{"id":8734,"date":"2013-08-21T04:40:08","date_gmt":"2013-08-21T04:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/asuu-strike-a-call-to-reason\/"},"modified":"2013-08-21T04:40:08","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T04:40:08","slug":"asuu-strike-a-call-to-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/asuu-strike-a-call-to-reason\/","title":{"rendered":"ASUU strike: A call to reason"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A country\u2019s greatness is not measured by the quantity of natural resources dug up from its soil nor does it lie in the number of glitzy automobiles daily cruising along its roads, or even by the munificent excesses of its rulers. Rather, a country\u2019s claim to civilisation is a function of how it rises to the challenges of leadership and development for the overall interests of the present and future generations. The developed nations of the world did not attain their present enviable status by sudden flight but through years of ingenuity and painstaking investments in human and material resources. Today, their citizens can look back with pride and with every reason salute the courage and foresight of their forebears for laying the foundation of their greatness.<\/p>\n

Nations are like individuals; they grow and prosper or stultify and decline according to the vision and sacrifice put into making their dreams come true. In Nigeria, dreams have always remained what they are because monumental efforts are never made to bring them to reality. We are always dreaming of becoming one of the world\u2019s 20 biggest economies in 2020, and even building rockets to land man on the moon, yet precious time and resources are spent squabbling on whether our tertiary institutions should be adequately funded to produce the type of geniuses capable of taking our blue prints from conception to implementation. Sadly, our situation is compounded the more by bureaucratic inertia and palpable haughtiness of those charged with managing the education sector. The present standoff between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on the implementation of a 2009 agreement on ways of rescuing our universities from the present nadir they have sunk, says it all.<\/p>\n

And from the look of things, nothing suggests that the disputants to the impasse are willing to reach any compromise. The result is that thousands of university students are now on forced holidays and idling at home or loitering the streets for no cause of theirs. Before the present strike by the universities union, it had reached agreements with the Federal Government in 1981\/82, 1992, 1999, 2001 and 2005 with none implemented. The 1981\/82 Agreement was on the establishment and acceptance of the principle of collective bargaining as the main mode by which terms and conditions of work of academics would be determined. That of 1992 focused on the need for university autonomy and academic freedom. The 1999 Agreement was devoted mainly to academic allowances and other terms and conditions of work, aimed at addressing the problems of the rot in the education system and brain drain.<\/p>\n

The 2001 Agreement dwelt on three main issues: salaries and conditions of work, funding, and university autonomy and academic freedom. Also, there was an understanding that the terms and conditions of work of academics would not be subsumed within the framework of the conditions of service in the civil service. A clause in the agreement stated that it would be reviewed every three years. It therefore, meant that a review would have come up in 2004. Incidentally, that never took place due to the intransigence of the then administration to provide an avenue for it. The 2005 Agreement consisted mainly in the undertaking by the government to constitute its negotiating team to review the main agreement of 2001. But that was never done till 2006. For the present strike, ASUU has vowed to cling to its demands until all contentious issues of funding, university autonomy, academic freedom, earned allowance, registration of universities pension management company, amendment of pension retirement age of academics at the professional cadre, federal assistance to state universities and transfer of Federal Government landed properties to universities agreed to in 2009 are resolved. According to ASUU estimates, it would take a whopping N900 billion to build world class infrastructure on the various campuses.<\/p>\n

But the Federal Government says it can only afford N400 billion for such projects. Following hot on the heels is the revelation by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala that the country cannot afford the N92 billion being demanded by the lecturers as settlement to their demands. According to her, the resources are so lean that any attempt to implement them would send the economy into a tailspin. Then, how to go about this? This is where the sense of maturity and compromise comes in. Both parties must take into consideration the present realities and capability of each to fulfill any agreement reached.<\/p>\n

For instance, while it is onerous for ASUU to demand that all agreements be honoured, it must also realise it does not hold the moral high grounds in demanding that the government hand over all its properties to individual universities. Insisting on such exposes the members to accusation of wanting to eat their cake and still have it. In spite of all the grandstanding, it is worth reminding them they are tenants and employees of government and must not insist on inheriting its properties. What then it shows is that they are not fighting to improve and rescue our universities from rot but to share out the properties among them. While this charade lasts, it is pertinent that both parties consider the effect of their actions on the hapless students and the consequences on the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

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