When the Academic Staff Union of Universities began its current strike action, nobody thought the lecturers would stay away from their classrooms for such a long time. Now that there’s no tangible hope of calling off the strike anytime soon, a lot of people are beginning to wonder what the future holds for Nigerian undergraduates.
Before the situation will metamorphose into an extremely unpleasant condition, we need to open our eyes and face the reality with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem. For us to find a solution to this problem, we must identify where it is emanating from. Is it from the Federal Government or from ASUU?
In other parts of the world, a student knows when he’ll be graduating right from the day he’s admitted into a university or any school of higher learning but in Nigeria, the reverse has been the case. How will the student know when he’ll graduate when strike has been compellingly added to our academic calendar? Nowadays, students cannot go through four years of study in the university without truncating their educational activities with industrial actions. Let’s not cower away from saying the truth even when some people are obfuscating the issue at hand.
It is the desire of every good government to draw policies that will create an enabling environment both for citizens, and non citizens in such a way that peace and tranquility will be attained with their utmost objective being precisely the achievement of national goals. Therefore, such a government will continually try to avert every ugly situation that will lead to either economic or political chaos. As a matter of fact, a good government will never be comfortable when a chaotic situation lingers for a very long time. That could be the reason why the Federal Government had signed some agreements that are difficult to implement.
When the Federal Government signed the agreement with ASUU in 2009, many of the people knew the possibility of implementing the agreement would be very slim. Whether the possibility is slim or not, an agreement is an agreement. I wonder if the Federal Government can also sign an agreement under duress.
While ASUU is insisting that the agreement should be implemented, let’s be mindful of the fact that, in a time like this when our dear country is trying to actualize Vision 20/20/20, it’ll be appalling for strike action to continue dwindling the strength of our educational sector. Insofar as education is the bedrock of every country’s economy, it’ll only be a figment of imagination to assume that Vision 20/20/20 will be attained amidst the intermittent strike actions that have continued to hamstring our educational sector for a very long time.
The insinuation is that strike actions, which workers originally used to fight for their rights, have now been hijacked by unfortunate politicians who use them as an avenue to counter the reigning government. This group of politicians will do all they can to support any strike action just to jeopardise the economic and political activities in the country with a view to rendering the reigning government incapable and unfit to remain in power. From the look of things, will it be correct to say the current ASUU strike has been hijacked by these politicians? Even if no one should agree with me, I’m sure these politicians have formative influences in the development of the current strike.
Yes, Bob Marley once said, “He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day”, but to infer that it is possible for ASUU to finish this fight at this point in time will only be as good as saying it is possible for a hen to crow in the broad daylight. I’m sure someone needs to rethink right now.
In advanced countries, paramount priority is given to the educational sector and for Nigeria to attain its economic goals, our government needs to follow suit. Maximum attention should be given to this vital sector if only we want to measure up with other countries in terms of quality and efficient educational system. In other words, Nigeria’s educational sector is in dire need of a massive boost and if we must get to the Promised Land, then appropriate measures should be taken right now.
I hereby join hands with the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, and other well-meaning Nigerians in a solemn, and ardent appeal to ASUU so as to call off its strike before it gets out of hand.
Jude Udumebraye,
Lagos.
08168341203
