ASUU STRIKE: TIME FOR A HOLISTIC SOLUTION
Aliyu Ibrahim canvasses a realistic funding model for the universities
The declaration of a ”comprehensive, total and indefinite strike” by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has turned the hitherto six-month rollover strike into a major crisis. Some members of the Union have suggested that negotiations should be suspended till a new administration takes over from the Buhari-led administration in May 2023. There is no doubt the strike has caused incalculable damage to the education sector, with students staying at home for six months, and left to their own devices. Parents frustrated and helpless, secondary school leavers queuing up and waiting for admissions to join the universities. Academic staff are also at the receiving end, as their salaries have been withheld, even promotion exercises cannot take place because of the strike. It is only top government officials that can afford to send their wards to private or foreign universities that are not feeling the heat of the ongoing strike in public universities.
There is no doubt that the major contention to this dispute is funding, as the Memorandum of Understanding is all about the revitalization of public universities and improvement of the welfare of academic staff. The federal government has been complaining of lack of funds to meet its obligations, despite continuing to establish new universities. For instance, four new public universities were created and given a takeoff fund of N4 billion each in 2021. States also establish universities despite their failure to provide adequate funding to the ones already in existence. In addition, a lot of resources are expended in sponsoring academic staff to some of the best universities in the world to obtain higher degrees; however, when they complete their programmes and return to Nigeria they are paid paltry sums as wages, which most times result in low morale and ultimately, the staff leaving these institutions for greener pasture, before the country is able to reap from its investments in the staff. These problems could result in brain drain in the university system.
Despite the repeated strikes by ASUU over the years, successive administrations have equally failed to honour agreements it entered with the union to provide the necessary funding for public universities. Consequently, I will suggest that there is need to convene a national education summit, where various stakeholders in the country including ASUU and the federal government, governors, the National Assembly, pro- chancellors, civil society organisations, even UNICEF and the business community, among others, to develop and agree on a sustainable funding model, in which public universities will be given subventions, and then they will generate additional revenues for their sustenance. Reasonable increment in tuition is unavoidable. However, government should provide scholarships to indigent students. Additionally, the business community should be encouraged to also provide scholarships to the less privileged. Proliferation of public universities should be addressed; strict requirements should be put in place for any tier of government to fulfill if it so wishes to open a university.
A database for academic staff should be established, this is with a view to control academics from taking up many visiting appointments at a particular time for quality control. A minimum base pay should be established for each academic rank, which will be reviewed periodically, then universities can be allowed to fix their own remunerations. This will stem brain drain from our public universities and make them more attractive. Universities can also seek for donations to augment their income. The appointment of Vice Chancellors should be reviewed; being a Professor is not enough. Evidence of the ability to attract grants should be a key requirement, and also there must be evidence that the person can mentor upcoming academics. Time has come to address issues that trigger prolonged strikes in our universities once and for all, which can only be done if a realistic funding model is developed and implemented religiously.
Ibrahim, Ph.D.,
