Dr. Kawu Ahidjo Abdulkadiri’s article with the above title continues to spark both heat and light. Many ASUU sympathizers, unable to refut...
Dr. Kawu Ahidjo Abdulkadiri’s article with the above title continues to spark both heat and light. Many ASUU
sympathizers, unable to refute the substance of the writer’s submissions, have
resorted to the cheap, predictably diversionary tactic of divining the motives
of the write-up. Two people wrote to ask if I was a Goodluck Jonathan
sympathizer for allowing a piece critical of ASUU to be published in my column.
It’s sad that I have to remind anybody that I am one of President Jonathan’s
fiercest critics and that a criticism of ASUU isn’t an endorsement of Jonathan.
Of course a whole host of people were
enlightened by the article and have the good sense to know that the article’s
intent was to invite debate, to inspire introspection, and to provoke critical
inquiry. I had intended to start my comparison of the remunerative packages of
university teachers in America and Nigeria in light of ASUU’s constant
references to international benchmarks, but I thought I should give some space
to some of the reactions that trailed Dr. Abdulkadiri’s article. The sample
represents the range of responses the article stimulated.
The challenge I have in relating
with the article is not in its content, which I think is brilliant and
unassailable in its argument, but in the assumption that there is a rational,
forward-thinking government in place in Nigeria. The current crop of people (in
government) in Nigeria only think for the day in which they have food to eat
and cars to ride in. Note the deliberate placement of "in government"
in brackets, because it is not only those Nigerians in government. When I was a
student from the early 90s, ASUU's strikes led by Attahiru Jega made great
appeals to reason, and they were ignored, not only by the governments of the day,
but the same Nigerians whom a better educational system would have benefited.
Every opportunity that provides for analysing and proffering solutions to the educational
crises in Nigeria is ignored by the youth, who make up 70% of the population,
and the elders are busy stealing or condoning it as pastors, chiefs, imams, and
police. So, I do not want to discuss Nigeria in sectors anymore. Discussing the
problem in sectors, I fear, makes one lose sight of the pervasiveness of
resignation by the individual; everyone thinks they need to join in looting the
country and thus should bid their time for that ignoble opportunity. Of course,
if you sense a resignation in my position, I think I can explain mine in the
fact that I believe the Nigerian problem should be dealt with brutally, using
some mass action to clean the slate, learn, and write from scratch. None of us
is clean enough to exonerate themselves.
Odoh
Diego Okenyodo, Abuja
''Each
academic staff was entitled to a car loan equivalent to his/her annual salary
charged at 2% for administrative cost (stop laughing). They were also entitled
to a car refurbishment loan for those who wanted to refurbish their old cars,
again charged at 2%...For housing loans, each academic was entitled to 8 times his/her
annual salary to buy a house.'' This must be news to many many of us. I can
authoritatively say that since 1995 to date I have never heard of anyone
benefiting from any of these juicy loans.
Ahmad
Usman Altie. University of Abuja
The issue of Nigeria is: whoever can
hold the government to ransom gets heard and responded to. Others may die of
malnutrition no matter the genuineness of their plight. When I spoke to a
medical doctor 3 years ago, I understood why incessant strikes are far from
being stamped out. The gap being the present remuneration and the
target/expectation is enough to contain a continent. Agreed, the less than 1%
lucky Nigerians are trapping up to 90% of the national income as their birth
right and that of their family members.
But I think there should be justice in
the fight for an honourable income. It can be done at the level of the NLC.
This is my suggestion: the salary scale of the various professions should be
tallied with the ILO standard. Thereafter further progress/demand should be
negotiated in terms of percentage. If for example, doctors and lecturers have
already attained 40% of the ILO standard, they should wait for the others--agriculturists,
teachers, waiters, etc.--to catch up. After that, we should be moving together
in equal leap, negotiating with the gov‘t in terms of the same (percentage)
point. This is justice.
Abdullahi
AbdullahiGinya, Minna
I'm
a follower of your weekly columns and never doubted your integrity, but just
couldn't help verifying these unbelievable demands. I was before this article
an ASUU sympathizer but I can't decipher why a lecturer should be paid
allowances for doing what he's employed and paid salary for. Are these lecturers trying to get their own
share of the national cake? Are they really fighting for better graduates or
fatter pockets?
Thank
you for the expose on the ASUU strike. Even though it is just the first part
one can see how ASUU outwitted government negotiators right from the beginning
i. e. consideration of appropriate salary structure for academic staff.
Government officials lost the thread of the arguments from there. I had argued
with friends that the way to break the ASUU stranglehold was to retire all
academic staff, pay off their entitlements (gratuities, pensions, etc.), close
the universities for two years during which extensive rehabilitation should be
undertaken to help reverse some of the decay. At the end of this exercise,
government should undertake fresh recruitment of academic staff under new terms
and conditions. Those previously retired can apply if they wish. Academic
qualifications are now almost useless, so the closure will not be a serious
loss. Without this radical approach ASUU will call continue to hold the country
to ransom.
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