On July 2nd 2013, the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) for the umpteenth time since
2009 went on strike over the refusal of the Federal
Government to honour the 2009 agreement on
the funding of Universities and a subsequent
January 2012 MOU. The grounding of the Universities and paralysis of
all academic and social activities to say the least is
inimical to the long term development aspirations
of Nigeria. In today’s world that is knowledge driven, it is a
wonder that almost two months into the ASUU
strike, the government is still fiddling while the
Ivory towers are ‘burning’. It would be recalled that the 2009 FGN/ASUU
agreement was the culmination of three years of
negotiation following a similar strike by university
lecturers in 2006. Since 1991, the struggle by
Nigerian lecturers to ensure adequate funding in
order to arrest the rot in the Nigerian tertiary education has been on with hardly any year going
by without the lecturers going on strike to either
demand that government implements the
agreement reached or calling for a review of the
agreements. Much more disturbing is the predilection of the
government for reneging on agreements freely
entered into with university teachers as was the
case when the university sector was rocked by
protracted industrial unrest between 1994 and
1996 as a result of the government’s refusal to honour the terms of the FGN/ASUU agreement of
September 1992. The current round of strike is
also a product of the federal government’s refusal
to honour the terms of the 2009 agreement
entered into with ASUU. These acts of bad faith by
successive governments in refusing to honour the terms of agreements freely entered into more
than anything else, has accounted for the
intractable crisis in the nation’s university system. Beyond the immediate implications of
government’s unilateral repudiation of the terms
of agreements freely entered into, is the larger
implication for the economy and society at large
in terms of the sanctity of agreements, contracts
and treaties signed by the Nigerian government. A government that habitually reneges on
agreements freely entered into with its citizens
cannot be counted upon to uphold the sanctity of
contracts, treaties or agreements. Little wonder
then that all the jamborees of the government in
the name of attracting foreign investors end up yielding little or no result since no serious investor
will invest in a country where the sanctity of
agreements or contract means nothing. Fundamentally, ASUU’s demand has been on the
need to arrest the falling standards and ensure the
quality of tertiary education which has been
generally acknowledged as having fallen beyond
imagination. The report of the Committee on
Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities (CNANU) set up by the Federal government vividly
captures this rot. The struggles of ASUU to attract adequate funding
as well as qualitative tertiary education has been
on despite the existence of a statutory body
created specifically for the purpose of ensuring
the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria and
advising government on issues of remunerations in the university system. The National Universities Commission (NUC) has a
duty as part of its functions as stated in its
enabling act to ‘… prepare periodic master plans
for the balanced and coordinated development of
all universities in Nigeria’, ‘lay down minimum
academic standards in the federal republic of Nigeria and accredit degrees and other academic
awards’, ‘to ensure that quality is maintained
within the academic programmes of the Nigerian
university system’, ‘to advise the Federal
Government on the financial needs, both recurrent
and capital of university education in Nigeria…’, ‘to undertake periodic review of the terms and
conditions of service of personnel engaged in the
universities and to make recommendations
thereon to the Federal Government as
appropriate’. It is quite clear from the foregoing therefore, that
the incessant agitations of ASUU is a direct fallout
of the embarrassing abdication of responsibility
by the NUC. Clearly, it has not been up and doing
with regards to its primary duty to the Nigerian
university system. The question in view of the monumental and disastrous failure is, is there any
basis for the continued existence of the NUC?. Incessant strikes by ASUU over the very issues that
are squarely within the remit of the NUC and for
which it ought to have properly advised the
government on, clearly shows that the NUC has
over the years failed woefully in the discharge of
its primary function of ensuring standards and advising governments on the needs of the
universities. The colossal failure of NUC to perform its primary
functions and save the nation the current
embarrassing state of affairs in the university
system that has necessitated ASUU embarking on
strike is a product of NUC’s abandonment of its
primary duty of regulation, ensuring standards and calling the attention of the government to the
worsening decay in tertiary education in the
country. As recently revealed, the NUC, which
ordinarily should be focussed in regulating
standards in the university system was said to be
enmeshed in contract awards, management of scholarship funds and directly managing the
affairs of universities in clear violation and breach
of extant laws. This, to say the least, clearly explains why the NUC
has failed woefully in saving the nation from its
current woes through timely advice on the critical
state and needs of the Nigerian university system
as well making proposals on how to avert the
current state of rot in the system. Given the grave tragedy that incessant strike actions constitute to
the immediate and long term economic and
social wellbeing of the nation, we, the
undersigned civil society organisations, call on the
federal government to, with immediate effect- 1. Demonstrate the requisite political will to
respect the terms of the agreement which it freely
entered into with ASUU. This is, to us, the hallmark
and minimum requirement for a responsible and
credible government. 2. Re-open the collapsed negotiations with ASUU
as quickly as possible. 3. Set in motion with
immediate effect , all the mechanisms necessary
for meeting the funding requirements of the FGN/
ASUU agreement of 2009 including those that
have fallen due. 4. Stop forthwith all efforts at derailing the
interventionist agencies in stabilising the Nigerian
tertiary education system. 5. Ensure that the extant laws regulating the
operations of the TETFund are respected by all and
sundry including but not limited to the NUC. 6. To immediately ensure that the NUC and other
regulatory agencies within the tertiary education
sector forthwith remain and operate within the
ambit of their primary functions of regulating and
setting standards for the university and tertiary
education system and desist from getting enmeshed in functions that are best left to the
universities/tertiary institutions/other relevant
agencies and outside their core mandates. 7. Ensure the full implementation of the report of
the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian
Universities (CNANU). Signed: 1. Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC) 2. Women Organisation for Gender Issue 3. CiviI Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) 4. West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) 5. Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Nigeria 6. National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP) 7. Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group
(ISDMG) 8. Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) 9. Public Interest Lawyers League 10. United Action for Democracy (UAD) 11. Community Action for Popular Participation
(CAPP) 12. Citizens Centre for Integrated Development
and Social Rights (CCIDESOR) 13. Community Outreach for Development and
Welfare Advocacy (CODWA) 14. Say No Campaign Nigeria 15. International
Press Centre (IPC) 16. Coalition to Save Education in Nigeria (COSEG) 17. Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI) 18. Greater Nigeria Movement (GNM) 19. Ethical Computing and Cyber Research Centre 20. Centre for Responsible Engagement and
Patriotism
Universities (ASUU) for the umpteenth time since
2009 went on strike over the refusal of the Federal
Government to honour the 2009 agreement on
the funding of Universities and a subsequent
January 2012 MOU. The grounding of the Universities and paralysis of
all academic and social activities to say the least is
inimical to the long term development aspirations
of Nigeria. In today’s world that is knowledge driven, it is a
wonder that almost two months into the ASUU
strike, the government is still fiddling while the
Ivory towers are ‘burning’. It would be recalled that the 2009 FGN/ASUU
agreement was the culmination of three years of
negotiation following a similar strike by university
lecturers in 2006. Since 1991, the struggle by
Nigerian lecturers to ensure adequate funding in
order to arrest the rot in the Nigerian tertiary education has been on with hardly any year going
by without the lecturers going on strike to either
demand that government implements the
agreement reached or calling for a review of the
agreements. Much more disturbing is the predilection of the
government for reneging on agreements freely
entered into with university teachers as was the
case when the university sector was rocked by
protracted industrial unrest between 1994 and
1996 as a result of the government’s refusal to honour the terms of the FGN/ASUU agreement of
September 1992. The current round of strike is
also a product of the federal government’s refusal
to honour the terms of the 2009 agreement
entered into with ASUU. These acts of bad faith by
successive governments in refusing to honour the terms of agreements freely entered into more
than anything else, has accounted for the
intractable crisis in the nation’s university system. Beyond the immediate implications of
government’s unilateral repudiation of the terms
of agreements freely entered into, is the larger
implication for the economy and society at large
in terms of the sanctity of agreements, contracts
and treaties signed by the Nigerian government. A government that habitually reneges on
agreements freely entered into with its citizens
cannot be counted upon to uphold the sanctity of
contracts, treaties or agreements. Little wonder
then that all the jamborees of the government in
the name of attracting foreign investors end up yielding little or no result since no serious investor
will invest in a country where the sanctity of
agreements or contract means nothing. Fundamentally, ASUU’s demand has been on the
need to arrest the falling standards and ensure the
quality of tertiary education which has been
generally acknowledged as having fallen beyond
imagination. The report of the Committee on
Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities (CNANU) set up by the Federal government vividly
captures this rot. The struggles of ASUU to attract adequate funding
as well as qualitative tertiary education has been
on despite the existence of a statutory body
created specifically for the purpose of ensuring
the quality of tertiary education in Nigeria and
advising government on issues of remunerations in the university system. The National Universities Commission (NUC) has a
duty as part of its functions as stated in its
enabling act to ‘… prepare periodic master plans
for the balanced and coordinated development of
all universities in Nigeria’, ‘lay down minimum
academic standards in the federal republic of Nigeria and accredit degrees and other academic
awards’, ‘to ensure that quality is maintained
within the academic programmes of the Nigerian
university system’, ‘to advise the Federal
Government on the financial needs, both recurrent
and capital of university education in Nigeria…’, ‘to undertake periodic review of the terms and
conditions of service of personnel engaged in the
universities and to make recommendations
thereon to the Federal Government as
appropriate’. It is quite clear from the foregoing therefore, that
the incessant agitations of ASUU is a direct fallout
of the embarrassing abdication of responsibility
by the NUC. Clearly, it has not been up and doing
with regards to its primary duty to the Nigerian
university system. The question in view of the monumental and disastrous failure is, is there any
basis for the continued existence of the NUC?. Incessant strikes by ASUU over the very issues that
are squarely within the remit of the NUC and for
which it ought to have properly advised the
government on, clearly shows that the NUC has
over the years failed woefully in the discharge of
its primary function of ensuring standards and advising governments on the needs of the
universities. The colossal failure of NUC to perform its primary
functions and save the nation the current
embarrassing state of affairs in the university
system that has necessitated ASUU embarking on
strike is a product of NUC’s abandonment of its
primary duty of regulation, ensuring standards and calling the attention of the government to the
worsening decay in tertiary education in the
country. As recently revealed, the NUC, which
ordinarily should be focussed in regulating
standards in the university system was said to be
enmeshed in contract awards, management of scholarship funds and directly managing the
affairs of universities in clear violation and breach
of extant laws. This, to say the least, clearly explains why the NUC
has failed woefully in saving the nation from its
current woes through timely advice on the critical
state and needs of the Nigerian university system
as well making proposals on how to avert the
current state of rot in the system. Given the grave tragedy that incessant strike actions constitute to
the immediate and long term economic and
social wellbeing of the nation, we, the
undersigned civil society organisations, call on the
federal government to, with immediate effect- 1. Demonstrate the requisite political will to
respect the terms of the agreement which it freely
entered into with ASUU. This is, to us, the hallmark
and minimum requirement for a responsible and
credible government. 2. Re-open the collapsed negotiations with ASUU
as quickly as possible. 3. Set in motion with
immediate effect , all the mechanisms necessary
for meeting the funding requirements of the FGN/
ASUU agreement of 2009 including those that
have fallen due. 4. Stop forthwith all efforts at derailing the
interventionist agencies in stabilising the Nigerian
tertiary education system. 5. Ensure that the extant laws regulating the
operations of the TETFund are respected by all and
sundry including but not limited to the NUC. 6. To immediately ensure that the NUC and other
regulatory agencies within the tertiary education
sector forthwith remain and operate within the
ambit of their primary functions of regulating and
setting standards for the university and tertiary
education system and desist from getting enmeshed in functions that are best left to the
universities/tertiary institutions/other relevant
agencies and outside their core mandates. 7. Ensure the full implementation of the report of
the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian
Universities (CNANU). Signed: 1. Zero Corruption Coalition (ZCC) 2. Women Organisation for Gender Issue 3. CiviI Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) 4. West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) 5. Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Nigeria 6. National Procurement Watch Platform (NPWP) 7. Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group
(ISDMG) 8. Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) 9. Public Interest Lawyers League 10. United Action for Democracy (UAD) 11. Community Action for Popular Participation
(CAPP) 12. Citizens Centre for Integrated Development
and Social Rights (CCIDESOR) 13. Community Outreach for Development and
Welfare Advocacy (CODWA) 14. Say No Campaign Nigeria 15. International
Press Centre (IPC) 16. Coalition to Save Education in Nigeria (COSEG) 17. Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI) 18. Greater Nigeria Movement (GNM) 19. Ethical Computing and Cyber Research Centre 20. Centre for Responsible Engagement and
Patriotism
No comments:
Post a Comment