Taking a retrospective look at the attitude of the government of President Umar Yar'Adua towards education since its inception in 2007, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said on Thursday in Ibadan that the administration of Mr. Yar'Adua has been more passionate in its hatred for education than any of its predecessors.
The association stated, in leaflets distributed across the city, that a substantial part of the government's first two years of its four-year term has witnessed avoidable strikes in the nation's universities.
"In no other administrations are these misguided and misbegotten postures towards education sector more pronounced and manifest than in the administration of Alhaji Umar Musa Yar'Adua," the ASUU statement said. "To be sure, about ten (10) months out of about twenty-eight (28) months of his administration were overtaken by strikes. This means that 36 per cent of the total period of two years into his four-year tenure has been lost to strikes."
Reacting to the position of the national body of the union to get authority from its local branches before proceeding on the current negotiation with the Federal Government, Ademola Aremu, chairman of the UI branch of ASUU, said his branch has met and forwarded to the national executive its position on the outcome of the peace meeting brokered between ASUU and the government by Adams Oshiomhole, the Edo State governor. He hinted that by the end of the week, the decisions of all other branches would have reached the national body for further negotiation with the government.
"By avoiding discussion with us, we have always said it was the government that was on strike. Now that they have decided to call off their strike, we can now negotiate," he said.
The group said rather than attend to the problem of poor funding which formed the crux of the strikes, the government chose to commit huge money on issues of less importance to the growth of the country.
"Amidst the strike, which could have been averted by government committing N78 billion into the sector and with a promise of future financial commitment, the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, injected four hundred and twenty billion naira (N420b) into five commercial banks owned by its friends and relatives.
"Also, amidst the strike, the Federal Government is to host Under-17 World Youth Championship when the educational needs of Nigerian youths, which determine their future and that of the country, were not met."
Boko Haram leadership
The University of Ibadan branch of the union held a colloquium on Thursday to take stock of their almost four-month old strike. Speakers took turn to submit that ASUU has done its best to prevent the strike and the ones before it. They said the level of insensitivity displayed by successive Nigerian governments has made strike inevitable.
They wondered why governments allow strikes to hold, even when they would eventually accede to the demands of the striking workers.
On the allegation of sidelining other associations in the universities in the negotiation, Aremu said it is the fault of the government who has formed the habit of negotiating with the unions differently. He expressed hope that the government will engage all unions involved in the negotiation to allow for prompt resolution of the problems at hand.
The lecturers also frowned at Mr. Yar'Adua's recent visit to Saudi Arabia to witness the opening of a university of technology. "All these are pointers to the fact that the government of Musa Yar'Adua is anti-education and has done the least, especially in peace time (under civilian). Put differently, Yar'Adua's government is Boko Haram," it declared.
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