As an undergraduate student in a prestigious university and
with just a few weeks to writing my final examination and graduate,
hopes were very high. Academic work became challenging, vigorous and
stimulating.
The school was at the peak of an academic session. The long session was
gradually coming to an end, the climax of which was an end of session
examination that would add a golden crown to nights of sleepless
adventure in “bookland”, midnight candles, and efforts at amounting to
something in life. Indeed, hope had never soared that high in my
youthful life.
Then, a few weeks to this period, the Academic Staff Union of
Universities embarked on a “total, comprehensive and indefinite strike”
to compel the Federal Government to implement an agreement reached with
it in 2009 citing negligence on the part of government to faithfully
implement an agreement it “freely” entered into with it. Let me quickly
add that the government signed this agreement freely as a result of
similar protracted industrial action in 2009 and another strike in 2011
that culminated in the 2102 Memorandum of Understanding signed between
both parties to implement the agreement and improve upon the
infrastructural development of Nigerian universities.
When this strike was announced, a part of me wanted a break very much
as I was developing migraine from excessive reading (though I knew the
effort would not be a waste when the results were out. Success being a
by-product of hard work). But knowing the antecedent of ASUU and its
likelihood of embarking on prolonged and protracted strikes, another
part of me vehemently protested against another strike that would put
everything on hold until further notice. At first, I thought the strike
would not last for more than three weeks and then everything would be
restored to normalcy. I followed the news vigorously (something I had
not really had time to do previously), I listened to the radio at every
hour, watched TV news hours, read newspapers and articles, online
journals and even the social media just to catch the latest development
on the ASUU strike.
With meetings being announced and rescheduled, I was literally
looking forward to each meeting between ASUU and the Federal Government
teams to find out when the impasse would be resolved. Like a fortune
teller, I watched the sky, read the cloud, interpreted news and watched
for signs that the strike would not linger more than necessary. But each
time the news announced a “deadlocked meeting”, my heart missed a beat.
Despair descended on me and I almost developed a heart attack. As the
strike entered its first month, second month, and now third month, each
passing day has become a forlorn dream, raising the same endless
questions: When will ASUU call off its strike? When will the government
be responsible to its citizens? When will Nigeria be free from sabotage?
When will things ever be right in this country?
Having read so many perspectives on the current strike, protests,
threats, appeals from different quarters calling on the Federal
Government and ASUU to reach a compromise, I think I should add a voice
of one crying in the wilderness to both parties to save our souls. It is
heart-rending that in the 21st Century, when universities all over the
world are breaking grounds in cutting-edge research, universities in
Nigeria are locking up potential and killing dreams. They are shutting
lights out of burning and talented youths willing to undertake greater
exploits that will promote Nigeria. The youths are rendered the
proverbial idle mind that becomes the devil’s workshop. It is indeed sad
that this is happening in my lifetime. We can no longer sing with
passion “the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain” or “to
serve with heart and might” because our hope for the future is indeed
dim due to incessant closure of our universities by ASUU.
Though patriotic, what ASUU is demanding is just as fair: its
members’ academic earned allowances and improved funding for the
education sector. Any nation that must develop indeed must take the
education of its population seriously. It is also true that more funding
without proper planning and implementation will amount to waste and
corruption. It is in this regard that I challenge ASUU to think of
better ways other than strike to address the rot in university
education.
Follow @Psermuel
0 comments:
Post a Comment