Dilemma Over Nigeria’s Teetering Institutions

…Stakeholders Decry Climate Of Industrial Actions

…Lament Production Of Poorly Educated Graduates

LAGOS – Dr Kalu Ofon Emman­uel, a human rights promoter, has lamented incessant strikes by uni­versity workers, saying that the federal and state governments’ inability to ensure that the staff of higher institutions remain in their duty posts is unhealthy for the nation’s development.

Dr. Emmanuel, the Lagos State Chapter President, International Human Rights Protection Ser­vice, Naples, Florida, USA, one of those who spoke to Sunday Inde­pendent on the issue, maintained that the neglect of the Academic Staff Union of Universities on (ASUU) and others in higher in­stitutions by the federal and state governments was uncalled for.

Already, some of the unions in several institutions of higher learning have commenced indef­inite strike, disrupting academic activities over unresolved de­mands.

So far, there has been tension in universities over looming in­dustrial actions resulting from unfulfilled promises and failure to honour agreements by the fed­eral and state governments.

This is as the ASUU at the Bayelsa State-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), has started an indefinite strike, attributing the action to the government’s failure to honour prior agreements.

The decision was made pub­lic last Tuesday following a meet­ing at the union’s secretariat in Amassoma.

The strike is anticipated to significantly impact negatively on academic activities at the uni­versity, creating uncertainty for students and other stakeholders in the institution.

Reports indicate that lectur­ers’ grievances are related to issues such as unpaid salaries, insufficient funding, and inad­equate infrastructure, among other concerns.

Also, workers of the Lagos State University (LASU) have been on strike following a decla­ration by the institution’s Joint Action Committee (JAC).

The Lagos State University Joint Action Committee had de­clared industrial action follow­ing the government’s inability to meet the workers’ demands. The strike was declared through a statement titled ‘Notification of the JAC’s Indefinite Strike Action’, which was signed on Friday by chairmen of ASUU, NAAT, NASU and SSANU-LASU.

The statement partly read, “In consonance with the decision of the Joint Action Committee of the Lagos State University Staff Unions in its letter to the state governor, dated November 19, 2024, in which we reiterated that if the state government failed to accede to our demands with re­gards to the implementation of the reports of the Committees put in place by government by December 6, 2024.

“We hereby notify you and the management of the university that all the staff unions have de­clared a total and indefinite strike action, effective from December 6, 2024, after the day’s close of work.”

Dr Emmanuel, while re­sponding further to questions by Sunday Independent, stated: “To allow them (university workers) to return to the trenches over un­paid salaries, allowances and in­frastructures in the universities, should be absolutely worrisome.

“The issue concerning the welfare of university staff and state institutions are not top priority of the federal and state governments, which should not be the case.

“These are institutions that have produced everyone called ‘a leader’, both in the federal and state governments, all agencies, sectors, and in other institutions.

“The reflection of this neglect has grossly affected the students the institutions are producing. You can imagine that Nigeria now parades half-baked gradu­ates who cannot even communi­cate or write well.

“It is a mega slap on our edu­cational system. Even some stu­dents and some academic staff are losing interest in Nigerian institutions of learning.

 “The federal and state govern­ment should endeavour to ensure that top priority is given to this sector and avoid any move that would trigger the return to the trenches over unpaid salaries, allowances and infrastructural development in universities.

“Certain problems can be averted and not allowed to hap­pen. It would be a shame to the federal and state governments if such institutions resume strike over the failure by their employee governments to fail to meet the workers’ demands.”

Osatohamhen Ebhohon, the Publicity of African Action Con­gress (AAC) in Lagos State, while speaking to Sunday Independent, stated: “First, I must commend the ASUU for their resilience in the ongoing struggle to ensure the right to education for all.

“ASUU has remained one of the unions in Nigeria that has not abandoned its principles, and the AAC and Take It Back Movement (TIB) stand in complete solidari­ty with them.

“Now, addressing your ques­tions, the attack on education did not begin recently; it start­ed in 1978 during the Olusegun Obasanjo regime.

“It is important to note that Obasanjo was the first president in Nigerian history to adopt the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which led to the mandate for the global south to refund social infrastructure, in­cluding schools, healthcare facil­ities, and transportation.

“Obasanjo was the first impe­rialist puppet we had as a leader in Nigeria. At that time, Nige­ria’s economy was still relatively strong, so there was no justifica­tion for the country to heed the directives of the IMF and World Bank.

“The Nigerian professionals and student movements of that era recognised this and resisted it. Since then, the violent attack on education and other social in­stitutions and infrastructure has continued.

“Former President Ibrahim Babangida dealt a devastating blow with the Structural Ad­justment Programmes (SAP) that aimed to shut down public universities under the guise of economic progress.

“It is essential to understand that education cannot be separat­ed from economic progress.

“From this historical perspec­tive, it is clear that the Nigerian ruling class – federal and state governments, has been deliber­ately defending education and making it inaccessible to the working people of Nigeria for various reasons.

“This includes the attempt to prevent the emergence of a work­ing-class population capable of critical thinking and understand­ing their right to resist.

“The current political and corporate class is aware that a well-funded educational system would encourage left-radical perspectives due to increased exposure to knowledge and re­search.

This, in turn, could lead to the formation of mass movements and stronger unions that would challenge their hegemony.

“Therefore, it is in their class interest to deliberately deprive education of necessary funding in Nigeria.

“In light of this, ASUU needs to apply more pressure and focus on building a more radical lead­ership within the union to con­tinue the struggle until victory.

“As stated earlier, ASUU is one of the last radical unions in Ni­geria, and the ruling class is con­stantly plotting to undermine it.

“This is evident in the differ­ent factions within ASUU that attempt to sabotage the union’s effectiveness. ASUU must ur­gently work on building student movements to collaborate with, as they did in the 80s and 90s.

“There is only so much that unions can do without the energy of the youth, who still have their whole life ahead of them.

“The ruling class knows this. That is why they heavily fund their student movement, which just happens to be the secret cults that carry out domestic terrorist activities around campuses and other parts of Nigeria.”

Julius Adegunna, a media executive and public affairs an­alyst, told Apostle Kanayo Suc­cess Uchime, “We are used to that (strikes in higher institutions).

“One problem with Nigerians across the board is lack of patrio­tism. Nobody is ready to sacrifice anything for the growth and de­velopment of Nigeria.

“It is both on the side of the leaders and the led. Same with ASUU. How many times have we heard that private university lecturers go on strike?

“While we can ask the Feder­al Government to do the needful by meeting the needs of the lec­turers, the lecturers should also learn how to meet the duties and responsibilities assigned to them.”