Education

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Join Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has urged the House of Representatives to grant the examination body total financial autonomy.

The Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who made the plea on behalf of the examination body, asked the lawmakers to remove them from the annual national budget.

He made the call on Wednesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

He added that in 2017, after remitting N7.5 billion, the examination body reviewed its registration fees downward from N5,000 to N3,500. However, Oloyede said the Federal Government should allow JAMB to revert, considering the current economic development in the country.

He stated, “There is nowhere that government funds this type of examination. They actually provide some support for the institution because students pay some token as registration fees, and from it, they bear the responsibility of salaries and provide some succours.

“We are comfortable to be taken off the budget, but there are conditions. One of the conditions, for example, when students registered in 2016, we collected N5,000, and that had been on for five years before I joined.

“When we came in, we remitted N7.5 billion. We felt it was too much and approached the federal government to reduce the fees. We have not added a Kobo since.

“I believe we should revert to the N5000 we were charging. Given the inflation, if we charge N10,000– I am just giving it as an example, nobody will ask the federal government for one kobo.

“I am not aware of anywhere in the world, except maybe Finland— that charges as low as JAMB is charging. In Finland, we know that everything is free,” he said.

By Khalid Imam

The Northern Nigerian Writers’ Summit (NNWS) elects new Executive officers to pilot its affairs for a two year term.

The election held at Katsina State Secretariat Conference Hall on 11st September, 2022 was conducted by a Four Man Electoral Committee under the able leadership of Professor Idris Amali, the DVC Admin., Federal University, Lafia. Professor Albishak, MON and Professor Yusuf Adamu served as Members with Zahradeen Ibrahim Kalla, former Treasurer of NNWS serving as the Secretary. At the end of the Congress, members of NNWS in attendance voted in new officials.

Those elected and their portfolios included Dr. Bashir Abu Sabe as the new Chairman, Isyaku Bala Ibrahim as Vice Chairman, Khalid Imam as the General Secretary, while Isma’ila Bala is to serve as the Ass. Gen. Sec..

Other included the Financial Secretary, Dr. Shamsudeen Bello, Treasurer, Abubakar Zukogi, PRO North Central
Tim Cuttings, PRO North West, Dr. Murtala Uba Mohammed, PRO North East, Legal Adviser
Ogbe Benson Aduojo Esq., Auditor Fatima Bello and an Ex-Officio, Auwal Gata

Soon after taking oath of office, swiftly administered by the reelected Legal Adviser, the reelected Chairman, Dr. Bashir Abu Sabe delivered a brief acceptance speech in which he thanked call members for their votes of confidence and giving him new mandate. He also appealed to all new Executives to put all hands on deck for them to reinvigorate the association. He concluded by calling on all members and other stakeholders to support him to provide the desired leadership the association needs to attain greater hight.

The election coming on the second day of the Two Day Conference and the first Arewa Literary Awards the NNWS organized. Thereafter what followed immediately was the illuminating papers presentation by carefully selected literary scholars and some writers from different regions of the North with papers presented in Fulfulde, Hausa, Nupe and Tiv indigenous languages.Prior to that, the Keynote Address was presented by Professor Saleh Abdu, former DVC, Federal University, Kashere after the conference was declared officially openned by His Excellency, Right Honourable Aminu Bello Masari who was ably represented by Honorable Abdulkarim Sirika, the Commissioner of Information, Culture and Home Affairs.

The unveiling of “Tulu: A Multilingual Anthology of Northern Nigerian New Writings” was the hallmark of events held on the opening day of the Two Day Conference on Northern Nigerian Indigenous Literatures and Languages themed: ‘ Indigenous Literatures and Languages as Vehicle for Taming Insecurity in Northern Nigeria”.

A powerful delegation of NNWS led by Professor Idris Amali were warming received by His Excellency, the Right Honourable Aminu Bello Masari, the Governor of Katsina State at his residence.

On Day Two, participants toured some fascinating historic sites in Katsina and the Daura Emir’s Palace.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Federal Government meets the striking Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) for adjudication over incessant strike on Monday.

The Daily Really recalls that ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, resulting to a total closure of all Nigerian public universities for over seven months now.

The union is protesting against alleged infrastructure decay at various institutions, as well as neglect of its members’ welfare.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, made this disclosure Sunday in Abuja in a letter addressed to the Registrar of NICN, dated Sept 8, 2022.

Ngige stated that the referral instrument had become necessary following the failure of dialogue between the union and the Federal Ministry of Education.

”The Federal Government has asked the NICN to inquire into the legality or otherwise of the ongoing prolonged strike by ASUU leadership and members that had continued even after apprehension.

“It asked the court to interpret in its entirety the provisions of Section 18 LFN 2004, especially as it applies to the cessation of strike once a trade dispute is apprehended by the Minister of Labour and Employment and conciliation is ongoing,” he said.

The ongoing dispute between the FG and ASUU, which started taking a new dimension, has made some people believe that things have all being politicised.

By Salisu Yusuf

Like other teachers in the so-called Third World countries, Nigerian teachers of English have their dilemma and challenges ranging from sociocultural issues to pedagogical, personality, and condition of service. A teacher has a lot to contend with.

Teaching (at the higher level) in the 21st century has evolved from the traditional teacher-centred to a more pragmatic students-centred approach. Teachers are no longer the dominating forces in the classroom. Instead, they serve as coordinators while students run the show. Ultimately, communicative situations are created in the classroom. Consequently, teachers of English need to be acquainted with the role and place of theatre and drama in education, a method that makes teaching a communicative endeavour.

Unfortunately, students in 21st century Nigeria are no longer interested in communicative situations as education at primary and secondary schools has gone below the standard bar. A teacher, therefore, ought to devise a way to motivate a class of passive learners.

Besides students’ lack of communicative approach, teachers of English in Nigeria are confronted with a dual phonetic issue; a teacher is expected to teach the British phonetic patterning of speech in a strictly diverse Nigerian environment with students under the influence of Nigerian phonetics. The confusion in most Nigerian phonetic realisations emanates from a mix-up of British and American dialects in our daily usage.

Most English words are pronounced in American phonetic realisations. Moreover, Yoruba language phonemics has hugely influenced how we pronounce English words. Therefore, an English teacher must fully explain the phonetic versions to his students. For example, the word “minor” has double pronunciations; the British /ˈmʌɪnə/ and Nigerian /ˈmʌɪnɔː/. Students should know this difference and why the former is the aptest while the latter is strictly Nigerian.

Our students’ lack of reading culture has immensely affected English and literary studies. For instance, some students in literature class don’t want to frequent libraries and read selected texts. Instead, they prefer to visit internet sites, download summaries and read haphazardly. Teachers ought to be mentors in this regard.

A contemporary English teacher must keep abreast with modern English usage. For instance, some years back, a professor of English told our class that the plural of compound nouns such as female teacher and male servant are ‘females teachers’ and ‘males servants’, respectively. While some compound nouns are turned to plural from their first or last elements, the above two and many more are pluralised from their first and last elements. His assertion is, however, today obsolete; contemporary grammar has massively changed such patterns; female teachers and male servants have replaced the former.

 A teacher of English must not lose his head to the identity crisis. Some learners in philosophy and literature subsume into ideological attributes of these fields, thereby becoming victims of pull and inferiority complex. They can only feel superior when they identify with the other culture.

A teacher of English should see himself as a second language user who teaches a foreign language. He should not see himself as an English teacher but as a teacher of English. I have seen a colleague with cultural schizophrenia due mainly to an obsession with English culture. A second language user who sees himself as a  first language user usually suffers from identity crisis, culminating in cultural schizophrenia and, ultimately, psychological turmoil. Many I know have lost their faith and turned to atheism.

A teacher should see himself as someone who mediates between cultures in order to reach cultural equivalence. He should not pretend to be an English man, nor should he speak sleek English through a pointed nose. Rather, he should speak as an African who teaches a foreign language.

This doesn’t free him from strictly adhering to rules governing language use. He should be a traditional grammarian in his pedagogical engagements; he employs some aspects of contemporary grammar in both his classroom and outside classroom engagements.

Girl child abuse, pornography and sexual objectification have immensely affected the teaching profession in the 21st century. Victorianism, that 19th-century literary movement with all its attendant moral lashings, could not stop these deviations in academia. Some teachers see their female students as objects of beautification to be exploited. Female students stereotype and generalise their male teachers as admirers of their sleek bodies. Male students use their female counterparts as shields before their teachers, especially when looking for favours. These and many more are some of the causes of sexual scandals.

A teacher should see his female students as his congenial sisters whom he feeds with knowledge, no more, no less than this.

Many see teachers of English as grammar police, therefore, prescriptivists. I was numerously called a representative of her majesty, the late Queen. A teacher should do away with such social constructs and stereotypes and tackle his work head down. He’s a second language user called by fate to teach a foreign language, foreign culture. Therefore, he cannot escape such naming.

Last but not least, Nigeria’s teachers suffer from poor service conditions. Politicians have turned almost all other professions into… besides their own. Today, a month’s take-home pay of a politician can only be earned by a public servant for his entire working career. An instructor at a college in the neighbouring Niger Republic earns twice my wage.

 A teacher should consider his profession service to humanity, not a means to an end.

Salisu Yusuf wrote from Katsina via salisuyusuf111@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Zuwaira Ahmed, a 13-year-old girl, from Katsina state has memorised and written the complete sixty sections of the Holy Qur’an by heart.

The girl, adored and admired by many, hailed from Kagara village of Kafur Local Government Area of the state.

The Daily Really gathered that Zuwaira memorised the Holy Qur’an in four years, the development which her parents said was a blessing to them, let alone the girl.

At the Walimah occasion on Sunday, organised to honour the girl, the district head of Mahuta, Alh. Bello Abdulkadir, has commended the girl and urged parents to continue supporting their children towards such a noble cause.

Abdulkadir also commended her parents, teachers and community leaders in what he described as proper upbringing.

Also speaking, the Chairman of Kafur LGA, Alh. Garba Abdullahi-Kanya, assured support for her education at secondary and tertiary levels.

Qur’an is the Muslim Holy book revealed to the last prophet and messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him. Muslim find it interesting, appealing and a source of blessing to memorize its whole content by heart.

By Sule Muhammad Zubairu, (PhD)

“I appeal to the federal government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the Education sector for the country to be able to change the fortunes of the system. Indeed, even among Sub-Saharan African countries, we are trailing far behind smaller and less endowed nations in terms of our investment in education. There is a need for a major investment in education in the national interest” – Adamu Adamu, 2017.

Let me express my sincere sympathy to the patriotic Nigerians in the education profession for their sheer sacrifices and selfless services for the betterment of public education. It is a heartfelt piece of article that aimed at mourning the last relic of the educational sector in a country where its policy makers think that university education is a mere burden that needs to be dropped aside. I am always in disbelief whenever I woke up to see how pitiful is the condition of the public universities in this country. Most often, I ask myself what went wrong with our leaders? Is this borne out of capitalists’ instincts, ignorance, self aggrandisements, corruption or a combination of all?

Nigerians and Elitist’s Sheer Hypocrisy:
In fact, if one wishes to see the real ‘educational apartheid’ then, one should have a look into the Nigeria’s educational system. Paradoxically, the primary stakeholders, managing the affairs of Nigeria’s public education are largely not enrolling their children in the public universities. For how long the masses will be deceived? How on earth this could even be possible? We have seen lots of graduation photos and selfies from foreign universities with their children, year in year out. Indeed, recently, we have seen them sending their pictures from Harvard University, while the public universities back home are still shutdown for months.

The poor attention given to our university education in this is simply about creating and maintaining different classes between so-called elite and others, the masses. But, they don’t want you to see it that way. Those in power may argue that they have been doing a great service to our educational sector, particularly the universities. Logically, if that is true why are they not patronizing them?

The sheer hypocrisy of the ruling elites in this country is a real source of concern and disturbing. But, I don’t think these guys understand it very well. I’m still wondering why up to this time there is no comprehensive statistics of children of high ranking office holders that school abroad. Imagine they use tax payers money to educate their children and leave those of poor in darkness. What a shame!

I pity my fellow poor Nigerians for generations to come, if they are destined to be ruled by these types of leaders. The writing is clear on the wall: the university education, as we know it, would be only for the rich!

ASUU members and their families’ woes:
I also pity ASUU members across the country for their steadfastness dodgedness to defend the remnants of our universities’ past glories. However, when dealing with shameless people one needs to be extra careful and have a rethink. In other words, how can you deal with a situation when some of the officials are thinking that education is not a critical issue, falsifying the outcomes of their own committees, and the Head of state seems not to be fully aware or even grasp the core issues at stake? In serious societies, education always tops the table and takes a reasonable share of their annual budget.

Shockingly, they are punishing the only set of people who stand against the total collapse of our public university system, by inflicting hunger, starvation and threats on them and their innocent family members. What a country! I sometimes use to thinking that the hate from our current ruling elites towards ASUU members and their families in this country is by far bigger than that of Boko Haram members, Niger Delta militants and treasury looters. Because these guys have been enjoying series of amnesties and even presidential pardon. I argue that even the Palestinians, black Americans (during the civil right movement) and black South Africans (during the Apartheid) have experienced fair or even better treatments from their oppressors than what ASUU members and their families are experiencing currently in their sovereign country.

My fellow ASUU members, whenever any second thought pops in your mind, you should remember what Adamu Adamu once said: “This nation owes a debt of gratitude to ASUU and the strike should not be called off until the government accepts to do and does what is required. So, instead of hectoring ASUU to call off its strike, the nation should be praying for more of its kind in other sectors of the economy” – Adamu Adamu, 2013.

To this end, as a concerned citizen, I pray to God, to guide us and our leaders to the right path and save public education from total collapse, amen.

Zubairu teaches Geography at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He can be reached via; sulemuhd@gmail.com

By Fatihu Ibrahim Salis

It is with a great sense of depression I am writing this on behalf of thousands of “inconclusive graduates” yes, I am referring to the class of 2020 of Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil. We are inconclusive because we are yet to collect our statement of result. We sat for our final exam in October 2021. To date, we have not collected our certificates, thanks to the industrial action of the Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU). However, we have seen our final year examination results.

The strike started in February 2022, four months after our final paper, which is more than enough time to compute our result and mobilise us for the mandatory one-year service to our motherland, which is the dream of any patriotic and faithful son of the soil.

Today marks almost a year of completing our studies without knowing our fate. We have tried our best to fight together and show solidarity to ASUU, but it seems it is not worth it since they cannot feel the trauma we are facing.

As a state-owned university, KUST is not related to IPPIS or UTAS battles because the staff’s salary comes directly from the state government treasury (I stand to be corrected). Hundreds of opportunities have slipped from our hands because of this action. Many of us have been confronted with life-changing shots, but unfortunately, we have no certificates to offer, although we have the required knowledge.

We have faced many tribulations during the long journey from our first year to our final year the annual strikes, the unrest saga, the one-year Covid-19-imposed lockdown, and the current strike, among others. What an irony; a five-year course has turned seven years with no hope in sight.

If I may understand them right, ASUU’s fight is for the protection of the educational sector from collapsing and emancipation of the University students from studying in challenging environments, and at the same time fighting for the well-being of their members. But now, with the continuation of the strikes, they are doing the government’s dirty work for them.  ASUU, your fights to liberate our lives as university students (pardon me if I sound rude) have changed direction to deter us from attending classes. It seems you are helping the government pro bono by continuing the industrial action.

Education is not a privilege but a fundamental right. Yet, as Nigerians, that basic right has been snatched from us. As a result, our futures are deterred, and our progress is choked. We are not holding only the federal government responsible but ASUU as well. 

With all due respect, ASUU’s timing for the strike is wrong. On the brink of the 2023 general election, the government’s focus is on the election, not education. ASUU should realise the bitter truth and suspend the strike. Withdrawing from a battle is another battle strategy to fight for another day. The association and the federal government should compromise for the sake of the Nigerian students who are hurt the most as the saying goes, “when two elephants are fighting, it’s the grass that suffers the most”.

The guiding philosophy of KUST is the provision of community-based education that will facilitate the production of graduates who shall fulfil the stipulated requirements in learning and character to graduate in their various fields of specialisation. The graduates shall also be groomed in such a manner that they will be able to function effectively in the community.  The students have been groomed so well that we spend seven years in a five-year course, but we have been denied our certificates. We have been told that we only receive them after the ASUU strike, which has no hope of resumption. 

As a state university student, I am very much aware of the contribution of the TETFund to our schools, which is ASUU’s brainchild. But this blind loyalty and solidarity to an association that not only consider you as second-class citizens but “quacks” should be halted. We are talking of our future, so remember the psychological and emotional effect the strike has on our lives.

Most of the graduates for the next batch of NYSC will be private university graduates. So indirectly, the masses have been kicked out of the struggle while the elites enjoyed a great monopoly, typical aristocracy restored. ASUU’s battle has denied many of us the opportunity to serve our nations. Most of us have reached the exemption age of 30, and a considerable amount is on the rim of the exemption age.

Finally, I want to call on the attention of all stakeholders to intercede on our behalf and call upon the school management to show us empathy. We are their children. They are our parents. We appreciate their fatherly support in our careers. Please, consider our future.

God Bless Nigeria 

Fatihu Ibrahim Salis wrote via fisabbankudi123@gmail.com.

By Mubarak Shu’aib

It has been far from a smooth ride for Nigerian university students and their academic staff for months now due to the marathon strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The strike has been a ridiculous one ever happening to our universities (6 months old). And this week has put forward the semblance of this current administration to the famous Don Jazzy’s song, SHAKITI BOBO, as it failed to come to terms with the union.

Whisper it quietly, but the union was right all along. At least when it came to one of their striking reason; revitalization of the universities. An inorganic chemistry professor dragged a colleague of mine for more than 10 minutes during our SIWES presentation. Reason? He said that a spectrophotometer detects the colour of the water. “There is no such spectrophotometer”, argued the professor. This is because he has probably never seen one in the university lab. The argument was later settled. By who? Lab technician (!) who came across one in a particular company during an IT supervision. Talking about the NMR machine, we have only one in the country (in ABU Zaria). This, and a wealth of other reasons, has exposed the uselessness of our universities and the need to recalibrate them.

Meanwhile, the tongue-lashing of some state universities and the jarring reply to FG on the backlogs by the chairman of ASUU have outlined the fault lines in the union’s struggle and the glaring need for pertinent media and resourceful PR.

The union is showing no signs of cracking under the FG tactic of ‘no work, no pay’, and that’s commendable. But that’s enough to signal that this current crop of leaders and retrogression are five and six. They exploit every avenue to render our institutions valueless.

The stalemates in the meetings have exposed mainly the lack of political from the education and labour ministers, who were somewhat culpable in the concession of the marathon strike.

If ASUU were to call off the strike today without coming to terms with the FG, it would be like holding up their hands to the FG and the emotion-driven students saying, ‘you were right’.

At some point, the blame game between the two parties stops being admirable and starts to look reckless. May God comes our way.

Mubarak Shu’aib writes from Hardawa Misau LGA, Bauchi State. He can be reached via naisabur83@gmail.com.

By Prof. Abdelghaffar Abdelmalik Amoka

The parents are angry over the strike. I can understand their frustration. Nobody can be happy seeing their kids at home while they are supposed to be in school studying. Some of the affected students are supposed to have graduated but can’t because of the strike. So, who should the parents vent their anger on? The government or the union of lecturers?

It is called a public university, funded with public funds, and we are all stakeholders. We are all meant to be concerned about the state of our universities. But they have been closed for the last six and a half months. Meanwhile, there are questions we are not asking as we take the side of the government or the lecturers.

Why is ASUU on strike? Where is a fund for other things but education? Why will the government set up committees, invest resources in them for weeks to work, and reject the report after the conclusion of their work? Why is FG not bothered about students spending months at home instead of being in school? ASUU is on strike. Why will it take FG 6 months to make an offer? What is the content of the Nimi-Briggs committee report that they are hiding? Why are they not ready to make our universities attractive to international students and scholars like they used to be in the 80s? The VP recently told people below him that “we” need to do something about the ASUU strike and the only person (the president) that he should be talking to was not there. So, who is the “we”? Are we in a hopeless situation?

Why are we not asking these questions? Let me review the situation.

There was a  strike in 2020 just before the COVID-19 lockdown. The government refused to and did not solve the issues that led to the strike till after the lockdown. After a  series of negotiations, ASUU and FG had a signed agreement they both called the Memorandum of Action (MoA). One of the items on the signed MoA was the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement. Then, the Emeritus Prof Munzali’s renegotiation committee was inaugurated in December 2020. The committee concluded the renegotiation and submitted the report around June 2021.

There was no action after the committee submitted the draft agreement. ASUU lobbied for the implementation of the 2020 MoA and to take action on the submitted report by the FG renegotiation committee without result. ASUU reached out to NASS leadership. They promised to intervene without any result. ASUU members in December 2021 wanted the strike to be declared, but the executives pacified the members to exercise patients as religious leaders (NIREC) were intervening and a meeting scheduled. The intervention did not yield any results in January 2022.

Since all the lobbying failed, ASUU re-activated its last option. “Strike”! Then, ASUU declared the four weeks warning strike on the 14th of February. The government did not take it seriously. On its expiration, it was extended by 8 weeks. That was when they picked up the Munzali’s committee report to have a look at it and later said it is not implementable. They inaugurated the Nimi-Briggs’s renegotiation committee for another round of negotiation.

ASUU agreed. By then, the guys in the government were more concerned about the APC internal crisis and the primary elections. The 8 weeks elapsed without anything serious, and it was rolled over for 12 weeks. By the end of the 12 weeks, the Nimi-Briggs report was ready with the Minister of Education.

Shortly after then, Ngige and Keyamo were everywhere, blackmailing ASUU of some N1.3trn that nobody knows the source of the information. They were even blackmailing the committee that the FG set up. It was so embarrassing that the renegotiation team had to respond. I am sure you read the paid advertorials on national dailies.

Then, the Nimi-Briggs committee report was also set aside. And the minister came up with an “awarded” of N30k to N60k salary increase on gross for the lowest to the highest level, respectively, on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. It was an arrogant presentation, like he was talking to small boys. The ASUU team politely said they would present the offer to members for deliberation and revert even though it was obvious that it would be rejected outright by all the branches. The withheld salary was not discussed as it was not seen as an issue. You can only discuss that after the members accept the offer.

Adamu Adamu was a fan of ASUU and had written several articles justifying the previous strike actions by the union. He is very familiar with how ASUU operates. ASUU usually doesn’t disclose any discussion with the government to the Press till the offer is presented to members at the branches for deliberation. The minister took advantage of that principle and attempted to blackmail ASUU to the public. You are aware of his misinformation during the press briefing. He surprised everyone.

Meanwhile, for these last 6 months, the public was supposedly with ASUU on the struggle, support they said ASUU is losing. So, the public supported ASUU but watched FG drag the strike for 6 months before making an offer. There was no outcry from the public. So, what is the impact of public support then? If that public support is withdrawn, what will be the effect? It is not very likely to have an impact. ASUU seems to be in the fight alone.

In March 2022, after the strike was declared, a member of the House of Reps raised a motion to make it compulsory for public servants to patronize public schools for their kids. His reason was that if that happens, attention will be given to public schools. The motion was rejected by the House instantly. There was no outrage from the public. Unlike the rejected bill on women that attracted protest from women for weeks in the NASS complex, there was no protest from the public or the students to sustain that motion on education. It appears we are enjoying the slave-master relationship that is between the public and the supposed public servants.

But then, has the public ever been on the side of ASUU during any strike? What steps did they take for a quick resolution? The public never really supported ASUU’s struggles for the universities, and I feel their pain. They want their kids to go and get a degree. They are unconsciously not bothered about the quality of teaching in the university. The state of their lecture rooms, lecture facilities, available learning resources, and hostels; are not all important. They are expected to MILT. After all, as long as they know somebody or have the cash to buy a job, the kids don’t need to know anything to get a job. They just want a graduate to be celebrated. You can’t be happy seeing that your child at home due to the ASUU strike. Since you can’t afford a private university and those emperors in the government are too big for all of us to fight against, it’s natural to transfer the anger to the oppressed side, the lecturers!

Dear parents, ASUU did not keep your kids at home but FG. If FG is sincere and does the needful instead of threats, ASUU members are willing to return to classes tomorrow. The whole crisis is shrouded with insincerity. If the government is sincere, the strike would not have lasted a month. They know the minimum to offer that will be acceptable if they want the strike to end. As Dele Ashiru, the Chairman of ASUU Unilag, rightly stated, the Federal Government declared war on ASUU, and lecturers in the public varsities are only responding to the unacceptable treatment with the indefinite strike.

To my colleagues, there is an invitation for a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday. Expect anything. But whatever happens in Abuja, you have 2 choices: to give up, get nothing after the 7 months of hardship, lost your withheld salaries, or endure and get what you are on strike for and get your withheld salary released.

Dear Malam Adamu Adamu, please remind Mr. President that Nigeria is still a developing nation and education is key to our development pace and must be placed on the priority list. No serious government will keep their universities inactive for 6 months and still counting. That displayed ego that shocked everyone must be set aside for a serious discussion to end this crisis. The declared war against ASUU won’t end it but dialogue.

Education must be properly funded, sir!

By Yusufu Musa

Watching Prof. Ibrahim Maqari’s outburst the other day made it difficult to respond to several inquiries. One of these is whether solving all the problems ASUU is bringing home will fundamentally alter the perception of the higher education system and transform our universities into those we hear about in Europe and North America.

On February 14, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) announced the start of a four-week roll-over strike that has since been extended three times. However, the issues brought up by Prof. Maqari are not ones that ASUU is examining. Instead, the union is concerned about the subpar working circumstances of its members, the proliferation of institutions, and the appalling physical and technological facilities of public universities.

Maqari alienated his old coworkers by criticizing them. He accused them of working only three to four hours a week, failing to undertake significant research, and engaging in academic fraud to further their careers. Unfortunately, I lack the means to substantiate his broad assertion because intellectual property theft is a severe legal matter. Thankfully, the targets have responded to him with detailed arguments.

I’m arguing in support of his assertion that lecturers should do the duties for which they are compensated, such as quality research and teaching if they want to be paid like Harvard professors who put in long hours. Because when a lecturer declines to instruct, the pupils suffer as a result.

I believe the next battle is one that students should win on their own. There is an internal conflict at the university. University students, who are primarily young people, can ensure that lecturers are held accountable. Still, they don’t always seem to reject the behaviour of some instructors, about whom ASUU appears unconcerned despite the proverb that “charity begins at home.”

ASUU is fighting its own battle but never agrees there are bad elements in the university system that should be fished out. 

The allegorical story Animal Farm by George Orwell struck a chord with me because of how the author captured the naivety of the oppressed in the figure of Boxer. Napoleon never fails, according to Boxer. This is a ball of fire that allows himself to be fooled. In actuality, he is the manor farm’s strongest animal.

Since then, critics have said Boxer represents the Soviet Union’s working class under Stalin’s rule. Members of this group contributed to Stalin’s rise to power. What took place in the end? Boxer became so weak that he was used and dumped. He believed the “thing with two legs” to be his enemy and agreed to help destroy the farm’s owner, only for his persuaders to grow more oppressive.

Consider Nigerian students to be Boxers because they believe ASUU is always right.

While it is true that Nigeria is not working, we are all equally to blame. We understand the system rather well because we are students at the institution.

Prof. Maqari revealed the other side of the story, but ASUU was not pleased. ASUU is bringing the gospel to the government house even though they also require it.

According to Qur’an 2:44: “Despite reading the Book, do you preach holiness but fail to uphold it yourself? Why don’t you understand?”

Through a lecturer, I learned that someone had proposed in one of his university’s senate sessions that professors be required to periodically take an exam so that administration may determine if they are still “professing.” The contributor worried that his colleagues would stop performing research once they received the title. For fear of the professors leaving for other universities, his recommendation was flatly denied.

When they notice that a promotion exercise is getting closer, some professors realize they need to compose a paper. When they do, no one will read the pieces they publish in a departmental journal. The articles are created for promotion rather than to contribute to the scientific community.

I recently visited a department head in one college of education. I noticed some journals on her bookcase. I told her I wanted to submit an article for their upcoming issue. Try to guess what the HoD said. She said that the journal was only released during every promotion season.

Government investment in universities may not change much because some teachers’ unethical behaviour is not being monitored. Even worse, individuals who should be watching for such unethical behaviour believe they are always right. According to them, only the government and students engage in destructive behaviour. Who will then stand up for students?

Students should reject any proposal to restructure the university system without establishing a framework to monitor the behaviour of the teachers. The battle for a functional university system goes beyond having lovely lecture halls, modern labs, and libraries.

Junior academics, resentful of their seniors, do most of the work. Because they are overseeing their PG dissertations, they treat them like slaves.

Even in the classes these powerful lecturers teach, the juniors are tasked with grading the written assignments. A junior lecturer would be seen grading papers for eight courses.

Most of our professors would visit the classroom once or twice during our time at the institution to launch a course and hand it off to a junior scholar. Some of them never even tried to educate us. Due to their inflated sense of importance, they are too big to instruct undergraduates. They were seldom ever seen in the departments. Because their mentors don’t have time, graduate students spend years researching at the institution.

Students must understand that nobody would stand up for them. The government may revitalize institutions and increase funds for higher education, but who has the right to oversee professors’ negligence?

Nigerian young, unlike Boxer, are aware of their power, which they used during the EndSARS rally. The youth must speak up and demand changes in education and other areas of national policy that will affect their future. Some of these teachers have our support despite doing nothing. The strike will finish. We’ll return to the classroom, but will the ASUU police its members there as well?

Yusufu Musa writes from Kaduna and can be reached via ymusa4055@gmail.com.