Many issues are bothering Nigerians. But, the most troubling one is the prolonged strike by the Academy Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, as it affects the future of Nigerian students.
The ASUU continued after a meeting with the federal government last Wednesday ended in a deadlock because the federal government could not meet the lecturers’ demands. The government has failed woefully in relation to our education sector, and this is becoming alarming as incessant strikes negatively affect the academic calendar year after year.
This nonchalance towards education by the government is majorly responsible for the rising insecurity including terrorism and lawlessness that now rule our societies. These all result to the conclusion that the future of education in Nigeria is bleak.
Since the end of the first quarter of the strike, students and parents have condemned the slow response from the government—on social media, in the streets and at protests— towards the demands of ASUU. The hashtags “#wehavehadenough!”, “#FourYearsNowSixYears!”, “#OurFuturesIsWasting!”, etc adorn the placards at protests.
No doubt, this is a trying time for students because some do not have any business they engage in or enough capital to start a small one. Those who are privileged to get little capital, could not do much because the inflation high.
However, those that have engaged themselves in voluntary services and private sectors are afraid to lose the opportunity when school resumes. Students are more hopeless than they were at the advent of the strike.
This period has exposed some students to criminality, vandalisation of public infrastructure, kidnapping, etc, and worse, certificate racketeering when the need arises in the future. The common saying that the youth are “the leaders of tomorrow” has become insignificant in Nigeria since circumstances have shown that they are not.
Education, they say, is the road to fruitfulness, but the youth who are to bear the fruits are suspended from gaining the seeds! Students have had enough empty promises from the government and enough threats from ASUU. Nigerians are calling on Mr. President to sit with his cabinet and take immediate action to overcome this menace.
Finally, if our education is abandoned, and our youths kite with their time, who will wheel this country to the dreamland?
Rashida Hassana Abdulhamid,
Department of Mass Communication,
University of Maiduguri,
