With the dust yet to settle on the ‘no work no pay’ controversy between the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), another crisis may be brewing in the public universities. However, a member of ASUU said the union was not responsible for the decay in public universities. PRECIOUS AKINTULUBO (OOU), ADEBOLA FATOYINBO and PRECIOUS ADESHINA (UNILORIN) examne the genesis of the decay and how the conflict can be resolved.
Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University of Jos, Prof. Lazarus Maigoro has said that the union was not responsible for the current decay in public universities.
This was stated during a peaceful protest in Jos.
Maigoro said ASUU had over the years engaged previous and current governments with the aim of addressing the slide into decadence which involves neglect, chronic underfunding and lack of attention given to public universities and by extension the educational system.
“So, Nigerians should not see ASUU as the enemy of education but the body whose quest is to make university education the envy of all,” he said.
He noted that ASUU remains a responsible union, hence would not be the reason for the collapse of public universities and called on Nigerians to support the union in its struggle for a better educational system.
However, some students believe ASUU and the government are responsible for the decay in public universities, others blamed government alone.
Bolawole Oluwole, a 400-Level student of Industrial Chemistry at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba (AAUA) said decay in the public universities like poor infrastructure, deficit in hostel facilities and laboratory equipment, under-paying of lecturers and lack of system maintenance, are caused by the government and not ASUU because the union is trying to sanitise the system via agitations.
Peace Oladipo, a 300-Level student of Mass Communication at Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), said both the government and ASUU are to blame meanwhile, government takes the major blame.
She believes ASUU being focused on academics, ought to have a strategy that will work other than punish vulnerable students.
“Students now believe ‘Education na scam‘ as a result of their loss of interest in the sector leading to the production of half-baked graduates,” she said.
Oladipo, therefore advised government to address the issue of funding as it has always been the major problem.
Olanshile Ogunrinu, a 100-Level student of Communication and Language Arts at the University of Ibadan (UI) blamed government.
He said: “Overcrowding in lecture theatres, students studying under pathetic conditions, under-paying teaching and non-teaching staff, outdated library and laboratories remain the bane of public institutions.”
Ahmed Peter , a 200-Level student of Social Studies Education at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), said: “Corruption, indiscipline among stakeholders and poor funding are the major problems in public institutions and need to be addressed with immediate effect.”
Boluwatife Adedokun, a 300-Level student of Mass Communication at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba (AAUA) said the government should be blamed because it prioritises other sectors and seemingly pays lip service to education.
She said: “Part of the best ways to address the issue of decay in the public institutions is that the government should give enough attention to the demands of the union by paying them appropriately and develop better infrastructure.”
Muhammed Bashir, a 500-Level student of Estate Management at Bayero University, Kano said the inability of government and ASUU to reach an agreement is the major cause of decay in the system.
Timothy Oyegoke, a 300-Level student of Business Administration at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) said both government and ASUU are to blame however, government contributed more to the decadence in the sector by being seemingly non chalant to education.
He said: “For now, I do not expect any significant project from the government given their disinterestedness in the university system ranging from poor laboratories to poorly equipped libraries, congested classrooms and all.
“There should be a form of restructuring whereby government exercises less control over public universities and ensure public-private partnership.
“Besides, most of the top universities in the world are not even government owned, I see no reason government should be in charge of over 70 universities in the country,” he added.
Omolade Gbemisola, a 300-Level student of Political Science at Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) said : “Government has always shown little or no interest in the education sector considering the meagre amount allocated to the sector in the yearly budget.”
To restructure the system, she said: “Syllabus should be restructured. Unimportant courses should be removed, building convenient and comfortable classrooms with adequate teaching facilities, lecturers compensation via timely salaries and allowances and proper monitoring of the lecturing process in all institutions by vice chancellors.”
Daramola Rachael, a 400-Level student of Mass Communication at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba (AAUA) said government takes the blame for its lackadaisical attitude to the education sector.
On the influence of ASUU as part of the decay caused by government, she said: “The contract between the union and the government was breached meanwhile, ASUU is fighting for everyone’s right because it entails all that will develop the education sector but its so sad that the government we have today cares less about our education.
“Part of the decay that needs to be addressed, include lack of facilities, lecturers giving out free marks to students, which makes it look like the efforts of those reading are wasted. This devalues the system of education in Nigeria,” she added.
Sunday Awosoro, a 300-Level student of Education and English Language at Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) said : “Learning has been made stressful and unappealing to the point that I always prefer to stay at home than go for lectures because I can’t be standing on my feet, struggling to hear lecturers talk and at the same time, writing notes. Moreover, there are many students than lecture rooms.
“Across many institutions, facilities that students depend on are becoming too old to function.”
Awosoro suggested that stakeholders, especially the Federal Government, should develop an interest in the tertiary education system of Nigeria.
Teniola Aonullah, a 100-Level student of Business Administration, University of Lagos stated that government shoulders all blame for any decay.
“It’s obvious and glaring. They are lackadaisical and make decisions rather too slowly whenever it comes to academics and this has brought about an imbalance in public universities.
The academic calendar is not favourable. New students battle with too many work load and too little that are related to their course of study,” she said.
Another student, Lawal Kofoworola, a 300-Level student of Environmental Management and Toxicology, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, urged government to do the needful by paying lecturers salaries at the regular time and improve other areas.
A student of Mass Communication, Lagos State University of Science and Technology LASUSTECH, who pleaded anonymity said: “In this area I would have insisted that both are to blame if the government had played its role. It still needs to check the activities of ASUU and ensure that the so claimed “leaders of tomorrow” are well catered for.
But since the government has failed to play its role in the first place, who are we to blame?
“Many have accused the government alone as the cause of the afore-stated problem. Not only is this absolutely false but it is very dangerous since it prevents us from tackling the real problems, which ultimately leaves the problems unsolved.
“There is no doubt that the government has an apathy towards quality education, which has been exemplified in inadequate funding and improper supervision, which has necessitated continuous strike actions for donkey years, but the lecturers, who are also ASUU members, and the administrators of the university have a major role to play.”
Godwin Nwosu, a 400-Level student at the University of Illorin (UNILORIN), said: “Both parties have their share of blame for the decay in public universities.
We can’t point out one party only and lay it all on it. But the government has more faults in this matter.
Education is expensive. Take a look at the private universities within the country and how much they pay as fees, look at the average cost of college tuition fees in other parts of the world, we would see that enough funds are not being allocated to the education sector.
ASUU is redundant in terms of information passed on to students. Most curriculums have not been updated for decades. Knowledge is always updated, but often times what we see in most departments of our institutions is a recycling of old knowledge.”
Kingsley Eze, a 300-Level student of English and Literary Studies in UNILORIN said: ” I would say they’ve both got 50/50 effect for the decay in public universities. If we talk about ASUU, the way things are and how they want to be paid without working is somehow. “No work no Pay” as simple as the words sound has really been a problem for the union. You can’t be paid for a work you didn’t do. ASUU kept us for months at home and then want to be paid.
” Considering the issues government is battling and economic instability, demanding huge amount of money is way too much.”
