It has been over five months since the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on an industrial action in their attempt to gain a concession from the government. Sadly, this development has not pronounced a single positive impact on the poor Nigerian public university students. It rather bolstered up a variety of underdevelopment.
Of course, no nation in the whole world can thrive without a good education system.
“The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation. A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination”. – Nelson Mandela.
When thoroughly observed, it’s shocking that the industrial action has crippled many SMEs run in the university campuses turning the owners to jobless punks who are now finding it very hard to feed themselves talk more of their families.
It’s evident that many individuals only have a single source through which they acquire money to sustain their lives. A typical example of such individuals are those running some petty businesses in the university campuses making the environment their second home which I refer to as “Campus Dependent” for how fixated their lives are in the campus.
The likes of “maishayi”, caterers, salespeople, photocopy shops must be mentioned when talking about such individuals. These people have suffered and are still suffering from the avoidable strikes by ASUU.
Imagine yourself in their shoes, losing your job and earning no penny at this material time when cost of living is extraordinarily high.
It would take only a brave individual or a saint not to be carried away by the devil whisperings. Without a doubt, I am sure some business owners have succumbed to the devil’s whisperings and the aftermath will add to the challenges of insecurity we are faced with.
When you critically explore the nation’s current miasma, it is illiteracy and the lack of employment that is giving birth to these atrocities drowning us. The seemingly unending insurgencies and random kidnappings may not be unconnected to the massive unemployment and illiteracy in the country.
In a country where lives are literally not secure, which is the basic task of every government, it is utterly wrong, by each and every measure, to expect a provision for quality education from such a government. The fraudsters in the political seats have battered and bashed the possibilities of poor Nigerians from having a test of what is called “Good Governance “.
My dear compatriots, with great sense of humility and utmost love for the country, let’s join hands and remove these irrelevant individuals from power and fight for what’s right for our dear country.
We have unnecessarily suffered enough. Let’s end this rule of tyranny regardless of our political views and religious beliefs and make competency the common denominator while casting our votes.
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. God bless you and God bless Nigeria.
Abdurrauf Ahmad Muazu,
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, Bauchi state
[email protected], 07037522692
