earlier they realise this the better. May your pen continue to flow in national interest.
-Philip Nyam, Abuja
The question is: what are the global best practices in funding universities? If Nigeria is not in sync with these practices, which clearly she is not, we should tap into the vein of these best practices and sanity will prevail in our tertiary educational system. Until this void is filled, no amount of agreements and counter-agreements would put paid to the cyclicality of crisis in the system. The fact of the matter is that we cannot be operating a unitary educational system of governance within the framework of a federal system of government. It is tantamount to conceptual confusion and organizational malady.
-Attah Pine, PhD, Makurdi
Thank you for the article. I hope a positive response from the two parties will be arrived at in no distant time.
Ahazia Suleiman, Abuja
