Revitalization of Education & ASUU’s Stand-alone Struggle
Oh Ye’ Saboteurs, Nature Shall Judge You Accordingly (Part 1)
By Sani Idris
Education forms the skeletal framework of every society that looks forward to progressing. In any sensible and right-thinking setting society, everybody is a stakeholder to education. In Nigeria however, the reverse is closely the case.
The ruling class who should supposedly be canvassing support for qualitative public education are busy pooling their energies and resources towards privatization of education (as evidenced in the proliferation of private basic schools and higher institutions).
Not only that, in their furtherance to downtrod public education, but they also offer nothing more than lip service to educational reform. To cover their venomic mission (gradual destruction of public education), they sponsor well-packaged propagandas to brainwash gullible citizens so as to believe them as Messiahs and true reformers of public education.
This could be traced from the usual bold statement by spokespersons of each successive government, I quote paraphrastically “this government prioritizes education better than any other government in the history of Nigeria”.
And I asked out of curiosity; if truly, say, Obasanjo, Jonathan, and Buhari have been sincere reformers of education, why then, and how comes, this pampered child of government – the education system is still growth-retarded and ramshackle?
Going by logical reasoning, naturally, if a child is given luxury and flamboyant care consistently, they grow vigorously fatter and faster. But why is education getting skinner and worn-out as one government succeeds the other?
Alas! these spokespersons must be carrying a genome I referred to as “LL” ; i.e. homozygous lie (pure gene combination responsible for telling lie), hence, phenotypically idiot. More troubling to me is that, education has been a vagrant in the hand of the general public.
ALSO READ: IPPIS – ASUU Must Suspend Strike Immediately – FG
They care not about the bruisedness that education suffers from. The only time the public shout, groan and snub is when ASUU is on industrial strike action. At this hour, every “Tom and Jerry” becomes ” sudden educationist and all-knowing”.
Due to the aforementioned situations, the fight and struggle for a revitalized education system have been staggered, hampered and black-dotted. This makes it evident that the fight is being championed by ASUU alone; without any add-on, hence, a stand-alone.
Since its creation, ASUU has been pervasively pursuing a number of demands aimed at improving the quality and affordability of tertiary education to all Nigerians against the perturbed wish of some callous clans who thought good quality education shall be for their sons and daughters only. These deadly potholes decelerate ASUU’s struggle in many dimensions during its well-focused sojourn.
Who are the Education Saboteurs?
For the purpose of clarity and easy grasp, I categorized the saboteurs into three classes: internal, intermediate, and external. I began discussing the intermediate, so that, the degree of injury each individual saboteur group causes to the struggle determines its position from the top.
#1. Intermediate: refers to those senior academics who are partly within the university system or have gone through the university system to become senior citizens known as Very Important Personalities (VIPs). This group is the highest beneficiary of the University system, yet, its hidden enemy.
The majority of them are renowned professors and PhD holders. They have tasted the good, the bad and the ugly of the system. They know full well how their colleagues manage to dive hectically through the sea of academia.
Most of them were opportune to travel widely during their scholarly pursuit, therefore, possessed adequate knowledge and experience to make a comparative analysis between the existing inadequacies and lack of motivational and welfare package that enshroud Nigeria’s university system and the functional systems elsewhere.
As a result of their long-term garnered experience, it’s true to say that, they have a robust understanding regarding which kind of policy could potentially dwindle academic freedom, scholarly enrichments, and quality of output and products of the academia.
Further, they occupy influential positions either within the government or in the university cycle, which makes their opinion and decision weighty and captivating, which could serve as a booster to the frontline struggler, the ASUU.
Comparably, their word input is capable of outweighing 1,000 opinions write-ups from ASUU floor members, like me. In spite of all these attributes, instead of the intermediate class to amplify ASUU’s struggle, they choose to make it more difficult and worrisome.
For instance, the characteristic chronic silence of the erudite scholars (the intermediate) over policies and advancement that seek to derail and the rare fact the Nigerian University system speaks volumes of endorsement to the stated bad mission of the iconically villain Nigerian ‘Mogambo Khush Huas’ (a famous evil character in Hollywood up to mid 190s).
In today’s government, I mention but a few: Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, the VP; Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, the CoS; Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chair; Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, the NUC ES; Prof. Alias Suleiman Bogoro, the TETFUND ES; Profs. Itse Sagay and Sadiq Radda the chairman and the secretary Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption respectively.
Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy; Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, the CEO/Execute Vice Chairman NCC; Prof. Muhammad Abdullahi Shafi’u, Registrar NBAIS; Professor Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, JAMB Registrar; Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, ICPC chair; all Vice-Chancellors; state commissioners, board members, and ambassadors from the academic arena.
They are inexcusable for being unable to provide smooth interphase toward resolving ASUU/FG long-standing conflict and grand overhaul of the nation’s tertiary education system.
To bring out the point clear, aside the privilege of using their legitimate office powers to make concrete and unbiased decisions and positive recommendations, where applicable, they could as well use personal access and contacts to advice the handlers of education affairs including Mr. President, the right way.
Also, breaking silence through granting interviews to media correspondents to make their views known to the nation on issues in contention, would have brought about tremendous improvement, had they chosen to intervene. A prominent quotation says “Silence in an Unjust Society is a Crime”.
Imagine, the misrepresentation of our own: the VP, SGF and ministers leaving closely to Mr. President in: office, aircraft, mosque, home, recreational areas, yet, could not pass across valuable message into his two ears regarding education. What a latent sabotage!
The above submissions could be further buttressed using two contrasting scenarios. First, the relationship between the FG and the intermediate class is harmonious and humorous due to many good reasons (trust and integrity, long-term friendship, loyalty, wealth of experiences and wisdom etc) that characterize their appointments.
In contrast, ASUU/FG relationship is more like a Predator/Prey antagonistic relationship. Judging from the two relationships, therefore, government is more likely to heed to advices and recommendations from her friend (the intermediate) than from her wrongly perceived foe (the ASUU).
For instance, while, IPPIS enrollment policy is trying to strangulate visiting, sabbatical and contract staffing which are global academic traditions, the CV of the SGF is full of scholarly visiting engagements in globally acclaimed universities.
That alone, is a strong point that, the SGF, VP and other members of the intermediate class could take advantage of as a favorable ground to convince Mr President and other ‘Mogambo Khush Huas’ on the rationale behind the above engagements in academic environments world over.
Vice Chancellors of public universities are behaviorally like a wood bug – boring and eating out the house that inhabits them. They squander huge monies sent for different purposes, engage in illegal recruitments and other undue excesses thereby predisposing ASUU to blackmails, abuses and accusations by government, students and the general public.
Thus, makes the struggle path rougher, potholed and hectical. In fact, VCs are the archest saboteurs of university education. One more negative role that VCs play in a very filthy way is that; on arrival of any malwared policy, instead of the VCs to galvanize force with ASUU to give it a befitting burial, they assumed double-edged view.
For example, when IPPIS was being marketed, the VCs sided with government agents by singing all sweet praises in support of it, while, at the same time, rubbishing and condemning it via inter-personal correspondences.This kind of unhelpful and unhealthy attitude of VCs has been double-chaining ASUU in all struggles.
The followings may be responsible for the hypocritical insubordination of the intermediate class saboteurs:
– I-need-you-no-more syndrome (strongly feel that, they are not coming back to academia for any value addition)
– Advertisement (ready to do whatever possible to appease government for consideration in future opportunities)
– I-want-remain- glued-to- my-seat syndrome (not willing to frustrate the government, so that they don’t get dismantled)
– Naturally mindless (Feeling inwardly indifferent to contribute for general progress)
For failing to pay golden sacrifice for the survival and progress of next coming generations through good quality education, you are saboteurs.
Certainly, without any form of doubt, for deciding to be short-sighted and self-centered, nature shall witch-hunt you and give you a dirty CANE as corporal punishment in return. I don’t predict when and how it comes, but will certainly come.
Sani Idris is from the Department of Soil Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria. Email: sanidris2000@gmail.com.
For Advert Placement, Sponsorship, support, Article submission, suggestion, etc, Contact us: info@theabusites.com, +2349015751816 (WhatsApp)
