ASUU Strike: Time For The Federal Government To Act To Save Education

On July 2nd 2013, the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) for the
umpteenth time since 2009 went on
strike over the refusal of the Federal
Government to honour the 2009
agreement on the funding of
Universities and a subsequent
January 2012 MOU.
The grounding of the Universities and
paralysis of all academic and social
activities to say the least is inimical to
the long term development aspirations
of Nigeria.
In today's world that is knowledge
driven, it is a wonder that almost two
months into the ASUU strike, the
government is still fiddling while the
Ivory towers are 'burning'.
It would be recalled that the 2009 FGN/
ASUU agreement was the culmination of
three years of negotiation following a
similar strike by university lecturers in
2006. Since 1991, the struggle by
Nigerian lecturers to ensure adequate
funding in order to arrest the rot in the
Nigerian tertiary education has been on
with hardly any year going by without
the lecturers going on strike to either
demand that government implements
the agreement reached or calling for a
review of the agreements.
Much more disturbing is the predilection
of the government for reneging on
agreements freely entered into with
university teachers as was the case when
the university sector was rocked by
protracted industrial unrest between
1994 and 1996 as a result of the
government's refusal to honour the
terms of the FGN/ASUU agreement of
September 1992. The current round of
strike is also a product of the federal
government's refusal to honour the
terms of the 2009 agreement entered
into with ASUU. These acts of bad faith
by successive governments in refusing to
honour the terms of agreements freely
entered into more than anything else,
has accounted for the intractable crisis in
the nation's university system.
Beyond the immediate implications of
government's unilateral repudiation of
the terms of agreements freely entered
into, is the larger implication for the
economy and society at large in terms of
the sanctity of agreements, contracts
and treaties signed by the Nigerian
government. A government that
habitually reneges on agreements freely
entered into with its citizens cannot be
counted upon to uphold the sanctity of
contracts, treaties or agreements. Little
wonder then that all the jamborees of
the government in the name of
attracting foreign investors end up
yielding little or no result since no
serious investor will invest in a country
where the sanctity of agreements or
contract means nothing.
Fundamentally, ASUU's demand has
been on the need to arrest the falling
standards and ensure the quality of
tertiary education which has been
generally acknowledged as having fallen
beyond imagination. The report of the
Committee on Needs Assessment of
Nigerian Universities (CNANU) set up by
the Federal government vividly captures
this rot.
The struggles of ASUU to attract
adequate funding as well as qualitative
tertiary education has been on despite
the existence of a statutory body created
specifically for the purpose of ensuring
the quality of tertiary education in
Nigeria and advising government on
issues of remunerations in the university
system.
The National Universities Commission
(NUC) has a duty as part of its functions
as stated in its enabling act to '…
prepare periodic master plans for the
balanced and coordinated development
of all universities in Nigeria', 'lay down
minimum academic standards in the
federal republic of Nigeria and accredit
degrees and other academic awards', 'to
ensure that quality is maintained within
the academic programmes of the
Nigerian university system', 'to advise
the Federal Government on the financial
needs, both recurrent and capital of
university education in Nigeria…', 'to
undertake periodic review of the terms
and conditions of service of personnel
engaged in the universities and to make
recommendations thereon to the
Federal Government as appropriate'.
It is quite clear from the foregoing
therefore, that the incessant agitations
of ASUU is a direct fallout of the
embarrassing abdication of responsibility
by the NUC. Clearly, it has not been up
and doing with regards to its primary
duty to the Nigerian university system.
The question in view of the monumental
and disastrous failure is, is there any
basis for the continued existence of the
NUC?.
Incessant strikes by ASUU over the very
issues that are squarely within the remit
of the NUC and for which it ought to
have properly advised the government
on, clearly shows that the NUC has over
the years failed woefully in the discharge
of its primary function of ensuring
standards and advising governments on
the needs of the universities.
The colossal failure of NUC to perform its
primary functions and save the nation
the current embarrassing state of affairs
in the university system that has
necessitated ASUU embarking on strike
is a product of NUC's abandonment of its
primary duty of regulation, ensuring
standards and calling the attention of
the government to the worsening decay
in tertiary education in the country. As
recently revealed, the NUC, which
ordinarily should be focussed in
regulating standards in the university
system was said to be enmeshed in
contract awards, management of
scholarship funds and directly managing
the affairs of universities in clear
violation and breach of extant laws.
This, to say the least, clearly explains
why the NUC has failed woefully in
saving the nation from its current woes
through timely advice on the critical
state and needs of the Nigerian
university system as well making
proposals on how to avert the current
state of rot in the system. Given the
grave tragedy that incessant strike
actions constitute to the immediate and
long term economic and social wellbeing
of the nation, we, the undersigned civil
society organisations, call on the federal
government to, with immediate effect-
1. Demonstrate the requisite political
will to respect the terms of the
agreement which it freely entered into
with ASUU. This is, to us, the hallmark
and minimum requirement for a
responsible and credible government.
2. Re-open the collapsed negotiations
with ASUU as quickly as possible. 3. Set
in motion with immediate effect , all the
mechanisms necessary for meeting the
funding requirements of the FGN/ASUU
agreement of 2009 including those that
have fallen due.
4. Stop forthwith all efforts at derailing
the interventionist agencies in stabilising
the Nigerian tertiary education system.
5. Ensure that the extant laws regulating
the operations of the TETFund are
respected by all and sundry including but
not limited to the NUC.
6. To immediately ensure that the NUC
and other regulatory agencies within the
tertiary education sector forthwith
remain and operate within the ambit of
their primary functions of regulating and
setting standards for the university and
tertiary education system and desist
from getting enmeshed in functions that
are best left to the universities/tertiary
institutions/other relevant agencies and
outside their core mandates.
7. Ensure the full implementation of the
report of the Committee on Needs
Assessment of Nigerian Universities
(CNANU).
Signed:
1. Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC)
2. Women Organisation for Gender Issue
3. CiviI Society Legislative Advocacy
Centre (CISLAC)
4. West African Civil Society Forum
(WACSOF)
5. Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Nigeria
6. National Procurement Watch Platform
(NPWP)
7. Independent Service Delivery
Monitoring Group (ISDMG)
8. Network on Police Reform in Nigeria
(NOPRIN)
9. Public Interest Lawyers League
10. United Action for Democracy (UAD)
11. Community Action for Popular
Participation (CAPP)
12. Citizens Centre for Integrated
Development and Social Rights
(CCIDESOR)
13. Community Outreach for
Development and Welfare Advocacy
(CODWA)
14. Say No Campaign Nigeria 15.
International Press Centre (IPC)
16. Coalition to Save Education in Nigeria
(COSEG)
17. Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI)
18. Greater Nigeria Movement (GNM)
19. Ethical Computing and Cyber
Research Centre
20. Centre for Responsible Engagement
and Patriotism