I want to use this medium to communicate with you, as a colleague, my dissent opinion on the ASUU’s incessant strike as a means of compelling the government to do what is expected. While I align with the purpose of the strike, I do not agree with the method. Incessant strike was the order of the day during the military era for obvious reasons, and I must concede that it was difficult to see anything ASUU got from the federal government without strike. However, it will be wrong to say that the method that worked during the military era is the only option for the democratic era. ASUU, of which I am a member, has not explored all democratic and intelligent options in effectively driving home her demands in view of the incalculable losses that go with strikes in our institutions.
If pen is truly stronger than swords, then pen must be stronger than strikes. ASUU comprises of the bests of brains in the nation and yet has not been able to use her pen to speak convincingly to the conscience of the stakeholders to the point that special attention will be given to educational sector without embarking on a strike. The sentiment of ASUU that most private universities are owned by politicians who want to destroy public universities cannot be supported by statistics. It is difficult to accept that all our distinguished National Assembly members, all our professors in government and all those who understand the import of higher education in the nation are so selfish insensitive and intransigent that ASUU would not be able to speak to their conscience through the pen. The belligerent attitude of ASUU towards the government is counter-productive. ASUU lacks diplomacy, negotiations and lobbying skills which are characteristic of democracy.
For example, it is difficult to justify the wisdom of ASUU abusing the ruling party as a party of vagabonds and still expect fruitful peaceful negotiation. I am sure you know that if a referendum is taken today among university teachers, most lecturers will object to this strike. That explains why ASUU executives are fond of using force and uncivilized means to stop lecturers from teaching and attending academic committee meetings and conferences when a strike is declared. While ASUU executives may have internal democracy, this is not the same outside ASUU caucus. Only about five percent attends ASUU campus congresses partly for obvious reasons that ASUU is not willing to think of alternative approach once she is thinking of strike. When it comes to a serious case of having indefinite strike, it should be by online referendum and not that the executives will lord it on all lecturers.
It appears ASUU has not sat down to analyze the losses strike brings vis-à-vis the gains of strike. Incessant strikes have a damaging psychological effect on the students. How do you want a student who was greeted with a strike when he/she was about to resume be serious with his/her studies when s/he sees his/her supposed mentors or idols carrying sticks and improvised drums about to forcefully stop classes, conferences and committee meetings?
Can whatever we get as gains of strike effectively compensate for this? Most of our universities are among the lowest ranked in the world, and in particular Africa and we all know that one of the reasons is because of lack of confidence the international community has on our system which makes it hard to win foreign students and visiting experts from abroad due to our unstable calendar. How do you expect us not to lose brilliant students and innovative researchers to places like South Africa when they know that a three year PhD programme will turn to 10 years because of our unpredictable calendar?
I hope ASUU has done her research to discover that the chief reason why many Nigerian students prefer going to sub-standard and less developed universities in West Africa, like Ghana and Republic of Benin, and willingly pay a big sum for their tuition rather than spending that money for their education in better developed Universities in Nigeria. The exodus of our students to Ghana started in the 90’s when there were protracted and incessant strikes and that trend has not been reversed since then. Those who may argue that it is because of JAMB are missing the point. Statistics show that over 75,000 students studying in Ghana spend about N300 billion on tuition alone annually. This is equivalent to N300,000 per student for all the students in our universities which is about one million students. I am not sure ASUU has thought through on what total, indefinite and comprehensive strike means because our work is just about 30% teaching. It means members must stop research, stop attending to postgraduate students, stop attending conferences etc. In fact, ASUU is asking for knowledge blackout or knowledge blank out in our institutions and it must be indefinite. How will ASUU react if all power officials also put us in darkness indefinitely through national blackout?
How will ASUU react if all public medical personnel in the nation also go on “total, comprehensive and indefinitely” boycott of all hospitals? I heard you say those are essential services. Is ASUU conceding that gathering and dissemination of knowledge in our universities is not essential? Maybe in Nigeria- but not in the civilized world. Other workers in civilized world do go on strike but it is always the last option and when it is done, it is always for a short specified time so as to avoid system collapse. Or how do you see the wisdom in loosening one million naira so as to gain N3,000?
What justification does ASUU have to go on total, indefinite and comprehensive strike and insists on total, indefinite and comprehensive monthly salary for the work that is not done? Is it part of our national cake? Is it not corruption that we are condemning the politicians for?
Can our economy really carry free tuition in our higher institutions of learning and still be able to improve on national infrastructural, energy and medical needs that equally require urgent attention? Will our students really wake up to the demands of university education if they are not paying anything no matter how small? We all know that most federal universities are surviving on tuition fees paid by postgraduate students and part-time students. In Unilag alone, where we have about 30,000 undergraduates, N50,000 tuition per semester for a student will amount to N3billion on yearly basis. Compare that to the monthly subvention of N9 million of the federal government to Unilag, for example.
I am aware that ASUU officials don’t like alternatives to strikes once they have made up their minds. But how long do we continue doing that and still make progress in a competitive global academic community? While I am not in support of the government for its lip service to university education, I think ASUU need to look inward to and start thinking outside the box.
Olaleru is Professor and Head, Department of Mathematics, University of Lagos.
