THIS WHITE ELEPHANT UNION CALLED ASUU

For the umpteenth time, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities is on strike. ASUU is the union that has gone on strike the most over the last 20 years. And what are they on strike for this time? From what I gather, they intend to draw the governments’ attention to the decaying infrastructure in our universities, get a pay rise amongst other things.

There is no doubt that our educational system has decayed beyond belief. There is no doubt that the quality of our graduates are very poor, except for the rare few who still manage to excel (by Nigerian standards anyway). There is no doubt that the government should have done so much more for the sector. But the truth of the matter is that the education sector is not the only one that has suffered massive government neglect. Look at our roads and bridges; look at our electricity infrastructure, our police force and our health care. The whole country has been neglected and has had its infrastructure shredded to bits, so why do we continue to have ASUU in the news the way no other Union is.

It seems that ASUU has an over inflated opinion of its power. This bloated perception of itself seems to stem from the successes of ASUU in the Babangida era, where ASUU in conjunction with NUPENG and PENGASSAN and other unions successfully brought this country to a halt (the success of that era is also the reason NUPENG and PENGASSAN also strike at the slightest whim). However, in my opinion ASUU is not really that powerful. All the strikes that the union has embarked upon over the last decade or so have had little impact on the government. The governments’ receipts and revenues are generally guaranteed whatever ASUU does. In fact, ASUU’s continued strike actions have their greatest effects on the students, the very same ones ASUU is supposed to be fighting for, as well as the Nigerian Nation as an entity. Over the years, in all of the various altercations between ASUU and the government, ASUU has usually been painted as the hero and the government as the villain. This may well be, but rather than focus on the government, let me focus on ASUU for a change.

It is a well said proverb that it is only a fool that does the same thing the exact same way every time and expects a different result. ASUU has been striking consistently for over 20years now. Has anything changed significantly over the years? If not, why on earth would it suddenly change now? Has ASUU ever turned its spotlight on itself and challenged the Vice Chancellors of the various universities? The sector may be poorly funded, but we all know that like everywhere in this country, there is rather large scale corruption and nepotism in the ivory towers. There is room for much better management of available resources. We are also all too aware of the scourge of handouts and the harassment of female students in our universities. Many of the practices are being carried out by lecturers who are ASUU members. How many times have we heard ASUU challenge any of these practices successfully? If ASUU is not happy about the educational policies of the government, why does it not sponsor a bill at the National Assembly to right any wrongs that may be in our current laws? There are many other ways that ASUU can engage its energies to better the educational system, rather than its continued blind sighted approach to strike actions at every opportunity. Strikes may be necessary some of the time, but they certainly can’t be as necessary as the uncountable times the union has used the strategy.

If ASUU is to achieve its objective of making our educational system better, if indeed that is the true objective, then it must begin to think out of the box and perhaps seek to influence the formulation of acceptable policy, rather than seek to demolish already formulated but unacceptable policy. The Professors and Doctors who make up ASUU are meant to be highly intelligent, but they certainly don’t always act like it!

THIS ONCE GREAT NATION!

For the greater part of my lifetime, I have been fed with this rhetoric of Nigeria being the Giant of Africa, a Nation with great potential! However, the more I grow older and wiser and continue to analyze this country, the more I realize that Nigeria is far from being a great country. The definition of a great country may vary slightly from one person to the other, but I expect all the definitions to contain some of the same ingredients. I expect to hear that a great country is one that protects its citizens, where the political system is relatively stable, one that provides quality education and healthcare to its people, one where basic infrastructure such as water supply, electricity, an efficient transport system are available and work, whether or not they are provided by the private or public sector and one where the rule of law reigns and citizens can find redress in the law courts.

Unfortunately, all of these things are currently not ingredients of the Nigerian state. Roads, water, healthcare, education, security, access to justice and electricity (to mention a few) are not readily available to the majority of Nigerians. Maybe they once were, but no more.
The recent shunning of Nigeria by the President of the United States of America and the scathing remarks of the US Secretary of State, Mrs Hilary Clinton, on her recent visit to Nigeria show just how far down the rungs of greatness Nigeria has fallen. The sad part of all of this is that those in government have not realized that Nigeria is longer great, if it ever was. I would rather posit that Nigeria was never really great or a giant, she was just once rich, but even that wealth is no more. With a ballooning population of about 150 million people, its much vaunted oil wealth is but a drop in the ocean when calculated in per capita terms.
We continue to beat our chests and boast of the being the 12th largest producer of crude oil, 8th largest exporter of the product and the largest in Africa. But have any of the top functionaries at the Ministry of Finance or Ministry of Petroleum stopped to re-calculate those statistics? If they have, they will probably discover that Angola has swiftly relegated Nigeria to the 2nd largest producer and exporter of crude oil on the African continent. And the way other countries are attracting investment whilst Nigeria looses out on investment, it may not be long before we slip further to the 3rd and possibly 4th. What a tragedy!

Whilst South Africa is preparing to host the soccer world in 2010 and has already successfully staged the Confederations Cup, beaming high quality signals to the world, we are struggling to host the U-17 championships and fighting in-house about whether AIT or NTA has been given the broadcast rights, when FIFA is just a phone call or an e-mail away. Most Nigerians know more about the World Cup holding in South Africa in a year’s time than they do about a competition holding in their own backyard in 2 months time. Such is the shoddy way we do things.

Is Nigeria a great Nation? All things considered, my answer to that is far from it! And the sooner those in Aso rock and Abuja realize this and begin to take urgent steps to remedy the situation, the better.