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
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