By Steve Osuji


Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke deserves a special commendation for resolutely leading the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to press home their demands in a strike that lasted almost eight months


You must remember Frank Kokori. He is the leader of the Petroleum Union (PENGASSAN) which he led to facedown the military junta in Nigeria when the June 12, 1993 election was nullified. Kokori is one of the heroes of the protracted struggle to rid Nigeria of military rule.

What is the connection between Kokori and Osodeke, one might ask? They are from the same corner of Nigeria in Ethiope, Delta State. Kokori and Osodeke probably drank from the same stream. This may explain why they have not just been labour leaders of national repute, but they are of the principled and tenacious hue. Just as Frank Kokori fearlessly stood firm and held out against Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, so did Professor Emmanuel Victor Osodeke stand resolute against an obdurate government that has no grand vision for Nigeria’s education.


For eight months since February, public tertiary institutions, especially the 49 federal universities and many state-owned ones have been shutdown as a result of the strike by ASUU, led by Prof. Osodeke. It must be remarked that several warning strikes were issued before a full blown industrial action. These were to  afford the Federal Government time and opportunity to engage the lecturers. But FG kept prevaricating and filibustering as it is wont.


The truth is that this Federal Government, like most others before it doesn’t seem to understand the strategic importance of education  in today’s knowledge world. Our governments at all levels have no overriding objectives driving their policies nor edifying goals they are pursuing. We have a perpetually ad hoc situation where most things are done as they come. 


For instance, the crux of the current industrial strife is an agreement entered into by the federal government in 2009 which it had continued to renege upon. But beyond token agreements, one would expect government to take a holistic approach to the issues of education  in general and the tertiary arm in particular. However,  this has not been the case. We therefore have matters like funding of education, university autonomy, infrastructure, remuneration and welfare among others, not settled from decade to decade. These are basic matters of policy direction which government is expected to bring vision and leadership to bear upon. But neither vision nor leadership currencies of transaction here.


ASUU agitations have been on for nigh four decades  yet tertiary education has continued to slide without let. It stands to reason therefore that if ASUU has not been activist there probably would not be anything worthy to be designated as university education in Nigeria. And that may well be already. In the past decade, Nigerians have preferred universities in any other country but Nigeria’s. 

Ghana has been a huge beneficiary of the slump in education in Nigeria. Britain is said to have earned an estimated two billion pound sterling from a whole gamut of education tourism from Nigerians.  US, Canada , Ukraine and indeed, every other country has taken ascendancy over Nigeria in education.

 

Sadly,  most public officials and the well to do in Nigeria ship their wards abroad for tertiary education. This is a huge drain on Nigeria’s foreign exchange with the concomitant debilitating effect on her economy. 


It must be stated that successive governments haven’t paid requisite attention to education just like they have been lax in most other sectors. In fact, it may be said that but for ASUU agitations over the years, the entire federal tertiary education infrastructure may have collapsed. Again, consider the fact that for the past seven years, Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu has not been known to initiate or drive any policy in his area of jurisdiction. Not even in the ASUU trade dispute has he been able to mediate adroitly.


It is for these reasons that we salute ASUU for standing its grounds over the years and putting various government on their toes. Many have suggested that the union must change its method but we think ASUU is not in the wrong demanding more purposeful leadership and vision from the government.


We hail Professor Osodeke particularly for leading his members through a prolonged period of no pay without compromising the cause or caving in. A professor of Soil Science at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike in Abia State, he was local chairman of ASUU in the school until May last year when he was elected national chairman. Prof. Osodeke is visiting professor at the Universities of Calabar and Cape Coast, Ghana. He is indeed a conscientious unionist of the focused and taciturn kind.


We also commend the gallant ASUU members,  among the lowest paid workers in Nigeria today, for calling off the strike on the orders of the Court of Appeal, even though government hadn’t met the core of their demands.


Finally, we urge the federal government to rethink the tertiary education system in Nigeria. FG must think reform; rework the old jaded structures, while benchmarking against the best in the world. Ghana, among many other African countries has revamped her educational system. Nigeria too can do it. The buck stops on the table of the Federal Government. 



• Previously published in TRUE VISION NEWSPAPER