ASUU Strike: An Endless Phenomenon? (2)

Continued from Thursday

It is therefore very obvious from the above that the only Nigerian leaders that were not military dictators since the founding of ASUU in 1978 are Yar’Adua of the blessed memory and Jonathan.

The current regime under the leadership of a former military dictator does not even appear to understand the ASUU/FG agreement of 2009 and the implications of failing to honour it.  For the avoidance of any doubt, it is pertinent to remind Nigerians of the agreement signed in 2009 by ASUU and the Federal Government.  These are, proper funding of universities, conditions of service for university teachers, university autonomy, academic freedom and issues that required legislation before implementation.  The Buhari regime has not only refused to honour the agreement reached in 2009 but has also worsened the situation by imposing the monster called IPPIS on ASUU.

The insincerity of the Buhari regime to honour the agreement has been clearly demonstrated by:

1. a) Recent proposal to spend N39bn to renovate the National Assembly Complex
2. b) Recent spending of N20bn to build the EFCC headquarters
3. c) Recent establishment of three so-called federal universities – University of Transportation in Daura (2019), Air Force Institute of Technology in Kaduna (2018) and Nigerian Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State (2018).

The billions of naira wasted on these glorified secondary schools without any planning for them could have been judiciously spent on the abandoned federal universities earlier established in the country, bringing them to world-class status.

1. Refusal fund universities

All over the world, government-owned universities are properly funded by the government that established them.  The University of Ibadan was well-funded by the Federal Government from its establishment in 1948 till the early 70s when the military, a majority of whom never had secondary and university education, forcefully came in to destroy tertiary education in the country.

This destruction was unfortunately continued by the Federal Government who constantly allocated seven per cent or eight per cent (maximum) of her annual budget to the education sector when the minimum recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is 26%.  Many African countries including Ghana who are less endowed than Nigeria, the fifth oil producing nation in the world, now appropriate over 30% of their annual budgets to the education sector.  This explains why Nigerian youths now spend enormous amount of our foreign exchange studying in other African countries, especially South Africa, Ghana and Botswana.  The Federal Government should know that the development of any nation depends very strongly on the sound education of her youths and that education can never be more expensive than ignorance.  The main reason Nigeria has remained undevelopment since independence in 1960 (60 years ago) is because she has been very unfortunate with her heads of state, many of whom never received any education to appreciate its importance in the technological emancipation of the country.

The Federal Government must start appropriating 30-40% of her annual budget to the education sector now and reduce the federal universities in the country from 48 to 20 before this country will experience any reasonable development.  In 2011 alone, Jonathan made a complete mess of university education in this country by establishing nine ‘glorified secondary schools” called universities. In 2018, Buhari established three other ‘glorified secondary schools” called Air Force Institute of Technology in Kaduna, Nigerian Army University in Biu and Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko in Delta State.  In 2019, Buhari also established what he called University of Transportation in Daura, Katsina State.  All these tomato universities have made Nigeria a laughing stock in the developed countries of the world.  They all know that all the courses to be taught in the 13 so-called universities established from 2011 till date can be conveniently handled at the University of Ibadan, given appropriate funding.  These institutions have neither qualified lecturers to handle the proposed courses nor do they have laboratories for practical expositions to their science students.

The so-called University of Transportation in Daura alone gulfed N18n of our hard earned money for inauguration on December 3, 2019.  If all the money spent for the establishment of these institutions were made available to the University of Ibadan, she will be rated amongst the top 10 universities in the world within five years.

1. Appointments of inexperienced politicians as education ministers and ministers of labour and employment.

Nigeria has been very unfortunate with the calibre of politicians given the portfolios of education ministers and ministers of labour and employment over the years.  In the developed countries of the world, the Minister of Education for example must be a seasoned academic who has a strong burden for the quality of graduates from the nation’s universities.  Consequently, the best graduates will be proud to remain in the system due to the state-of-the-art facilities enjoyed by them and to help in the training of the incoming youths.  Here in Nigeria, over 90% of our First Class graduates leave the country for Europe, the United States and Canada while over 70% of our medical graduates relocate to these same countries for greener pastures after their NYSC year.  Why would the developed countries of the world not continue to develop when they have the best brains from Africa?  In the same vein, the labour and employment minister must also be highly educated to have a strong burden for the technological emancipation of the country and consequently the quality of education of her youths.  A country that neglects her youths as we have in Nigeria today can only encourage incessant strike actions by the nation’s universities who are seriously handicapped due to the dearth of teaching and research facilities for the training of the youths.  The current Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, is a journalist that knows nothing about decision making in matters related to education.  He has no interest whatsoever in the quality of graduates from Nigerian universities.  The current Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, is a well-known politician with little or no experience in industrial relations to appreciate the excellent intentions of ASUU and her love for the nation.

1. Imposition of the monster called IPPIS on ASUU

The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System is an Information Communications Technology project initiated in 2012 by the Federal Government of Jonathan to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of payroll administration for the civil servants in the country.  The problems associated with the IPPIS are enormous and have been a hard nut to crack by the Federal Government.  Some of these problems include:

1. a) A serious infringement on university autonomy
2. b) Irregularities in payment of salaries
3. c) Inexplicable deduction from salaries:

This includes compulsory deduction of 2.5% of gross salary for National Housing Fund, 7.5% of gross salary as employee’s contribution to the pension scheme, 2% of gross salary as union dues and compulsory deduction of PAYE tax based on tax law with increased tax liabilities for each employee which is not what obtained before the IPPIS.

1. d) The fact that recipients of the IPPIS have been inundated with unnecessary messages and e-mails on their cell phones asking them to subscribe to goods and services that are questionable. Recipients are encouraged to apply for loans from micro-credit outfits on liberal conditions including lack of provision for the so-called facilities.  They have also been requested to buy household goods on credit with repayment spread over time.  All these are strong evidence of the exposure of the IPPIS recipients to hoodlums and questionable characters who have easy access to their detailed personal payroll information.  It is also pertinent to note that other shortcomings of the IPPIS include payment of salaries to deceased members of staff, payment of salaries to members of staff on leave of absence without pay and payment of salaries to members of staff who have retired from the services of the university.

(Please go to www.punchng.com for the concluding part of the article)

Prof Odiaka, FAS, is a former Dean of Science, University of Ibadan and currently the Head of Chemistry Department, University of Ibadan (2017 – 2021)

Punch

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