Educational Issues
Stop Saying ASUU Is Fighting For Students; Fat Lie! -By Abdullahi O. Haruna
We have begged, advocated and appealed to ASUU to call off the strike for the benefit of the poor students, they said no, they must fight to finish thus unleashing unbearable burdens on parents and distorting the aspirations of their students. And you will say lecturers are fighting for students?
One of the most offensive defences from some people is the narrative that ASUU is fighting for the students, how pls? You keep students at home for seven months and say you are protecting their interests, how pls?
See there is no way ASUU will love the students more than the government, never! Government is the reason we are schools, if they want education dead, they know what to do. The only area govt has failed is its refusal to make the wages of lecturers attractive but you can’t say govt isn’t funding education. Let’s tell ourselves the truth.
Like Dr Ajefu Joseph B opined,’ the current funding model of our university cannot accommodate the demands of ASUU. Does Nigeria at the moment have the fiscal space to meet all their demands without raising tuition fees? ASUU won’t agree with me on this. I can’t see how the next administration will resolve the crisis without changing the approach to funding our public universities. ASUU should be flexible in their approach. I understand that they legitimate demands but they should consider the prevailing realities.’
It is unheard of to keep students at home for seven months because of trade disputes. I have three people in the universities, I spent 280k on their accommodations, gave them 300k for their upkeep and parted with another 300k for their school fees. In total, that is 880k! That was money meant for a session, they went to school and got chased back because ‘almighty’ ASUU is fighting govt. The money to landlord won’t be refunded, seven months gone, the food gone and my money gone, and plenty of time wasted no thanks to a union that thinks the only weapon of negotiation is to use the students as pawns!
We have begged, advocated and appealed to ASUU to call off the strike for the benefit of the poor students, they said no, they must fight to finish thus unleashing unbearable burdens on parents and distorting the aspirations of their students. And you will say lecturers are fighting for students?
Vexatiously musing
