By ‘Diran Ademiju-Bepo
It was William Shakespeare who said “Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never tastes of death but once”. What is the relevance of this quote to the subject matter, you the reader may wish to ask? Why am I talking of cowards, deaths and the valiant? There is another saying among the Yoruba of South West Nigeria that goes thus: ‘It is the death of wars that kills the valiant warrior, the adept swimmer is silenced by the river. Is the University system dead or dying in Nigeria? The answer is Yes. Are there cowards and the valiant in this narrative? The answer again is Yes. Are there warriors of the university system? Of course, there are. Are there cowards as well? We have them in droves in government!
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been the valiant warrior and adept swimmer in the context of this real life scenario. The union has gone to war many times, in fact, since its founding in 1978. It has seen many wars, in the trenches and on the land. The members have been called upon to either be valiant or cowards. I leave the judgement to you on which you think comrades have been or not. But we are convinced beyond any iota of doubts that the war we have been fighting is for the survival of the university system.
Where do parents come in here? Have we been cowardly or we have stood up to be counted as the valiant behind ASUU and its unending struggles with the government of the day in the country? As a parent, I personally have been valiantly in tandem with the union. As a member, I wholeheartedly believe in the ideals and what my union stands for. Do I have a choice? Of course. ASUU is a voluntary group of academics who have come together to fight for the emancipation of its numerous members and their unending demands for better welfare and education at the tertiary level. I choose ASUU because the instrument of strike, which remains the last option, until we find the other alternative, will continue to give us what we want.
Parents or guardians of undergraduate and postgraduate students in Nigerian public universities are not valiant. I say this because from the happenings over the past 44 years of ASUU, they have allowed the union grow into the only voice of the voiceless whereas they have not found their own voice. ASUU does not pay school charges for all undergraduates its members teach and mould into leaders of tomorrow; parents do. ASUU does not buy recommended books and other requirements for learning and research for these teeming students; it is parents who shoulder this responsibility for their children and wards. What ASUU has ensured was and is that we still have the public universities which remain the bastion of our development and progress, even in the face of the bourgeois private universities belonging to cronies of government officials, if not to them.
The same public universities which shaped the today of the nation yesterday. The same universities that have produced world-class teachers, technocrats and professionals in various fields of endeavour, excelling at home and abroad, including the ones who chose to go into politics but who are unfortunately and unconscionably lording it over the rest of us, to remove the ladder after their ascent. The government knows that whatever ASUU is demanding is for the good of all and the future of the nation. They know and that is why the few – they are actually in the minority- who are in power try without success to truncate the dreams of many of our children as against their own whom they send abroad to go and study. They know that as long as there are parasitic lice in the intractable mound of hair on our heads, so long are we going to live with blood-stained fingernails!
Our mound of hair is the university system, while the refusal by government to do the needful is the bloodied lice and ASUU and the parents are supposed to be the fingernails. It takes an adept mother to remove and separate them. Parents must come out courageously to confront the menace of the government. I am calling on parents and guardians to come out en masse and join and support the union on its current national strike for the future of our children. If you don’t obey this clarion call by a parent and an ASUU member, as the way forward, know that your are sounding the death knell for the future. Politicians and legislators in the corridors of power will come and go, but the future remains in the horizon. 2023 is here. If we allow our children and wards to be shut out of their universities now, they might be ready instruments in the hands of these politicians before the elections for their self, shenanigan benefits.
Instead of members of the National Assembly to be discussing the current pathetic situation in the university system and the inhuman treatment being dished out to lecturers, they are busy haggling over what is dear to them: the Electora Act! It is time to stop their shenanigans! No more tyranny from the so-called elected representatives of our democratic participation in the governance of our country, these Taming Hawks. They are behaving like the ostrich now. Where are the ears of the President of the Senate and the Speaker, House of Representatives, who pledged never to pass the budget if ASUU’s demands are not incorporated? They are by now debating the N2.5 trillions for their paymaster to settle imaginary fuel subsidy. The education of our children matters less to them. They refused to take it up as a matter of urgent national importance? Simply put, they have vowed to turn all of us into Boko Haram!
In a video clip of an interview on TVC News station, retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari as President-elect in 2015 condemned the squandering of N7billion on the National Conference under the Goodluck Jonathan administration while strikes by ASUU and other unions in the tertiary institutions were on. The anchor had asked for his plan concerning the report. He responded, inter alia: “This government has capacity for wrong priorities that are hurting us as a nation”. Looking back seven years now, I wonder if that was a wrong priority even though this administration is more profligate than its predecessors in office! Can someone tell us how much is the National Assembly spending on the never-ending Amendment of the 1999 Constitution? How much is the cost of importing petroleum products while wasting humongous amounts on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of our moribund refineries without any commensurate result?
A body of religious leaders tried to intervene. Our union agreed. The President told the body of pastors and imams that he had issued directives to his Chief of Staff and his relevant ministers to the effect that the strike would not be necessary and they should work with time and ASUU to arrest it. He presided over their disobedient disposition and did nothing. His Minister of Labour now said we our union does not respect religious leaders. Who belled the cat? Shifting blames while they are frying the future of our heritage. Now is the time for us who own these children to arise and take up the struggle. Otherwise, we would have missed a golden opportunity to reverse the rot and their sinister agenda to render the nation stagnant.
This strike would be a success only if parents can come out and stage a protest to rescue their children from the gulag of an insensitive federal government. They can dress in white, red or black. But they cannot remain passive. ASUU is the loop between parents and the terminus of progress for the leaders of tomorrow, represented by our children and wards’ future. We must not allow this mother of all strikes to waste away. If you have got the message, spread it to every household and convince parents and guardians to join this struggle to rescue and liberate our children from the blood-sucking lice that this government represents. An agreement duly deliberated and signed remains a valid document with rules of engagement. The Renegotiation of such has been completed about 10 months ago. Why would government call for a re-renegotiation at the point of implementation now? Another period of three months has been given to the new Committee inaugurated on Monday by the Minister of Education. ASUU is prepared to give a long rope. Now, UTAS which had already passed integrity test turned around to fail simply because Professor Pantami is presently under fire from the union. What do you think will follow? Your guess is as good as mine.
•Prof Ademiju-Bepo writes from the University of Jos.