Wednesday 18 September 2013

Opinion: An open letter to ASUU – Call off this strike!

asuu-strike 
Dr. Fagge, it is not wise, humanly speaking to subject other people’s children to untold and unnecessary sufferings and hardship, simply because your own children are… outside the country enjoying themselves while claiming to be attending universities.

 After spending almost 2 whole months at home (60 days to be precise),doing nothing academically positive to my bright future,I am beginning to feel like a wasted vessel in my parent’s house already.After spending a considerable number of years at home before gaining my admission into one of Nigeria’s first generation universities (3 years to be precise), I am left wallowing in some sort of dirty pit,dug by this unrepentant group called ASUU for the Federal Government of Nigeria which has also caught millions of helpless Nigerian students like me in the midst of a ceaseless gun-fire that has now made ASUU a re-occurring prayer point in every student’s mind and mouth.

Judging from previous experiences on past strike actions emanating from the camp of ASUU,senior contemporaries,mostly graduates and students in their finals say this strike would last the length of its word, which from its inception was said to be lasting 100 days.But to what benefit is this to us the suffering students who are languishing and wasting away at home at the mercy of every unwanted sympathizer who comes by visiting.Since the inception of this unending strike,I have been forced to abandon my books and stay glued to the internet, watching out for any news on ASUU and their negotiations with the Federal Government.I stumbled upon this article very recently,and it has even heightened my fear on how much longer we are going to spend at home.I’ll share just some parts of this article to drive home my point.

This is an excerpt of the content of a letter written by Dr Nasir Isa Fagge (Chairman of ASSU) to the Head of National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy, NEEDs Assessment, and Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, after the release of N100 billion for infrastructural development in various universities across the nation, and N30 billion for the overdue lecturers salary and allowances.It reads thus:

“We observe that the Committee is so far mentioning only N100billion. If the implementation is to be related to the funding requirements in the 2009 ASUU/FG agreement and the January 2012 MoU, what is due 2012 and 2013 is N500 billion not N100 billion. Only the provision of this sum will meet the immediate needs of the universities. “Our Union is very apprehensive of the manner in which the sources of the initial N100 billion to be used for the stimulation of the process are shrouded in secrecy. We believe that monies that belong to the universities should not be blocked and recycled. This will not only be counter-productive, but will brew even deeper crises in the system. ASUU will not accept this.”

The letter goes forward to talk about the manner at which these contracts must be awarded,and how the execution of these contracts must be handled.But with all due respect sir (Dr. Nasir Fagge), what is my business or probably yours with who gets these contracts and who does not? or is that what you were appointed,elected or selected to oversee? I for one do not find it funny that I am at home, languishing for nothing and wasting away my intellectual abilities simply because I am in a Federal Government/ASUU controlled university, when my mates with whom I got admitted together, and are in Private Universities are already moving into another session, and I am yet to start the second semester of my First year.

Dr. Fagge, it is not wise, humanly speaking to subject other people’s children to untold and unnecessary sufferings and hardship, simply because your own children are either through with their education or if they are still in school, are somewhere outside the country enjoying themselves while claiming to be attending universities. As a victim of this inhumane act being perpetrated by you and your colleagues, I must be very blunt and point-blank with my attack on you sir. What is it to us that the Federal Government has refused to disburse the full monies required for the building, renovating and maintenance of hostels, laboratories, lecture rooms and theatres? At the present moment, most of these schools have adequate number of these facilities in their possession. Even for those who do not have it all, they must be reminded that you can’t have all you need to be successful all at once. Even the Great Wall of China was not built in a day. We must be content with what we have, and only strive to improve it as the days go by.

Planning to extend the strike because the N500 billion you requested wasn’t fully released to you is totally and absolutely wrong, and is very unacceptable to us as Nigerian students.The plans for this money may seem laudable, but for God’s sakes, can’t we make do of what we have now and forge ahead till more is made available for us to use? Millions of Nigerian students nationwide have all been sitting glued to screens, televisions, mobile phones, laptops, iPads, and various forms of screens at odd hours of the day, just to hear that the strike has been called off. It’s very unfair on ASUU to decide our future for us, and decide it in the manner in which they have done. We are the leaders of tomorrow, and we must shape that tomorrow today by being the best we can be at our books.

As of now, while I am writing this letter,my senior colleagues in the Law departments and Medical departments in Federal Universities are stranded, while their mates are getting ready for Law School and Medical School respectively. Using this biblical allusion, ”What shall it profit ASUU if it receives the full allocation it is promised, and lose the futures put in its care at the end of the day? To me, the building of Category 1, Category 2,Category 3, bedspaces and more is an uneconomical waste of useful resources. Why not invest a larger chunk of this monies into what will ultimately make the future of my generation. Someone once said, “The future of yesterday is today,and that of tomorrow starts from now. Build the Future you want to see tomorrow today, and when that future comes,you will not be regretful of it.

In conclusion to this letter of mine, I need to point out to those at the helm of Affairs in ASUU that the immediate effect of this strike action is on the image of the various universities whose academic calenders have been brutally altered by two months already. And like the elders would say “In a disagreement between two people, it is the wise one that usually backs out for peace to reign in the land”. I know that I’ll be writing the minds of millions of Nigerian Students, when I ask you to please consider us and call off this strike action. For the sakes of our futures hanging in the balances in your hands, PLEASE CALL OFF THE STRIKE.
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