Lets Talk About ASUU - Griffin means BUSINESS

Let’s talk about ASUU and no, I’m not entirely in support of their cause. Why should I be when it’s the same thing they’ve been fighting over for the past 20 years. You wonder why they haven’t come up with an alternative when you consider the wealth of academic brilliance in their ranks. They clearly have no qualms in letting the Students they have been entrusted to educate bear the brunt. Not like I’m in support of the government either, one that has totally ignored how vital education is to the country. In meeting its millennium development goals successive Nigerian governments have failed to realise how vital the empowered youth is. A high quality skilled workforce which will both attract sizable global investment to the country as well as encourage SME growth is barely present as a result of the continued drop in the quality of education in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.

We have seen the large exodus of educational revenue move to Universities in nearby Benin Republic and Ghana. Countries which usually do not rank close to Nigeria on the Development index seem to be doing better at education than Nigeria at the tertiary level, then ASUU’s repeated strikes buttresses the need to embrace these neighbouring standards of education, seeing as the several private Universities that continue springing up around the country are either too expensive for the struggling Nigerian or have lesser educational standards than State/Federal Universities.

Who loses in all of this you wonder, when Students are forced to sit at home waking up daily to news of negotiation impasses and claims of Propaganda by elected officials. Do the claims educate them? Is the stalemate to their benefit? Previous Union leaders have claimed underwhelming pay checks have driven the best of their colleagues to foreign lands while the Government feels justified in the yearly allocations it earmarks for the education of its continuously expanding youth population.

The result has become apparent, the neglect and bickering is a by-product of a long neglected education sector. A constantly devolving process which has unfortunately become a repeated cycle not a road map or an objective. Sadly, I fear this latest industrial action will lead to the same point; both side agree on a shaky or fictitious compromise and things stay quiet for a 12 months or less before another strike is embarked upon again. Then you wonder why all the foreign trips to woo investors. The same government claims to want to improve employment yet hands the created jobs over to half skilled expatriates who command ridiculous remunerations.

Maybe the Lecturers are truly fighting for a noble cause, maybe the government (though I doubt it) has a good case to maintain their stance, but does that justify keeping students at home idle for such a long period of time.

I am a product of this same educational system along with its strikes and other maladies so I believe I qualify as some sort of expert (there are millions like me) when I give my opinion on the issue. It’s time for both sides to change strategy with the future of the country as the main priority. What is truly the way forward? Is it co-funding? Is it total autonomy? Is it regional specialisation or is there something else that can be done to ensure that not only are the interests of ASUU considered but also the future of our country is secured through development of the best possible skilled work force it can muster as well as intellectual minds that can be forces to contend with on a global scale.

Let’s assume both sides truly want to protect the interest of the University student, what exactly will you want both sides to do to avoid the continued rot in the University system as well as improved opportunities for prospective graduates.

Will love to hear you views and opinions on possible solutions that both sides can take to creating a meaningful and productive tertiary educational system, you’ll never know who’s reading this.

In the meantime, , let us take out time to say a prayer for those constantly in harm’s way in the North East of the country. Constant stories of lives lost and attacks don’t make for comfortable reading.