By Biodun Shaiban.
Insurgency in the Niger Delta region started with some natives
(militants) demanding to have better infrastructural development and
their environment better maintained. Major parts of the Niger Delta were
and are still actually in a poor state. Sincere Nigerians will actually
agree that this is unacceptable especially as this is a region
providing a huge share of the nation’s funds.
So, some of the natives decided to put their fate in their own hands.
They decided to catch the full attention of the government by holding
it to ransom. They embarked on kidnapping and vandalism of workers and
facilities respectively. Did the methods work? Yes, they sure caught the
government’s attention. A lot of the militants now live on the dole and
receive amounts of money that exceed salaries of modest graduates in
various parts of the country. Some of the militants got contracts worth
billions of naira and even now have private jets. Are their actions
justified? This depends on the angle you view it from.
If you are a militant native, the end justifies the means; after all
it is your oil money the whole nation lives on. If you are a worker in
the petroleum industry and you and your family experienced the ordeals
of kidnapping or murder, you will find their actions to be criminal.
What an irony? One man’s freedom fighter is another’s terrorist. To be
honest, I feel the Niger delta region and its natives should be
adequately taken care of, but it is the method that the natives
(militants) go about it that is condemnable because it lacks justice.
You should not hold in captivity anybody (especially innocent people)
just because you want to advance your own cause. It is outright
selfishness, insensitivity and injustice.
But as the government has granted the militants amnesty, doled out
money to them freely, created a ministry of Niger delta, splashed out
more funds to the region, how come the region is still very much
undeveloped and insecurity including kidnapping and vandalism is still
on the increase? I think it is because the militants have always been
selfish and insincere. The militants never saw anything wrong in the
governors of their respective states who embezzle billions of naira;
they even defend(ed) them. The militants themselves aid the degradation
of their environment by vandalizing facilities and then seek
compensation and also kidnap oil workers for ransoms. Clearly, splashing
of funds is not the solution.
Comparing the Niger Delta region and the situation in our public
universities establishes a nexus of some kind. They are both in a bad
state and are mismanaged by their respective authorities; they also both
have very aggressive cum cunning stakeholders advancing their causes;
the Niger delta militants and the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) respectively.
Analyzing the Niger Delta debacle further reveals more conclusions,
which we all as a nation should learn from. The release of funds (no
matter the amount) just like in the Niger Delta situation would not
solve the issue of our public universities and halt the decadence
because ASUU members are selfish and insincere as they encage millions
of innocent students just as the Niger Delta militants do to innocent
people.
Just as militants see nothing wrong in their thieving state
governors, so do ASUU members see nothing wrong with their vice
chancellors who embezzle and waste funds in hundreds of millions on
needless projects; as the militants damage the facilities then cause
spillages so as to claim compensation, so do some ASUU members engage in
cash and sex for grades; as militants use the tool of ransom holding to
negotiate, so are ASUU members doing now by keeping students at home.
When the Government splashed out money all in the name of amnesty, the
only major change that occurred was in the pockets of some militants and
government officials. No major change has occurred as the insecurity
and degradation of the Niger Delta region continues. The lives of
majority of the ordinary people in the Niger Delta region have still not
changed for the better. It is obvious from this that the only major
change that will occur after Government releases billions of funds to
the universities will be in the bank accounts of ASUU members (in
salaries and allowances) and few government officials and cronies who
will help them launder the money. Nigeria is a country where corruption
is very prevalent; if you think these funds allocated to the
universities are immune from graft then you need to have your head
examined.
There are also many other reasons to believe that ASUU is very
insincere. Does ASUU think our public universities will develop better
under a culture of gerontocracy where older lecturers deify themselves
and stifle younger colleagues? Does ASUU not think our universities need
strict regulation? All ASUU ever talks about is money and more money.
You will never hear them call for better regulation. What is ASUU doing
about its members’ poor dedication to their duties? There are rampant
situations of lecturers not coming to classes frequently, supervisors
abandoning their project students, lecturers involved in cash and sex
favours for grades, lecturers’ victimization of students etc. All these
unwholesome practices are perpetuated and perpetrated by ASUU members. I
guess the leadership of the union does not think all of these ills
would hinder development of our public universities.
Does ASUU also not know that until most parts of the country have
good power and transport infrastructure, the universities will not
function optimally? Does ASUU think it is sustainable to keep running
the universities with generators? For those who do not know, a major
part of funds allocated to universities go into the purchase of
generators; their parts, diesel and their maintenance. How will
lecturers and students solve our societal problems when they can’t even
move around the country with ease? It is not news that a majority of our
roads (where they exist) are death traps. If ASUU is sincere, it will
know that all of these factors seriously hinder educational development.
One would never hear ASUU point as these factors. One of the ways to
solve it is by going political. That is why several trade unions
worldwide are political.
After comparing Niger Delta kidnapping with ASUU strikes (they both
use the tool of ransom holding), a conclusion deduced is that strike
actions should never be embarked upon under any condition. If you think
it can ever be justified to damage the lives of millions of innocent
people for any reason, then I am short of words to qualify you. Strike
actions do not help the cause of educational development at all. The
financial loss incurred due to this strike by all the stakeholders runs
into several billions of naira. There is nothing that the government
will release that will make up for that loss. And how do you quantify
the loss of a lecturer like Professor Iyayi and other future ‘Iyayis’
(students) who died due to the strike?
When kidnapping began about ten years ago in the Niger delta, it was
subtle. It was restricted to expatriates. But what do we have today? It
has evolved into a hydra-headed monster. Random kidnapping is now very
rampant. Even native individuals are now kidnapped, and ransom sought
for their release. That is why all should have fought kidnapping very
seriously when it started. Most Nigerians then felt since they were not
‘oyinbos’, they wouldn’t be bothered. This current strike action is
already evolving into ugly dimensions. The unfortunate death of
Professor Iyayi and some students is just one of them (some students
died on their way home too). Students had to stay home further because
of his death. You may want to call that a ‘national educational grief
hiatus’ or whatever. Other unions in the educational and other sectors
in the nation will also want to make their own marks too of course
through strike actions. They might even compete to see if they can outdo
each other in terms of the length of time or if a personal presidential
involvement can be achieved too.
Another reason why there should be no indefinite strike in the
universities is because it seriously affects national security. ASUU is
an appendage of the government. Yes, ASUU members are government
employees. ASUU members are employed in order to engage students who are
mostly youths and therefore keep them from being idle. Once that is not
being done, national security is being jeopardized no matter how little
it may seem.
One would expect opposition parties politicizing the situation, and
several civil society advocates to know all of these. But because most
of them are obsessed with hatred for the Government, they keep quiet or
take sides with ASUU. My dissatisfaction and distrust with this
government doesn’t mean I should not see the bigger picture. The bigger
picture in which millions of innocent and helpless citizens are feeling
the brunt of the strike. The Government never asked ASUU to go on
strike. It went on the strike of its own volition. It can easily have
chosen not to toe that path. It could have chosen a more honorable part.
Only myopic people will say a strike is the only solution to the
problem. Keshi and his team did not go on strike when they were owed
salaries. They handled it honourably. They could have gone on strike a
day before a crucial world cup qualifier and thrown the team and nation
into a frenzy. But they saw the bigger picture. They knew anything that
will risk our chances of qualification were unacceptable. They knew the
joy a world cup qualification will bring to the whole nation.
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