Eneke the bird says since men have
learnt to shoot without missing, it has learnt to fly without perching.
This is one of the Igbo proverbs that readers come across in Chinua
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Like the bird, a good number of
students of various universities across the country have learnt to
convert the adversity provoked by their lecturers’ ongoing strike into
positive ideas.
Although there is the fear that many of
the thousands of the undergraduates forced to stay at home may be
tempted to engage in untoward activities, investigation by our
correspondent shows that some of them are going into positive and
meaningful ventures. For example, Oluwaseun Sanusi, a final year
Sociology student of the University of Ibadan, says the strike has
opened up a vista of business opportunities for him.
Instead of idling away during this
period, he engages in marketing Information Technology gadgets online.
He sells and delivers online, items that include BlackBerry phones,
Ipods and MP4s, to buyers.
“Just today, I sold and delivered an
iphone that a cousin of mine in the United Kingdom sent to me for
N70,000 and made a profit of N8,000. Agreed, the venture is not an
everyday thing, I have no regret taking to the business while I wait for
my teachers to end their strike,” he notes.
Another student, Ronke Adefalujo, of the
University of Abuja, is now a make-up artist. From the initial N10, 000
the Theatre Arts student was making at the beginning of the strike, she
now makes between N20, 000 and N30,000 daily.
The ‘breakthrough’ is not peculiar to
Adefalujo and Sanusi. Tom Usen of the Federal University of Technology,
Minna, says the strike has enabled him to go far in his final year
project and IT knowledge. For the Akwa Ibom State-born geologist in the
making, there is no regret so far for the industrial action.
Indeed, there are many students who have
mapped out surviving strategies for keeping body and soul together,
just as there are many facing hard times, following the strike, which
started on July 2, 2013. Since the shame that the strike ought to
represent seems to have become the lot of the nation, the students, who
remain the biggest victims, are finding the means of taking their
destinies in their hands.
According to Ore Adejobi, a 400 level
Statistics student of the University of Ibadan, the best thing is not to
agonise or grumble too much, as this would not lead to anything
meaningful.
He says, “As far as I am concerned, I
have a lot of things lined up for me. I am a creative writer. So, I have
stepped up my writing since the strike started. I have also been
reading a lot – including fiction, Christian books and those about
capacity building. I am planning to register a non-governmental
organisation that will focus on literary matters and youth development.
“The strike started just when we resumed
for the semester. I am aware of its consequence on the academic
calendar, but I don’t let it bother me too much. This is the advice I
want to give my fellow students across the country. I guess the struggle
boils down to nation-building. It is a national thing. But it should
not present an excuse for grumbling. Already, I have started exploring
the course I want to pursue during my master’s programme.”
As if heeding Adejobi’s call, Eludayo
Ekundayo, a Part 1 English major at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile
Ife, explains that since the strike has continued to linger, he has
decided to return to the shop where he sells animal feeds and drugs.
He notes, “At least, I earn about
N10,000 a month, which is something. Not that I am happy doing it, but I
cannot just sit at home to watch ASUU and Federal Government waste my
time. In fact, I have learnt a lot of prescriptions for animals during
this holiday. I hope the strike will not lead to a change of career for
me, because I think I am knowledgeable enough to give drugs and feeds.
Still at loggerheads
Even as these students recount their
experiences, the news, last Thursday, FG had released N130bn for
development of infrastructure in the universities, excited many
stakeholders, particularly the students.
The excitement was born out of the fact that at last, the seven-week old strike embarked upon by ASUU members would soon end.
The Needs Assessment Committee Chairman
and Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, who announced the
intervention, said N100bn would be for building new hostels, renovation
of hostels, provision of libraries, laboratories, lecture rooms and
theatres, as well as Information and Communication Technology
facilities, among others; while the remaining N30bn was for the
teachers’ earned allowances.
So, for the students, throwing the gates
of the universities open once again for normal academic activities
would just be in a matter of days.
But while Suswam and other members of
the committee were in Abuja, thumping their chests, thinking that they
had found a solution to the strike, the ASUU leadership was in Lagos,
toeing a different line. For the striking teachers, the end of the
industrial action is not in sight and their President, Dr. Nassir Fagge,
was explicit in conveying the message.
He said, “A lot of people are asking us
to shift ground by accepting the government’s offer of N30bn and going
back to class, while we reach an agreement on when the next instalment
will be paid. I do not see that as being acceptable to us for now,
because we had made that mistake before, whereby only the salary
component of the agreement was singled out. So, we cannot afford to make
such a mistake again. I want to make it categorically clear that until
the entire agreement is fully implemented, we are not going to call off
the strike.”
No doubt, the ASUU’s comments immediately dashed the hope of many stakeholders and students.
Implications of the action
Many analysts and public commentators
hold the view that the ongoing strike would disrupt the 2013/2014
academic session. A lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Dr.
Fidelis Okoro, notes that many of the universities were in the middle of
their academic sessions when the strike started.
According to Okoro, who teaches English,
with two months gone so far, the disruption will affect the next
academic session. He points to the fact that some of the universities
have yet to conduct the compulsory and qualifying post-Universities
Matriculation Examination for candidates seeking admission to these
institutions for the 2013/2014 session, just as others have their class
work and examinations frustrated by the strike.
Linked to this are the issues of the
National Youth Service Corps scheme and the place of some medical
schools, whose students have been caught in the web of the strike. While
some schools will not have their students ready for the forthcoming
service year, the medical students will also have their programmes
deferred.
The man-hour loss is another issue that
bothers observers. Citing previous FG/ASUU face-offs, they point to the
fact that the observance of the “no work, no pay” policy is usually in
the breach. They note that even as the lecturers refuse to teach, at the
end of the strike, they will still earn their salaries and allowances –
a situation akin to “milking” the nation.
Observers also argue that the frequency
of strikes is contributing to the decline in the quality of education in
the country. An educationist, Mrs. Fidelia Ugbodu, who says she is not
happy about the strike, urges the FG to address comprehensively the
issues raised by the teachers.
She says, “Agreed, the call by ASUU is
to alter the face of the universities, but the frequent strikes are not
good for the sector. Besides disrupting academic activities, the already
bad situation in the sector is worsening. The education standard is
nose-diving yearly and I strongly believe that it has a link to the
frequency of the strikes.”
Decayed Infrastructure
Investigation shows that the dearth of
infrastructure is common in many of these universities, especially in
the older institutions. From the University of Lagos, to the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Jos
and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, to mention but a few. The
shortage, an analyst says, is affecting their yearly admission intakes.
There is also the issue of decayed and
abandoned facilities in the public universities – a development that
explains why individuals and firms are donating hostels and Information
Communication Technology, among other items, to the schools.
The latest of such is the donation by
the mother of President Goodluck Jonathan to the Federal University of
Technology, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, which has stirred controversy.
In fact, the N100bn released to 59
varsities last week by the FG for infrastructure development is an
acknowledgement that there is the need to address the gross deficit in
the provision of critical infrastructure in the institutions.
Funding
Closely associated to infrastructure is
the debate for funding. Nigeria has never met the 26 per cent United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s annual
requirement for education. Little wonder, the tumour has refused to die.
For instance, ASUU says the N130bn is a far cry from its N1.5trn demand
to spread over three years (2009 and 2011) to address the decay in the
universities. Inadequate research and development in the universities,
the union says, is a fall out of poor funding of the sector.
Fagge notes, “All the government is
gloating over now is N100bn, which is nowhere near the
scientifically-arrived-at congruent sums in the 2009 agreement, the 2012
memorandum of understanding and the 2013 technical report on the Needs
Assessment of Nigerian public universities. What further evidence do we
need to establish government’s bad faith?”
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