Why ASUU must NOT call off its strike

Great Nigerian students, when the strike first
began we thought that this ASUU members have
started again, for once we were all tired of the
incessant strike over wages and allowances the
question that kept coming to our mind is what do
they want again? after-all,school fees has been
kept reasonably constant in federal university for
some years now.
Our mind was definitely filled with different
sentiments but after taking a closer look at the
agreement the federal government signed with
ASUU in 2009, the nitty gritty of it,which we
believe that an agreement is supposed to be an
honourable contract between two parties
Contrary to this, the President Jonathan's
government has been unfair to the letters and
spirit of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement.
For instance, while the agreement stipulates
annual increases in budgetary allocation to
education between 2009 and 2020 until it reaches
26%, the Federal government budgeted just a
paltry 8.5% to education this year.
All ASUU is demanding now is that the agreement
must be fully implemented. To all students, we
cannot be indifferent to the content of this
agreement just because of our fears about the
academic calendar! and our not too friendly
lecturers.
If this agreement is fully implemented, together
with democratic management of schools to
include elected representatives of education
workers and students, it would mean better
funding of education and a great relief to
overburdened students. It is therefore, in our
best interest as students to ensure this agreement
is fully implemented by supporting the
implementation and fighting to save public
education from collapse.
Of course, if we look at the condition of facilities
for teaching and research in most state
universities and federal universities,you can not
but sincerely agree that there is an urgent need
for us to act now to save Nigeria's education
sector from a total collapse! it is reported that the
Nigerian government has amassed huge fortune
since the democratic experiment began in 1999. It
will interest us to know that between 2000 and
2011, Nigeria government earned N48.48 trillion
from the sale of oil alone against N3.10 trillion
earned between 1979 and 1999 (Guardian,
24/3/13).
With this tremendous upswing in the revenue at
the disposal of the Nigeria government, one
would have expected it to translate to a
commensurate improvement in the quantity and
quality of Nigeria's public education not only that,
the government is quick to tell us the country is
broke but it didnt take sanusi lamido sanusi time
to inject 600billion naira into failed banks of
politicians and their cronies. 200million dollars
was used to bail out nollywood..
Unfortunately, given the present state of public
education it is very clear that it's more than ever
enmeshed in a monumental crisis largely
characterized by poor funding. As a matter of fact
the budgetary allocation to education has fallen
from 12.22% in 1985 to 8.5% in 2013. Comparing
this year allocation of 8.5% with UNESCO
recommendation of 26% budgetary allocation to
education it is very clear that Nigeria government
is not really interested in funding education.
Here in Nigeria, more than half of the nation's
budget goes to salaries and allowance of political
office holders. This is an embarassing paradox in
a situation where many countries with smaller
GDP have their percentage budgetary allocations
to education as follows: Ghana (31%) ; Cote
d'ivoire (20%); Kenya (23%); Morocco (17.7%);
Botswana (19.0%); Swaziland (24.6%); Lesotho
(17.0%); Burkina Faso (16.8%); Uganda (27.0%)
and Tunisia (17.0%).
in the Nigerian universities, laboratories are
overcrowded, stove are still been use in the 21st
century, water do not run in the lab and often
times lectures are suspended due to lack of
electricity.
It has also been reported that in 2013, 1.7 million
candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination (UTME) and from the
available space in all the universities, polytechnics
and colleges of education in the country only less
than 29 percent of the total candidates will be
admitted, thus leaving out over 1.2 million
candidates.
No Nigerian university is ranked among the best
5,000 in the world or among first twenty in Africa.
foreign professional use to be at the university of
Ibadan, today, they have deserted and our own
lecturers are also running for greener pastures .
There are just about 34,504 lecturers left in the
Universities out of about 50000 needed for
optimum efficiency.
A visit to the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago
Iwoye sums up the Nigerian scenario the
university has been turned to a mere glorified
secondary school. The facilities are dilapidated
and lecture rooms looks like a pig cage the same
scenario is what we have in University of Uyo,
University of Calabar and other universities are
also in crisis with decaying infrastructures. At the
Osun State University, about three sets of medical
students are in limbo between pre-clinical and
clinical stages because of the lack of a teaching
hospital.
I strongly believe that the fight to save the
education sector from collapse and underfunding
is a fight we must champion and pursue as
students who are the major stakeholders in the
universities, polytechnics and monothenics
We must also know that this fight cut across
board and all political parties in Nigeria are
united in their anti poor policies. You will recall
that the ACN that calls itself the progressive Only
last year callously increased the fees of the Lagos
State University (LASU) from N25, 000 to between
N280, 000 and N345, 750. A development that has
led to sharp drop in the number of students
picking up admission because they cannot afford
it. Of the 5,000 quota given to LASU by the NUC
only about 1,200 students had applied as at
today.
This has contributed to the planned
rationalization of program and departments in
LASU. This means that departments will be
scrapped or merged.
Greatest Nigerian students, it is in light of this,
that I call on students to boldly and continue to
make this sacrifices by backing the genuine
demands of ASUU so that our generation can get
it right once and for all.