Since March 2020, starting weeks before the Covid-19 lockdowns, public universities in Nigeria have been shut down. Reason: Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike following disputes with Federal Government over infrastructure funding arrangements, a new payroll system and sundry issues. Both sides have shown neither urgency nor desire to resolve the issues involved, each refusing to make necessary concessions for a win-win outcome.
One full academic year has now been wasted. Fees have been paid for which no services have been received in return. Millions of young Nigerian lives, especially from lower-income homes, are in jeopardy – literally abandoned to their own fate. Meanwhile, the children of the rich and privileged are either attending private universities at home or functional universities abroad. Most of these have carried on regular academic services (sometimes remotely) despite the pandemic and related challenges. In effect, while the rest of the world has moved on, public universities in Nigeria are stuck in the mud.
It is both shocking and shameful that ASUU and FG have so far carried on with absolutely no care for the interests of other critical stakeholder groups in the matter and the country at large.
After all, there are also other staff unions, millions of students (whose lives are on hold), parents and guardians (who have invested enormous resources and hope in the students), the labour market and the fate of an entire generation of Nigerians at stake.
Never in the history of our country has public education been treated with such disdain. Not even under the most uncouth military regimes has the red line been crossed with such impunity. It is now clear that neither ASUU nor FG fully understands the calamity this signals. Nor do they care.
In other climes, ministers of government or entire cabinets would have resigned by now for this monumental failure of a vital public service. Same goes for ASUU leadership under Prof Biodun Ogunyemi which now operates like a criminal gang with no sense of public duty or moral rectitude, and has lost much respect and sympathy from a bewildered public.
For ASUU, the only thing that matters, it seems, is the pecuniary interest of its members, vaguely camouflaged by demands for infrastructural upliftment. For FG, breaking the arm of ASUU and forcing it into line is all that counts. Clearly, we have leadership on both sides which place little value on learning, enlightenment and public duty.
If the attitude of the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari is unsurprising and irresponsible, that of ASUU as custodians of the Ivory Tower is equally shocking and cavalier. We have a nation that has clearly lost its soul, starting right from the top.
Universities are not supposed to be mirror images of the societies in which they operate. They are intended to be beacons of light, showing the way that society should go. They are, by concept and design, exemplary and above board. They are conceived as incubators of ideas, ideals and innovation. Nigerian universities, it must be admitted, have failed in this regard. Not even excuses of poor funding are enough to rationalize this failure.
Our academics, among the best trained in the world, have failed spectacularly in upholding the ideals of the Ivory Tower in curriculum development, teaching, research and offering solutions to problems in their environment. Our universities have become conquered territory for intellectual warlords. They have mostly used their qualifications and training as meal tickets, status symbols, bargaining chips and ego supplements.
ASUU, as presently led, is an embodiment of that unfortunate reality. It has sunk to the level of a regular trade union, fighting solely for the narrow interests of its members. It has lost sight of its nobler role as a body of intellectuals, thought leaders and philosopher kings. It would appear to have joined corrupt politicians and sectional interest groups in an unholy scramble for the assets of a dying Nigerian state.
Teaching, like the priesthood, is a vocation, not just a profession or trade. It should be guided by higher principles. Those who do not subscribe to such principles should honorably excuse themselves and find other things to do. It is morally reprehensible to stay in the system and constitute obstacles to the progress of society. If the truth must be told, many university lecturers and administrators in Nigeria are neither above board nor better than the corrupt politicians they condemn.
This is not to deny that there are merits in ASUU’s case, especially in the area of government honoring obligations to agreements reached by earlier administrations, or adopting a new payroll system that takes cognizance of the unique conditions of the university system.
It is however important to balance the operational demands of ASUU as a trade union with the moral obligations of its members to students, their poor parents and a beleaguered society.
Nigerian students, parents and other aggrieved stakeholders now have a chance and a duty to lawfully mobilize, reclaim and protect their trampled rights from an irresponsible government and a misguided trade union. A class action in court could be a first step towards forcing the hands of justice to take its course. Perhaps a landmark court decision would spare us future agony.
What is going on in our public universities today is a crime against humanity. It belongs in the same category as acts of impunity committed by the defunct SARS. That fees have been paid for which no value has been received is a breach of contract. In addition, significant costs and losses have been incurred by students and parents due to official negligence, dereliction of duty and incompetence occasioning this system collapse. There should be consequences, dire consequences, for all who have played a part in this macabre dance.
Victor Anazonwu, a journalist and author, is a member of the Renaissance Editorial Board. He writes from Lagos
