The Circus Nigeria Can No Longer Afford -By Kene Obiezu

Every country serious about the happiness of its citizens and their future  must always be seen to handle public affairs with the requisite seriousness. This is often easy to   spot in how promptly such a country  attends to the issues that are capable of  piling costs  and inconvenience on its citizens.

 Thus, all over the world, in countries where the citizens have become sophisticated enough to hold their government to account, citizens are often conscious of how  the government treats the challenges that nibble at their lives. Often times, the action and the body language of those in government go a long way in shaping how citizens vote in elections. The ability to make this choice often runs to the very heart of a democracy.

 The Academic Staff Union of Universities( ASUU) has finally confirmed that it would call off its eight-months-long strike and resume academic activities  on Monday , October 17, 2022.  According to the union, it decided to call off the strike action following the agreement of the government to pay off the salary arrears of its members as well as concede to some of its other demands.

Undoubtedly, the decision was also given no little helping hand by the decision of the Court of Appeal Abuja mandated ASUU to  call off the strike action as a precondition to pursuing its appeal  against the judgment of the National Industrial Court which had mandated the union to call off  the strike action it embarked upon on February 14, 2022.

 A sigh of relief

 For hapless and helpless undergraduate students who saw their academic calendars brutally disrupted in February before going on to spend eight agonizing months at home, brooding over their increasingly bleak future, the decision by ASUU to return to class is a welcome one. However, the question of the costs of the strike action must be considered.

 At what cost has the disagreement between the Union and the Federal Government kept Nigerian undergraduate students at home for eight months?

 Now, that academic activities are about to resume, have the problems which precipitated the strike action in the first place been fully and finally settled?

 The history of the disruption of academic activities in Nigerian universities is replete with strike actions by ASUU. Over the years, the cost of these regrettably frequent disruptions have increased to a level where they have become incalculable.

If the argument remains that Nigerian universities are not adequately funded and the people who staff them adequately remunerated, has anything been done in these eight moments to finally put those concerns to bed or are the parties involved merely sheathing their swords only to sharpen them and resume hostilities at a future date?

 Answering these questions are critical for the future of education in Nigeria.  It is common knowledge that with the passage of years, the standard of education in Nigeria has continued to deteriorate rapidly.

 With the rot eating up many aspects of life in Nigeria also feasting on education, that most critical area has apparently fallen into complete and utter ruin.

 In many ways, the sorry state of education in Nigeria remains a mortal blow because there is no doubt that for the country to be able to fix its many problems, it has to  get education right. The alchemical power of education can see it prove an  effective catalyst in reviving Nigeria  as a country.

 It is in the interest of education in Nigeria, Nigerian students and every Nigerian child born and unborn for ASUU and the Federal Government to ensure that the last time the union declared a strike action was on February 14,2022.

 The circus has gone on for far too long.

Kene Obiezu,

Twitter: @kenobiezu