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Ameer Abdul Aziz
There is nothing more important to any country than the lives of it’s people, even if it doesn’t care about their welfare. Between 2012 to 2022, the Nigerian Federal Government was not able to prevent the death of roughly 500,000 citizens who were victims of insecurity.
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This is the same Federal Government that ASUU is wasting it’s time going on endless strikes to fix Nigerian universities. The clear truth is that Government will not fulfill ASUU demands, not now, not in the near future, and may be never.
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If ASUU likes, it can continue it’s strike forever, the Nigerian system we have now will not produce any government that will fix universities significantly beyond their current conditions. Furthermore, the impact of these strikes will never be felt directly by those in power, only ordinary Nigerians will continue to suffer. If the union is using it as a punitive measure, it must understand those it is punishing.
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The polytechnics and Colleges of education had since accepted these facts and they rarely go on strike despite having same demands for improved working conditions. In the few occasions when they go on strike, they concentrate on issues that will fetch them quickwins and they move forward.
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The best way forward for ASUU is to build on previous gains and find a modest way of making Nigerian universities relatively better with or without the Federal Government. These schools are run and managed at all operational levels by ASUU members who are Vice Chancellors, Deans, Directors, etc. What have they been doing in their own capacities?
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If the union thinks this is too difficult to achieve, it can remain on strike forever and see whether anything will change. After All, this same issue has been lingering for over 40 years without a lasting solution.
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If the Nigerian government is capable of providing solutions, we won’t be talking of electricity, pipe borne water, poor hospitals in 2022, issues that have been with us since independence. At least the tertiary education sector is arguably better than 75% of other sectors in Nigeria.
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I’m not defending government’s incompetence, I’m just being realistic. It’s foolhardy to be repeating the same process over and over without headway. Posterity will never judge you right.
