Students of Nigeria’s public universities have been at home since February 14, 2022. Idleness has made many of them from the Niger Delta to go into crimes. BISI OLANIYI, MIKE ODIEGWU, ROSEMARY NWISI, OKUNGBOWA AIWERIE, ELO EDREMODA and SIMON UTEBOR report.

An idle mind is the devil’s workshop, goes the popular saying. The strikes embarked upon by university-based unions are logical of the truism, especially the young ones who are under 30 years, with energy to deploy for productive ventures, but have been kept at home for about six months now.

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) started their strike on February 14, coinciding with Valentine’s Day, with members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) later joining the industrial action, thereby totally paralysing academic activities on the campuses of public universities.

Idle hands for illegal oil refining, internet fraud

Many of the idle students are being forced to work at the numerous illegal oil refining sites in Rivers State and other Niger Delta areas, since they do not know when the protracted strike will be called off.

The illegal oil refining process involves heating crude oil in metal containers to make petroleum products. It ignores all environmental, health and safety procedures and can have catastrophic consequences.

On April 24, 2022, for example, an explosion at one of these refineries killed about 100 people.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Timipre Sylva, during the week, said the country loses 400,000 barrels of crude daily via oil theft mostly used for illegal refining.

He spoke when he visited Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma in Owerri, the state capital.

Sylva described the development as a “national emergency”. He regretted that the nation had fallen short of OPEC daily quota, from 1.8 million barrels to 1.4 million barrels, due to crude theft.

He warned that such a huge economic loss was capable of crippling the nation’s economy, if not given the seriousness it deserved.

A resident of Ibaa community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State, who spoke in confidence for fear of being attacked, stated that idle students, mostly of Nigerian universities, were always trooping to some illegal refining sites in the area, for brisk business.

Aside oil theft and illegal crude refining, some of the idle students are involve in “Yahoo/Yahoo Plus”, and other crimes, for which they were either being chased around by law enforcement officials or currently in different detention cells and even correctional centres.

The menace of internet fraud across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has become so widespread and damaging that it has become a major preoccupation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in the past few years. Aside ruining their victims economically, the illicit business has also earned the country a bad international image.

A Port Harcourt-based pastor and parent, Gogo Ngor, observed that the prolonged strike by members of unions in public universities in Nigeria had caused idleness, thereby pushing some students to their early graves.

Ngor said: “Having understanding that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, we should realise that youths will engage themselves in anything that will give them peace of mind. Human beings are created to get busy, until the day they will leave the earth. Anytime a man stops getting busy, it means he is tending to his grave or he has other challenges. You can imagine the young ones, who are full of energy and life, remaining idle for so long.

“If members of ASUU and other unions have not gone on strike and government has done the needful, the idle youths would have been kept busy with positive activities on their campuses, while building their future.

“Naturally, human beings do not like idleness. So, the students of the universities in Nigeria have to get busy with whatever they can lay their hands on. Most of them have seen illegal refining as an immediate solution to solving their problems of idleness.

“I wish to advise the Federal Government to meet the demands of ASUU and other unions. So that the lingering strike can be called off, except the top officials of the Federal Government are telling Nigerians that they are not concerned about the future of the youths.”

Students being roasted alive

A concerned mother, Mrs. Dorcas Bernard, also raised the alarm that some students were being roasted at illegal refining sites in the Niger Delta. She noted that besides the youths mostly losing their lives at illegal refining camps, others were dying in activities propelled by idleness.

Bernard said: “A few days ago, a fresh undergraduate, who had just secured admission into the university, was drowned in the swimming pool. If the schools were in session, he would have been in the classroom, learning. Many children are engaging in illegal and unlawful activities, because they are idle. Some are getting roasted in crude refining pots, because of the continuous demands made by this unfriendly society and economy.

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“Anything that a man is engaging in, both good and bad, he has a reason for doing so. When these youths speak about their reasons for involvement in nefarious acts, you cannot help, but weep for our dear nation.

“I am calling on the Federal Government to rise up and correct this recurring decimal, before they leave office, by settling ASUU and other unions to enable our children to return to school.”

In support of varsity students

Human right activist in the Niger Delta, Fynface Dumnamene Fynface and SUG President of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Gift Ubabuike, deferred on the involvement of universities’ students in illegal refining of stolen crude oil in the region.

Fynface agreed that many of the students were involved in the illicit business, among other crimes and social vices, just to keep body and soul together, while the strike by members of ASUU and other unions would last, with some of them becoming victims of frequent explosions at the numerous illegal refining sites.

Ubabuike admitted that some impatient students had got into trouble with different security agents in Nigeria, for engaging in fraud, especially “Yahoo/Yahoo Plus”, and other crimes, for which they were either being chased around by law enforcement officials or currently in different detention cells and even correctional centres (prisons), insisting that most of the youths might not be involved in illegal refining or prostitution.

‘Nigerians must join ASUU to rescue dying varsity system’

With the situation, Chairman of ASUU, University of Benin (UNIBEN) Chapter, Dr. Ray Chikogu, during the week, called on the Federal Government to quickly end the strike. He urged Nigerians to join ASUU in rescuing the nation’s dying university system.

Chikogu said: “Universities in Nigeria should be repositioned to be globally competitive and able to produce the manpower required to jump-start the re-emergence of technological and economic powers.

“On February 14, 2022, ASUU, after more than a calendar year of exploring all available and legitimate means, in its efforts to compel the Federal Government of Nigeria to honour the terms of the Memorandum of Action (MoA), it signed with the union in December 2020, was left with no option, but to declare strike.

“There is need for quick resolution of the principal outstanding issues of the deployment of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and the signing and implementation of the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement, which remain at the level of mere proposals, fruitless and empty assurances. Yet, these are issues that could have been adequately resolved in weeks by any well-meaning and serious-minded government.”

The UNIBEN Chairman of ASUU also asked the Federal Government to do the needful rather than continuing to toy with the future of students and the nation.

President of Students’ Union Government (SUG) of UNIBEN, Foster Amadin, while also speaking, maintained that the Federal Government had not handled the matter seriously, stressing that the students were tired of staying at home for almost six months.

He said: “Many top officials of the Federal Government are busy strategising ahead of the 2023 general elections, while education has been taken to an unserious level.  What does the Federal Government expect the idle students of Nigerian public universities to do? Although, I am not in support of the youths embracing crime, but it is annoying to see children of top government officials and influential persons being sent overseas or to expensive private universities in Nigeria for quality education, devoid of strike.”

Amadin also pleaded with the critical stakeholders and other well-meaning Nigerians to step in and resolve the impasse, thereby ending the strike by ASUU and other unions.

Osile of Oke-Ona Egbaland Oba Adedapo Adewale Tejuoso, is among prominent Nigerians that will be presented with an award at a “Book Roundtable Discourse and Awards 2022” on Tuesday, August 16.

Lagos State Commissioner for Education Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo and the National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Comrade Audu Titus-Amba, will also receive awards.

The discourse and awards are being organised by the Flannel Business School.

The monarch is being recognised with the Best Royal Compendium Award with his book, “30 years on the throne of my forefathers”.

The book, which is the first of its kinds in the royal circle within Nigeria, is a three -volume compendium that gives the vivid accounts of the life, challenges and breakthroughs of the revered Yoruba king.

According to Mr. Lawrence Omidiora, the Director-General of the Flannel Business School, Lagos, Adefisayo became a recipient, following her performance, especially during COVID-19 pandemic in which she prevented Lagos school pupils from contracting the dreaded Coronavirus.

“Adefisayo’s innovation in the area of technology ensured that the teachers could teach and pupils had access to learning despite COVID-19. This was noticed and it qualified her for the prestigious award,” Omidiora said

Aside individuals’ awards, Flannel has also identified a few book publishing houses across the country that have contributed immensely to reading culture as recipients of its awards.

He mentioned Learn Africa (to receive the Award of Leadership in Book Culture); Evans Publishers (for Book Excellence Award); CSS Limited (to bag the Iconic Publisher Award); the Extension Publications (the Book Entrepreneur of the year) and Rasmed Publications/Accessible Publishers (to be decorated with the Book Innovator Award).

He explained that the FBS, organisers of the “Book Roundtable Discourse and Awards” did not just come up with the list of awards recipients but a panel of judge, comprising seasoned educationists and publishers, selected them.

The Roundtable Discourse and Awards will have former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the chairman and the guest sSpeaker is the Founder of Centre for Value in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi.

The University of Ibadan (UI) has said the motive for its “Open Distance Learning” (ODL) is to proffer solution to problem being faced by university education seekers.

It stated that it would encourage youths seeking admission into universities across the country, who were being denied their aspirations by the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) cut-off marks.

UI said the increasing population of admission-seekers compared to limited infrastructure and space in universities was a great concern, which was one of reasons that gave birth to ODL.

Speaking with reporters in Ibadan at the launch of the programme, the Director, UI ODL Centre, Prof. Emmanuel Omobowale, said many qualified youths had been denied university education due to their failure to meet JAMB cut-off marks.

He lamented that some of the youths after fruitless years of trying to gain admission turn to social vices or migrate to other countries instead of wasting their productive years at home.

He said UI, being the first and the best university in Nigeria, was taking the lead to accommodate more qualified candidates, via the UIODL mode.

According to him, qualified candidates who participated in the just- concluded JAMB examination will have the same opportunity to study at the centre to obtain a degree of the university.

“Special consideration is available to category of candidates who ranked below 200 in the examination and desire to gain admission into the University of Ibadan, provided they have five relevant credits in WAEC or NECO.

“Admission requirement via the hybrid UI-ODeL is the same standard as the conventional mode, and as stipulated on the university’s website https://modeofstudy.ui.edu.ng.

“The UI-ODeL is a mode of studies facilitated by the use of robust educational technologies. At the University of Ibadan ODeL, we have an integrated educational delivery and management system, which is optimised with course webinars that can cater for 100,000 learners.”

“After all the enriching interactions, learners are able to meet with their course lecturers face-to-face for revision before examination. Examination administration for learners is made easy with our 1500 capacity Computer Based Test (CBT) Centre with a Waiting Hall that can accommodate 1,000 learners at a time.

“Candidates who sat for the just concluded JAMB Examination and ranked below 200 points in the examination and desire to gain admission into the University of Ibadan that the university has opened access to all, they can now consider to change their mode of study to ODeL on the university’s platform: http said ://modeofstudy.ui.edu.ng.”

Omobowale said strike by lecturers does not affect ODL because of the programme’s technology.

He, however, said their fees was much low compared to what other Distance Learning Centres across the country charged.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said Nigerian children aged one to 14 years are facing violent discipline in schools, with nearly one in three children experiencing severe physical punishment.

UNICEF Chief of Education, Saadhna Panday-Soobrayan, stated this in Abuja, at a two-day National Awareness Creation Meeting on Ending Corporal Punishment in schools, organised by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) in collaboration with UNICEF.

Panday-Soobrayan described the discussion on ending corporal punishment in schools as “difficult and heart-breaking,” stating, however, that the presence of participants at the meeting was a testament to Nigeria’s determination to uphold every child’s right to safety, well-being and quality, inclusive education.

The UNICEF chief said: “Yesterday, we confronted the harrowing reality that 85 per cent of children between the ages of one and 14 in Nigeria experience violent discipline, with nearly one in three children experiencing severe physical punishment. This is a staggering statistic, one that demands urgent action and is indicative of a crisis!

“Much of this violent discipline takes place in the form of corporal punishment in the very institutions that are entrusted to keep children safe, develop respect for human rights and prepare them for life in a society that promotes understanding, peace, and conflict resolution through dialogue.”

According to her, the persistence of these practices contradicted Nigeria’s National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools, that committed to zero-tolerance to any threat to the security of life and property in schools.

Panday-Soobrayan also noted that the practice was “stalling Nigeria’s progress toward SDG 3 to ensure good health and well-being, SDG 4 on equitable and inclusive quality education and target 16.2 (to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children).”

Noting that the impact of corporal punishment on children was devastating, she said children are left with both physical and psychological wounds.

She added that “physical punishment causes not only pain, sadness, fear, shame, and anger but is also linked with children’s hyperactivity to stress, changes in brain structure and function, and overloaded nervous, cardiovascular and nutritional systems. Spanking, just like more severe abuse, is linked to atypical brain function.”

She added: “The damage is not only acute, affecting their learning in the current moment, but also chronic. A large body of research links physical punishment with long-term disability or death; mental ill-health; impaired cognitive and socio-emotional development; school dropout and poorer academic and occupational outcomes; increased anti-social behaviour, aggression, and criminal behaviour in adulthood; and damaged relationships through its intergenerational transmission.”

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, who was represented by Hajia Binta Abdulkadir, endorsed the action plan and roadmap for ending corporal punishment in schools in line with the Child’s Rights Act passed into law in 2003, protecting children’s right to a life free of violence.

Adamu noted that globally, there was evidence indicating that corporal punishments in schools have impacted negatively on attendance and learning and outcomes.

Registrar of TRCN, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, stated that globally, there was a paradigm shift from corporal punishment in schools because of its effect on pupils, adding that the practise had been proven to be ineffective, dangerous and an unacceptable method of controlling and maintaining behaviour and discipline.

Ajiboye said corporal punishment brings negative rather than positive consequences in the whole process of teaching and learning.

He said the meeting was organised to share and discuss evidence on the negative impact of corporal punishment on children and learning outcomes, well as discuss and agree on a set of national and state specific strategies/interventions for ending corporal punishment in schools in Nigeria.

The TRCN boss noted, however, that more effort needed to be made to educate parents and teachers on the implication of corporal punishment as well as the alternatives that are available to them.

World Bank Senior Education Specialist, Prof. Tunde Adekola, said the global bank believed that there was a correlation between learning poverty and corporal punishment, stressing that the urgency of implementing the action plan against corporal punishment in schools.

Adekola also called for a coalition of stakeholders from the states and local governments as well as non-state actors, civil society organisations, and others to implement action against corporal punishment.

He added that the action plan being developed should have a baseline, verifiable and clear definition of roles to be able to measure the success of implementation.

When will the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based unions end? This is the question on the lips of many Nigerians. FRANK IKPEFAN, in this analysis, examines the stalemate in ASUU- Federal Government negotiation and proffers solutions.

For over five months, parents and students in public universities have waited for the news of when Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other university-based unions will call off their strike. On Monday, parents got a shocker with the extension of the strike by one month by the university lecturers.  The lecturers based their decision on the need to give the Federal Government more time to fully address their demands.

Since the strike commenced on February 14, the lecturers have accused the government of insincerity in negotiations.

 

ASUU’s demands

Some of the demands of the lecturers are implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with the Federal Government and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.

Others include Payment of Earned Academic Allowances, release of white paper of the visitation panels to universities, end to the proliferation of universities, especially by state governments, and for the government to sign the re-negotiated 2009 Federal Government-ASUU agreement.

 

Adamu steps in

After months of going AWOL, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, decided to step in following the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari that the minister should find an end to the strike.

Adamu offered to take over negotiations with the university unions from the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who has been at the forefront of the negotiations, on July 19. The education minister subsequently gave himself two weeks to reach agreement with the university lecturers. The two weeks sought by the minister ended on Tuesday, with him failing to tell Nigerians his plans for ending the strike.

ASUU President Prof Emmanuel Osodeke told The Nation that the union was yet to receive communication from the government.

Osodeke said: “There has been nothing from the Federal Government since the minister took over. He has not met with us.”

 

How negotiation with Fed Govt was stalled

On March 7, the Federal Government inaugurated a seven-member committee to re-negotiate 2009 agreements with the four university-based unions.

The new government team was chaired by Pro-Chancellor, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Prof. Emeritus Nimi Brigg.

Other members of the team were Pro-Chancellor, Federal University, Wukari, Lawrence Patrick Ngbale, representing the Northeast;  Pro-Chancellor, Federal University, Birnin Kebbi, Prof. Funmi Togunu-Bickersteth, representing the Southwest; Pro-Chancellor, Federal University, Lokoja, Sen. Chris Adighije, representing the Southeast; Pro-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Olu Obafemi, representing the Northcentral; Pro-Chancellor, Kano State University of Science & Technology, Prof. Zubairu Iliyasu, representing the Northwest and Pro-Chancellor, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Matthew B. Seiyefa, representing the Southsouth.

Adamu, inaugurating the committee, lamented that the negotiation of the 2009 agreements between the Federal Government and the unions — ASUU, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) — which began in 2017, was stalled because of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

The committee, which was to review the draft of the proposed FGN/ASUU agreement, had the following terms of reference:

• Liaise and consult with relevant stakeholders to finalise the position of the Federal Government to the issues in the draft proposed FGN/ASUU Renegotiated Agreement;
• Renegotiate in realistic and workable terms the 2009 Agreements with other University-Based Unions; and
• Negotiate and recommend any other issue the Committee deems relevant to reposition the NUS for global competitiveness; and d. Submit proposed draft agreements within three months from the date of inauguration.

The committee concluded its work in June, this year, after arriving at a draft agreement with ASUU.

According to Osodeke, the leadership of ASUU met with the committee members four times on the condition of service for the university lecturers. Since the committee submitted its report to Adamu, there had been no feedback on the draft agreement.

Instead, it was gathered that the government rejected the 180 per cent increase in salary as recommended for professors.

The government based its decision on scare resources. This further exacerbated the strike. While the government has offered to increase the pay of lecturers by 100 per cent, ASUU president said the report had only been on the social media.

Osodeke said: “That (the 100 per cent pay rise proposal) is still a social media report; we are not aware. We have a negotiated agreement. If they have issues they should come back to us not go to the public.

“There is no offer, nothing from the government. When we see what they bring, we will look at it. That is collective bargaining. It has not been offered to me. When they bring their offer, we will look at it on the collective bargaining table. What we have as a draft agreement is their offer. It is not our own.

“It is not just a committee thing. Before they came to us, they would have discussed with their principal , which is the Federal Government. That is collective bargaining.  It is not when we have finished negotiations that the government will say it won’t accept the report.”

 

Origin of the present strike

The latest industrial action is an offshoot of the alleged failure of the Federal Government to fully implement the 2020 Memorandum of Action after the union called off its nine months’ strike in December of the same year.

The union had protested the decision of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to migrate all public service workers to IPPIS. After few years on the platform, ASUU begun to resist IPPIS.  It cited irregularities in the payment platform for the resistance.

The union proposed UTAS as an alternative platform for the payment of salaries for its members following discrepancies it highlighted in  IPPIS.

 

Why we adopted voluntary conciliation, by Ngige

Ngige on Tuesday explained why the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment adopted voluntary conciliation for the resolution of the strike instead of arbitration.

The minister said this was done in order not to delay the resolution process.

Ngige said he could have transmitted the matter to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) or the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) but used his discretion to weigh the situation to know if it would cause more delay in the resolution of the dispute.

He said ASUU embarked on strike on February 14, and he started voluntary conciliation on February 22, and subsequently, on March 1.

According to him, by the second meeting, most of the issues arising from the 2020 Memorandum of Action (MOA), signed between ASUU and the Ministry of Education with other government agencies involved, were conciliated, leaving only two.

Ngige said: “The two outstanding issues were the conditions of service, which, according to the 2009 agreement, would be reviewed every four years.

“The last review was in 2013 and we started the review in 2018 under Wale Babalakin SAN as the chairman of the renegotiation committee. We could not conclude because Babalakin left.

“A new committee headed by Prof Jubril Munzali came. Munzali finished his work and submitted his report at the Federal Ministry of Education. All these committees, including the previous Onosode committee, were internal panels of the Ministry of Education. They discussed with the unions and gave them offers and counter offers vis-a-vis what they have said. Once the committees finished, their products were sent up.

“The major issue here is salary and wage review. That was where they were before ASUU embarked on strike.”

What next after the two weeks ultimatum?

Nigerians are waiting to see whether Adamu’s intervention would end the over five months strike.

Will Adamu’s intervention end the strike? Or do Nigerians have to wait longer before public schools reopen? The earlier the government meets the unions’ demands, the sooner students would return to the classrooms.

For Adamu, the clock is ticking.