No longer worthy in character, learning: Wither Nigerian education?

In this report, SAMSON BENJAMIN examines the falling standard of higher education in Nigeria against the backdrop of incessant strikes embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) recently began a two-week strike to press the federal government to implement its 2019 agreement and threat by the government that lecturers who refused to enroll on the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) would not be paid their salaries.

ASUU has been at loggerheads with the federal government over the introduction of the IPPIS in October last year to ensure transparency in salary payments. But ASUU kicked against the IPPIS on the grounds that it was in gross violation of the autonomy of universities as enshrined in the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 2003.

In its communiqué at the end of its two-day National Executive Council meeting at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology read by its national president, Biodun Ogunyemi, at a press conference in Enugu, the union stated that the strike was to compel the government to implement the outstanding agreement and resolution of the Memorandum of Action it had with the union in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2019.

Ogunyemi said, “Having discussed the provisions in the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding and the 2017 Memorandum of Action, which have not been implemented, NEC resolved to embark on a two-week warning strike with effect from March 9, 2020 to compel the government to implement the agreement and resolution.”

 The union also stated that by meddling in the internal affairs of the Nigerian university system, the government would be eroding the autonomy of the universities and making them incapable of fulfilling their mandates.

 Timeline of ASUU strikes 

If there is anything that has been very constant in the academic calendar of the nation’s universities since 1999, it is the face-off between the ASUU and the federal government over salary, funding, and better working conditions among other demands.

 1999

After the military era in 1999, Nigerians ushered in democracy and a government that promised to be people-oriented. But it did not take long for Nigerian students to experience a disruption in their academic pursuit. Just a few months after the Obasanjo-Atiku administration was inaugurated, ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike that lasted for five months.

2001

In 2001, ASUU declared another strike over the re-instatement of 49 lecturers sacked at the University of Ilorin. The industrial action was aggravated when the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo, described Nigerian university lecturers as “a bunch of lazy and ungrateful people.” The strike was called off after three months.

 2002

Having had an agreement with the federal government during the previous strike, the union was forced to embark on another industrial action on December 29, 2002, after the Obasanjo administration had reportedly failed to implement the agreement. The strike, however, lasted for only two weeks.

 2003

In 2003, Nigerian university undergraduates had to stay at home again for six months as ASUU embarked on another industrial action due to the non-implementation of previous agreements, which covers poor university funding and disparity in salary and retirement age.

2005

Nigerian university students again experienced another disruption in their academic calendars as universities lecturers went on another industrial action. According to The Guardian, the lecturers went on strike for just two weeks.

 2006

In April 2006, academic activities were paralysed in all public universities across the country when ASUU declared a three-day warning strike. It eventually lasted for one week.

 2007

The 2006 industrial action was followed by another on March 26, 2007, which strike lasted for three months. The reasons for the strike were pretty much the same for the previous strikes.

2008

In a bid to press home its demands, ASUU went on strike for one week in 2008. The demands included an improved salary scheme and re-instatement of 49 lecturers who were dismissed at the University of Ilorin.

2009

In 2009, lecturers in public universities across the country embarked on an industrial action that lasted for four months. The strike which started in June was called off in October. Before the strike was called off, the federal government and the union had an agreement. The 2009 ASUU/FG agreement would later become the reason for subsequent industrial action.

2010

The year 2010 also saw another setback for Nigerian university undergraduates in their academics as ASUU embarked on another indefinite strike that lasted for over five months. The strike started on July 22, 2010, and was called off in January 2011.

 2011

Since the federal government, according to ASUU, failed to honour its 2009 agreement to adequately fund universities in the country and implement the 70-year retirement age limit for ASUU members, the union again paralysed academic activities nationwide in December 2011. The strike lasted for 59 days and was called off in 2012.

 2013

Again, the government’s failure to review the retirement age for professors from 65 to 70; approve funding to revitalise the university system; increase the budgetary allocations to the education sector by 26 per cent among other demands led to another industrial action. The strike was embarked upon on July 1, 2013, called off on Tuesday, December 17, 2013. It lasted for five months, 15 days.

2017

On August 17, 2017, ASUU again declared an indefinite strike over unresolved and contentious issues with the federal government. The strike was called off in September.

2019

Again, due to the federal government’s failure to meet its demands, the union declared an indefinite nationwide strike. The union announced the strike on November 4, 2019, after their National Executive Council meeting held at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo state.

Strikes destructive

In a chat with Blueprint weekend, Charlse Igwe, a retired professor of political science who was not a member ASUU during his active days as a lecturer, berated members of ASUU over incessant strikes, saying their action “is devaluing the quality of tertiary education” across the nation.

He stressed that their actions were destructive to the country, saying their actions had been largely responsible for the poor quality of graduates being produced in the country.

“They ought to be ashamed of their actions because their incessant strikes is dishonest and destructive, and does not add any value to the nation’s education sector. The incessant industrial action by the members of the union had been largely responsible for poor quality graduates, who are largely vagabonds and unemployable.

“Can they do that in private establishments? It is because they are employed by the government that gives them such opportunities. If they are truly sincere about their demands they should also come together and found university.”

He lamented that the strike was a shame on the part of the ASUU and Nigeria too, adding that it was only in Nigeria that workers would go on strike and come back to earn salary.

“ASUU strike cannot happen in a civilised community. It’s only in a decadent country like Nigeria that people go on strike and come back to earn the salary. It’s shameful of ASUU and it’s shameful of Nigeria. May the tribe of ASUU never exist again in Nigeria.

 “I am not asking them to do anything; they should be ashamed that they are producing vagabonds for us. People go to the university and come back with half-baked education. They are teachers of vagabonds and that is the truth. That is why Nigeria is becoming worse.

“Their demands are never genuine. It is because government employed them. That is why they are doing that. Why can’t they come together and found a university?”

No learning, no character

Similarly, in a chat with this reporter, the managing director of Greenhorn Consult, an education consulting firm, Dr Edwin Deinma, said the majority of graduates being churned out by the nation’s universities are unemployable because they are wanting in character and learning.

He said: “As a result of unending strikes by members of ASUU, many Nigerian graduates are not only unemployed, but unemployable as their skills are largely divorced from labour requirements.

“Beyond these, Nigeria’s graduates are not marketable in the global economy as the institutions that produced them are lowly ranked due to a myriad of factors. Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2020 ranked only four Nigerian universities- Covenant University, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

“The fact that the new generations of Nigerian graduates are poorly trained reflects in their oral and written communications. My personal experience shows, if you schedule an interview to assess young graduates for possible employment, you may be wasting your time examining certificates and paper qualifications.

“If you want to catch an average fresh graduate pants down in a recruitment interview, simply ask the applicant to write, in longhand, one or two-page essay on any issue. You will be shocked at the sequence of tenses and grammatical errors. The typical new generation ‘indomie’ graduate does not know a noun or sentence starts with a capital letter, and when employed writes official notes as if chatting  with a friend on Facebook or WhatsApp; abbreviating words (u for you, 4 means for, d for the, aw for how, thn for thing, etc) in the process. Social media undoubtedly has damaged English comprehension of the youth.

“In the tertiary institutions, cheating continues through plagiarised term papers, poorly motivated lecturers, sex scandalised examinations, and doctored thesis. The truth is that a good number of graduates from tertiary institutions in recent years cannot defend their certificates.”

 IPPIS ’ll expose irregularities, corruption

In its reaction to the controversial unified payroll system, the Federal Ministry of Education told a national daily in an interview that ASUU’s opposition to the scheme was due to the  irregularities and corruption perpetrated at the ivory towers.

The spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Education, and deputy director of press, Mr. Ben Bem Goong, said there was no agreement anywhere that stipulated how ASUU members should be paid.

Goong, who reiterated that all the peculiarities of ASUU had been taken care of in the scheme, said the union was deliberate in its refusal as it was bent on taking the country back to the 1960s, despite the evolution of technology and its several phases.

He said, “There’s no basis for anyone to resist payment through IPPIS. Even on the issue of double appointments in different institutions, which will be discovered by the scheme, the ministry of finance promised to take care of all that. Going on strike is unnecessary and should be the last resort.

“If tomorrow, technology evolves in such a way that we will have to move from IPPIS to a more refined system of payment, government will do that. But ASUU is saying that the nation has reached the final bus stop and so the system of payment should not be refined. Government will continue to refine the system and make it watertight so that some of the observed sharp practices can stop.

“The federal government says ‘let’s pay everyone from the centre,’ and ASUU is jittery. That means there is something that is fishy. What is it they are doing that they don’t want to be on IPPIS, which will solve many things?

“ASUU has no issue at all. You don’t tell your paymaster how to be paid, but you can negotiate with your pay master how much he will pay you. It is what we have been doing over the years under the national wage commission.

“The question is what does ASUU have to hide? There is no agreement anywhere that states how ASUU members will be paid. They claim it will disparage their autonomy, but they have never been specific to which part of the autonomy. If you know, tell me?”

 Character versus learning

Significantly, Deinma urged lecturers to aside from skills, impart sound character into their students so that they will be worthy in character and learning at all times.

“The first thing I need to say is that as students, you must at all time be found worthy both in character and learning. Classroom education is not enough to stand you out and make you truly competitive, you must also have invested time in character building. Your character and guiding principles are more important criteria for a successful career than school grades. Character opens and closes doors of opportunities; it establishes and closes relationships. One of those essential attributes is integrity. It was Chinua Achebe that said “one of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to compromise.

“When you stand firm on the principles of integrity, you may have very few friends, but when the door opens for people who won’t compromise on set standards even your enemies will respect and recommend you. Integrity requires that you’re consistently identified with particular set of values; those values that sets you apart from the lot.

“It is important that you mold your character early enough; you have a great opportunity to do so here; since anything you’re consistently identified with in this institution becomes your lifelong persona.

“To our teachers here let me say this. Our schools have become centers of indoctrination, less so moralising. So, when you teach or lecture, make sure to mainstream character molding into your work. More than skills, the character and morals to exist and live in harmony with people and the society are crucial. Teach your students morals, perseverance, honesty, commitment, integrity, trust and diligence. Teach goodness, discipline and knowledge. Academic success can secure a job for an exceptional student, but may not keep it. Character will secure one, keep and even multiply it. The values and choices you imbue in your students will make all the difference.”

FG, ASUU reach common ground

Meanwhile, the federal government and ASUU have agreed to find ways of reconciling the two salary payment platforms – Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and the University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS) developed by ASUU.

Both sides said they have reached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to settle the issues, which led to the commencement of a two-week warning strike by the university lecturers.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who briefed journalists after five-hour meeting between government’s team and the ASUU leaders, said the meeting resolved that modalities would be set out on how to merge IPPIS and UTAS.

Ngige said, “I am pleased to inform you that with the four ministers and permanent secretaries, Accountant General of the Federation and directors, acting chairman National Income and Wages Commission and ASUU president and executive – we held very fulfilling discussions and where necessary we debated put forward our points and the union side. Issues we discussed we used the memorandum of action which we entered into in February 2019; we used it to look at issues that are outstanding, issues that have not been fully addressed. And both sides were satisfied that we made reasonable progress in addressing the few issues that have not been fully treated. We moved to the next round of a new contentious issue which is the issue bordering on the non-capturing of some ASUU members on the IPPIS platform, which resulted in withholding of salaries and allowances of most ASUU members, those who did not come under the platform and even some other university non-academic staff members.

“Discussions were open and both sides realised that we are working for our country and that whatever arrangement we put in place would be for a better Nigeria. ASUU has developed UTAS, and we have had some preliminary agreements on what is to be done to accommodate the two systems and ASUU have to get back to their members, consult the executive committee first and all their members so that they can agree on the modus operandi of trying to couple the two systems. In that respect, we are continuing discussions. ASUU …. So, the meeting is adjourned till Monday Tuesday pending on when ASUU is ready.”

On his part, ASUU’s national president, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said the meeting agreed to work out means of accommodating the variations contained in the two systems with a view to marrying them.

He said, “From our own side, we would say that we had a frank session, frank engagement and issues were thrown up. Those issues like the minister rightly mentioned came from outstanding issues in the February 2019 Memorandum of Action which has tended to be overshadowed by IPPIS. From the discussions we had, we agreed that we will go and consult that the proposals that came up we cannot pronounce on them until we consult with our members.”

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