How Tinubu can revive the university system.

The motivation to do this write-up predates the perception that President Bola Tinubu is public opinion-sensitive and determined to take Nigeria to greater heights. He also seems committed to doing whatever can benefit many Nigerians. From all indications, Tinubu, unlike his immediate predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, is more communicative and interactive, with an apparent willingness to make life more bearable.

President Tinubu, who brands his government as an administration of “”renewed hope”” comes across as a leader ready to right many, if not all, the wrongs of the past, particularly the misdeeds of the last regime. Were it not so, what grammatical function is the adjective “”renewed”” performing in this context? Read Also: https://legalattorneyblog.com/2023/08/02/tinubu-has-two-chicago-university-certificates-signed-by-different-persons/

Tinubu seems to be committed to uplifting the drooling spirits of Nigerians at this point in time. I hope I am right. He knows that all is not well with many aspects of our national life. Against this backdrop, one is persuaded to join many eminent Nigerians in raising the issue of the public university system with him.

There is no controverting that the system is currently on the brink of collapse as it is dying of insipidity. Without being euphemistic about the poor condition of the system, it is unfortunate that many federal universities in their laboratories have resorted to using kerosene stoves instead of Bunsen burners.

In a metaphorical sense, the system is not only sick; it is in an intensive care unit, gasping for breath. During the Buhari regime, the system sweltered from crisis to crisis, as various campuses of universities became cloudy with so many aches and pains. Also Read: https://legalattorneyblog.com/2023/05/01/kogi-govt-approves-the-establishment-of-a-university/

In response to the nagging problems of poor funding, decayed infrastructure, and poor welfare of workers, campus-based associations: Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), and Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) as usual, took on Buhari’s’ regime, after shouting themselves hoarse, embarking on indefinite strikes.

Perhaps last year’s strike, which began on Monday, February 14, 2022, and was called off on October 14, 2022, remains one of the longest with debilitating effects on the system. For eight months, the plan was in complete paralysis and rigour mortis.

With Buhari and his cunning and contemptuous silence style in charge, assisted by the Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, and Labour Minister, Dr Chris Ngige, the then government, sadly, provided leadership atrophy which clearly destroyed the system. Unfortunately, the strike was allowed to drag on for that long.

However, irrespective of what may be perceived as the union’s “”excesses or offences””, no responsible government should have allowed a crisis to fester for eight months. And, after eight months of starvation, stress and distress, the government invoked the “”no-work,no-pay”” policy, thereby withholding payment of the striking workers!

Who does that? Who says ASUU members did not work during the crisis? Many of them were still stealthily supervising theses and dissertations of their students with hunger in their stomachs. I know many students who completed their Ph.D. programs during the eight months of the strike.

Who says SSANU and NASU members were not working during the strike? Security men and women members of these unions came to work daily to protect the government’s property.

Armed robbers could have invaded the campuses and wreaked havoc but for the services of our patriotic security personnel. Yet, Buhari’s’ government was audacious enough to say those who sacrificed so much to safeguard lives and property should not be paid! And they have not been paid up till now!

What Buhari and his ministers did to the university system was more than an equivalent of the coup d’etat’ in the Niger Republic. How they handled the face-off amounted to a deliberate destruction of the system. Bad enough, it was as if Ngige had cheap scores to settle with academics in general and ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke in particular.

Ngige, displaying all the traces of tyranny and subtle sadism, was just being propagandistic rather than genuinely interested in seeking solutions. One could see a glint of pride in his eyes with the aura of braggadocio. Nothing he said gave cause for cheers as it was all gestural utterances without positive impact.

Let me slice it a little thinner: Buhari handled the crisis with extreme apathy and unfriendliness. While Ngige, in a fit of vengeful hubris, was always presenting a phalanx of statistical inaccuracies, sarcasm, and negative innuendos, Education Minister Adamu appeared to be at a loss, standing so aloof with no creative solutions to the raging storm. At the end of the day, it was a triumph of politics over rationality, with a humongous spill-over effect.

 

Today, many academic and non-academic staff members have resigned and migrated abroad in search of the proverbial greener pastures. The political elite forced them to seek safety elsewhere. If any sector has experienced “”Japa”” syndrome, it is the university system, as workers resign daily on all the university campuses.

Refusing to pay varsity workers in different categories for four and eight months is an indiscretion currently hunting at a higher cost to the system’s integrity.

Indeed, if Buhari and his boys thought they had defeated and decimated the campus-based unions, they only need to look back and see the backlash of their draconian decision. In a particular department in a university, only three lecturers are left behind as 10 have resigned and migrated abroad, saying they could not withstand the indignity of begging to feed their families. Again, many of the young academics sponsored abroad for further studies by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) have refused to return to the system.

Now, what is the way forward?. This is where I invite President Tinubu to step forward and remedy this national disaster. If a government destroys a system, there must be a government that should be credited with renewing and rebuilding.

Tinubu should be able to bind the wounds inflicted on the system and dress its suppurating gashes. The first step in this regard is to pay eight months withheld salaries for the academics and four months for the SSANU members. Forget about the court ruling upholding “”no-work, no-pay policy””. Tinubu shouldn’t’ be legalistic; instead, he should be moralistic!

How much is the salary of a professor? An average professor goes home with a little above N400,000. The payment is a pittance, and the wages are wretched in today’s economy. Therefore, it is heinous and heartless for any government to withhold such a poor salary for eight months.

Apart from the eight-month salary withheld, ASUU, in its recent release, claimed that the government has stopped paying promotion arrears since 2018. SSANU has also confirmed the same claim, adding that the government has never produced a 23 per cent salary increase implemented among other federal workers recently.

University is the resource base of the nation. It is the powerhouse of the future. It is very pivotal to the country’s growth. Developed countries such as Canada, Australia, Japan, Finland and the United Kingdom place much premium on their education system and are better for it.

In Nigeria, the contrary is the case, as knowledge is derided, and scholarship is disparaged. Yet, we want our universities to rank among the best in the world. It is daydreaming!

However, it is a refreshing feeling to have Asiwaju as the president at this time. A leader has an uncanny ability to see far more profound, extensive, and prolonged than an ordinary man. Tinubu, without doubt, possesses substantial native wisdom, potent enough to handle the crisis.

The remediation option is simple: he should promptly order the accountant-general of the federation to release the withheld salaries, interact with union leaders, and assuage their pains.

Since last year, the mood of the university workers has been dour. From the recent strike, they have ended up with burns and blisters. The workers have paid the price of crucifixion to ensure that the system enjoys the glory of resurrection.

The point cannot be overstated: they need healing. The healing they urgently require is the payment of their seized salaries and other allowances. This is the road to recovery.

In all likelihood, one is hoping that President Tinubu, along with his Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, should be able to dislodge the siege of stagnation hovering over the university system in the country.

This government should strive to inspire hope out of the current hopelessness in the system. This is the desired direction. Tinubu should save the system from intellectual haemorrhage. He should empower the remaining university workers who have not “”jumped””. As John Maxwell will say, “”Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower””.

Interestingly, President Olusegun Obasanjo came in 1999 and increased university workers” salaries, thus writing his name in gold. It must not be said that President Tinubu perpetuates the leadership deficit foisted on the system by Buhari.

Indeed, this wickedness against the university workers must not be sustained through inadvertence. The destruction of education is the destruction of the country. It is so demoralising for a professor begging to feed his family. At the same time, those who could not boast of five credits at the school certificate examination level share billions in Abuja. Nigerians are watching and waiting.

 

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