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For decades, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has relied on strikes as its strongest tool in the struggle for improved funding and university autonomy.
For about 15 years the union has relied on strikes, yet, the system continues to face new realities, hence, the need to reevaluate strategies and actions as a union to ascertain whether industrial action alone can secure the lasting independence and reform it seeks.
Christopher Piwuna, the president of ASUU, recently queried the federal government’s reluctance to give the public universities the autonomy they clamour for.
“Why is the government afraid of university autonomy, for 15 years the universities are fighting for autonomy?
“In terms of salaries and conditions, we feel like we are living in the 17th or 18th century. Our salaries are insufficient, and public universities lack the endowments and infrastructure needed to grow,” he emphasised.
ASUU initially was after members’ welfare, however, along the line, the union began to agitate for improved funding, quality education, national development and autonomy of universities.
Obviously, there is nothing wrong with that, however, many believe the ways and manners the union has been going about their agitations, could be the latent reason they are not getting the needed result.
Francis Egbokare, the immediate past president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, emphasised in virtual conversation that the core of the problem in Nigeria’s university system is leadership, particularly at the level of governing councils.
“In some cases, council members see their appointments as opportunities for personal gain rather than service. Matters that should be handled transparently are often influenced by vested interests.
“Across Nigerian universities, you can see evidence of this leadership failure in the physical environment, poorly designed and badly finished buildings that do not reflect modern standards,” he said.
This observation cuts across the academics and the government officials, and unfortunately, at a time when the world is embracing sustainable construction and innovative design, Nigerian campuses are still filled with substandard structures despite huge government investments.
Hence, Egbokare insists that the country must examine how university leaders are selected. “ASUU has its role, but as academics, we must not speak from both sides of the mouth. We cannot condemn the system’s problems while participating in the same practices that perpetuate them,” he urged.
Joe Ajaero, NLC president, wondered if strike is enough for ASUU to achieve its objectives. “Beyond the issue of university autonomy, we must broaden the conversation. Is the Nigerian state truly approaching education the right way? Are we focusing only on universities while neglecting primary and secondary education? If we fail to get the foundation right, excellence at the tertiary level will remain impossible,” he noted.
ASUU said it is fighting for the good of all Nigerians, but must the nanny mutilate the child she is hired to nurse, one would expect the union to embrace dialogue and not just strikes, to save the students.
However, Piwuna explained that the union is constrained with the government’s insincerity.
“ASUU is ready for conversation with the federal government to address the impasse, but the government has no sincerity coming to the dialogue table,” he stressed.
Worse still, the government is structurally killing the system by appointing university officials; and it is wrong for the university managers to fail to be transparent and accountable, especially over their internally generated revenue.
Like it is said, “Charity begins at home”, ASUU is expected to address its internal rots, such as allocation, and grants expenditure, among others.
Experts believe that if the universities can properly manage their resources and embrace collaborations with other institutions and organisations, the funding and development of the ivory towers would be much easier.
Piwuna, however, revealed that the union is handicapped in terms of collaborating with corporate organisations and individuals as it is evidence that billionaires fund private universities, and not public ones.
A closer look at the number of universities in Nigeria today, shows that private universities are more than federal and state universities combined.
Nigeria currently have 159 private universities as against 151 public ones, and the reason is not far-fetched, as every rich Nigerian ventures into education business.
To address this, the government must invest in tertiary education development, and treat ASUU as partners in progress.
Moreover, the government officials should stop seeing education through a capitalistic lens: ‘if it does not generate profit, it is not prioritised.’
ASUU and the university managements must begin to lead by example, the many duplication, redundancy, and underutilisation of capacity across campuses, all make the system inefficient and expensive to maintain, and the lecturers need address this.
Instead of strikes, may be ASUU should agitate that political office holders must have their children school in public universities. Such a bill would definitely change the perception of the policymakers towards tertiary education development and by extension ASUU yearnings.
