ASUU’s Ideological Reconstruction -By Abdu Abdullahi

“An idea is something that you have; an ideology is something that has you” -Morris Berman

Enmeshed in a prolonged ASUU strike, Nigeria drifts further towards multifaceted crises which are getting out of control. University students, parents, lecturers, the government, and the country at large are all casualties of this menacing conflict. While other global universities are producing more manpower for development, we are hopelessly stagnant.

Historically, ASUU is well-known for its defiant attribute of no retreat no surrender in the history of its recurrent battles with the government. But from the ideological conception, it is a combat against unpopular policies which the government cannot see in their real context.  As such, it is very simple to count the number of times ASUU has been on strikes and the government views it as a political opposition party. But why are we not concerned with enumerating the number of failures by the government to yield to the realistic demands of university education? While the basic factors responsible for ASUU’s continuous face off with the authorities have been the same, except for some modifications to align with the prevailing circumstances, it is not yet obvious if this festering strike will be the final.

For about eight months now, the ASUU has been on another confrontation to drive home its demands. The conundrum has rendered the university system more dilapidated in terms of closure of universities and abrupt suspension of lectures, culminating in talent plundering. Going by the enormous loss the country has gone through as a result of this persistent bout, one would be tempted to question the reoccurrences of this awful trend. 

Evidently, the current strike by the ASUU has taken a more dangerous dimension owing to unsolicited exhibition of some ill -motivated actions by the government, such as the pronouncement of no work no pay and the uncharitable act of creating a parallel union of lecturers among others. However, our government has committed a moral felony because we have cases where members of the National Assembly are involved in dereliction of legislative duties but are handsomely paid every month. As for the CONUA, its emergence is a comedy display which will end very soon till eternity. This ill- conceived faction is a false attraction only to the government and is no equal match to the mainstream ASUU in all ramifications. For all times, ASUU will continue to be a bulwark for the sustenance of the university system as well as the conscience of progressive forces.

Albeit a bulky section of the society raps the embattled lecturers for what is described as their ‘ uncompromising mentality’, the missing link is abandoning the sense of reflections to decipher the philosophy behind the ASUU  ‘ traditional strike’ and the imperatives of such for the country. If we are to go by cause and effects analysis, the genesis of ASUU to down tools could be traced to the government’s violation of a covenant it had entered into with the academic body. In the Chinese culture, even a verbal accord is highly honoured. When ASUU was challenged to go back to classes, nobody had interrogated the government why it sabotaged the gentleman’s agreement. Even the court that ordered ASUU to resume work could not elucidate why the authorities failed to fulfill documented truce.

Whatever the erudite scholars’ ‘insensitive’ demands are, their parannial clashes with the powers that be are informed by the idea they possess and the ideology that possesses them. If they are selfish for agitating for better salary packages considering the gigantic work and researches they conduct to build humanity, fine and good. But then how do  we rate our National Assembly members for reaping outrageous salaries and allowances for rendering meager services? How do we classify some governors,  ministers and other top government shots who squander billions of naira to fly private jets? 

This year, the Socio- Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP dragged president Muhammadu Buhari to court to stop him from spending N26 billion naira on local and foreign travels, meals and refreshment, sitting allowance, welfare package and office building. When the  political elite compete for the most exotic cars and their children studying in foreign universities funded from the public fund, some of our universities are having out-dated books which were supplied as far as 1980! Available data shows that universities do not have up-to-date teaching materials for all courses in spite of the rapid rate of technological advancement. And they castigate ASUU as being too selfish! Who is fooling who? Unfortunately, misplacement of priorities is now entrenched as a fundamental pillar of governance in Nigeria. This chronic disease is a replica of ‘politics without principles’  postulated by the late Mahatma Ghandi as one of the social sins ravaging the world.

 From close scrutiny, the lecturers’ idea is not embedded in the strike itself, but it is located and found where there is a decaying atmosphere in which the highest centres of learning are not fit for purposes. Indeed, without ASUU’s ‘constructive’ strikes, our universities would have since lost their universal meaning and the ailing system would have completely crashed. Thus, ASUU’s campaign is quality education which is unnegotiable.

 It is an uncontested fact that the university system in Nigeria is gradually going the same maladies as the primary and secondary schools systems. Universities are neglected, starved of adequate funding to provide working, learning materials and good structures. Despite the pivotal role of university education to our survival, it is still disheartening that the government ignores the mandate given to governments all over the world by the United Nations on the required percentage for the education sector. Nigeria will never be proud of producing half baked doctors, engineers and other professionals

Undoubtedly, ASUU is controlled by a set of beliefs and philosophies held by groups that’ practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones’. This is the axis within which ASUU functions and exists. To call off their strike is like committing an ‘ideological suicide’ more so when the sitting government proves adamant and aggravates matters. The academicians are one world, one family, one strive. They are like artillery soldiers that fight the garrison of poor learning in our campuses. With the intimidating and blackmailing ploys perpetuated to render their sustained spirit asunder, the lecturers reconstructive ego and ideology of reconstruction are fresh approaches to reconstruct their ideological belief.

ASUU may be misconstrued, antagonised, scandalized and suffer various forms of unlimited vituperations and coercion, but the fact remains that hypocrisy is not the solution but the escalation of the debacle.