ASUU Strike: A Highlight Of The Lies Of Adamu Adamu -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

Because I hold him very dear to my heart, writing to highlight some of the lies of the ‘Honorable’ Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, is actually painful. It is the norm to prefix his name with ‘mallam’; but from the look of things, it is better not to. I will explain why.

ASUU strike has affected not only the livelihood of lecturers but of millions of other Nigerians. There is no gainsaying the fact that this government is a colossal failure. Its kind has never been witnessed in the history of Nigeria. Government’s handling of the crisis that rocks the universities speaks volume of its determination to kill public universities. While I personally think university education is not basic, the basic which the government ought to be held responsible for had been killed and buried long time ago. I am referring to our public primary and secondary schools.

Mymajor problem is the lies the Government continues to spit out to hoodwink the unsuspecting public into believing it has played its part; thus, painting ASUU as intransigent. What is more is the unbelievable willingness of Adamu Adamu to allow himself to be tooled to spew lies which made many of us (his erstwhile admirers) go ballistic. I never knew that someone with the status, and of the caliber, of Adamu Adamu can LIE shamelessly on camera. Funnily, his lies are frank, direct, and unpackaged probably because he was not used to telling lies. Serial and habitual liars would package their lies such that it takes a very long time to detect they are lies.

The first major LIE of Adamu Adamu which drew the attention of the public was his declaration that the Government has addressed all the demands of ASUU. He asserted that what is left is its members’ unpaid salaries which they should sacrifice. This, invoking the principle of “No Work No Pay.” As soon as he made this public speech, many who had initially given ASUU their full support throughout the struggle backed out immediately. They called ASUU many unprintable names.

Few days later, ASUU came out, in its normal snail’s pace manner of response, to debunk Adamu Adamu’s claims. But this was after the damage had been done. More damaging is the fact many Nigerians believed that the Minister (then) was impeccable; thus, incapable of telling lies. Most people who knew the real Adamu Adamu(including my humble self) never imagined that Buhari’s regime can ever happen to him; or at least to this extent. We are wrong! He has become a changed man in the Government of Change.

Many writers and commentators—who took Adamu Adamu seriously and called ASUU all sorts of grotesque names—regretted when they later got the wind that the Minister LIED to the public. I was shocked too; but not deceived. My default position vis-a-vis this APC’s Government is that anything it says is lie until it is proven to be true. This philosophy has been my guiding principle.

As if that lie is not big and loud enough, the Minister in an interview on Wednesday threw another bombshell. He said backlog of striking lecturers’ salaries had been paid as at the time of the interview. Could this be as a result of dotage, amnesia, or a complete loss of interest in the onus placed on his shoulder as a minister of education? Or is it just, again, a deliberate lie? Some said he forgot to take his amnesia drugs before the interview. It is very unfortunate that Adamu Adamu has now become a laughing stock.

This elderly man further said (or should I say LIED?) that the Government had, for long, presented to ASUU a ridiculous 23.5 percent salary increment across board which the latter rejected. Wow! Only the Minister can probably believe this. Why the need to set up different committees and reject their recommendations if that was the case? The last one was Emeritus Nimi Briggs-led Committee which had to make a disclaimer in one of the national dailies to lay bare the lies the Government made against it.

When asked why the strike lingers on, the Minister responded that ASUU should be asked. Most of his responses during the interview, if not sarcastic, were preceded with ‘I think’ as if he had not been the Minister in charge of the Ministry. He was only assertive when he lied. Watching that interview is not only boring but hurtful. It is very disappointing.

When asked to rate our universities, Adamu Adamu rated them 70 percent—that is excellent. Certainly, he meant excellent from the bottom since he was very sarcastic. At a point, his responses seemed not to be deliberate lies, even though they were lies; they were slipping out of his mouth unconsciously probably due to confusion. The follow-up questions by the interviewer apparently destabilized him. Or can any living Nigeria lie that our public universities are ranked very high globally by any global ranker? Yes! Adamu Adamu did.

When asked about the education legacy Buhari will be bequeathing to Nigeria on his exit from power, he said there are many and could mention only ‘access to education’ which he claimed to be the most important one. At this point, I thought those who argued he (the Minister) did not take his amnesia drugs before the interview could be right anyway. He said; “Probably there has been no government in the recent past that has made access to university or higher education available to Nigerians like the Buhari’s Administration.” This shocked the interviewer. He exclaimed; “Really!?” the Minister answered “Maybe.”

If the Channels TV interviewer, Seun Okinbaloye, had been keeping records of his worst encounter with his interviewees as a journalist, I believe this very one with Adamu Adamu would top his list. The responses were very callous. Some blamed President Buhari for appointing an accountant-turned-journalist a minister of education; ideally he shouldn’t have been given such portfolio. While this observation cannot be discarded as pointless, the question is: who has done well in this Government?

Frankly speaking, it is not about Adamu Adamu’s qualifications, a more qualified candidate wouldn’t have acted differently. What is evident is, one is bewitched to lie and to perform woefully once they join this rudderless and lackluster government. Rather, the Minister has been enmeshed in the whirlwind of lies that spins around this government. So, he cannot behave otherwise. He has to LIE as if he were under a ministerial oath to lie—an oath which he dare not break.

In fairness to the minister, at least he knows he deserves no honor. When addressed as honorable minister of education, he retorted that he should not be addressed thus because he has not earned it. Honor, according to him, should be earned. This is not out of humility, it is an acknowledgement of his failure as a minister. If he could not be addressed as ‘honorable’ which is less dignifying compare to ‘mallam, then ‘mallam’ is too big a title to prefix his name.

I honestly pity the Minister. He is not the Mallam Adamu Adamu I knew. This government has done a lot of damage to this former successful and highly respected columnist. May Allah rectify us and him. But if the minister’s interview is anything to go by, especially his re-emphasized emphasis that government has not rescinded its decision on “No Work, No Pay” and lecturers are to forfeit seven month salaries (and probably more), there seems to be no glimmer of hope for Nigerian students. My plea to the Government is to stop this slow killing of education in Nigeria which is, to me, more torturous. Itshould kill and bury it once and for all.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

@salahuddeenAbd