…as NANS blames prolonged strikes for falling standard
Mixed reactions have continued to trail the 2017 performance of the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, on issues bearing on the nation’s education sector.
Education watchers said part of the achievements recorded by the minister was his call for the declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector to enable the country to change the fortunes of the system saddled with producing the required manpower skills to drive the socio- economic development of the nation.
They said such a call by the education minister for a state of emergency was an uncommon act and a bold feat by any government official.
It is impressive that the government fulfilled part of its promise to ASUU because this issue of non-payment of allowances had been on ground for several years
The minister had noted that declaring emergency in the education sector would enable the country to garner the financial and political resources required to tackle the challenges bedeviling it frontally.
Adamu had also admitted that unfortunately, from 1999 to date, the annual budgetary allocation to education had always been between four per cent and 10 per cent, adding that none of the E9 or D8 countries, other than Nigeria, allocated less than 20 per cent of its annual budget to education.
Just last September, the Academic Staff Union of Universities called off a five-week strike over the non-implementation of its agreement with the Federal Government. One of its demands was the payment of earned academic allowances, which had accrued to N23 billion as at 2009/2010.
The Federal Government, in fulfilling its promise, directed the payment of earned academic allowances/earned allowances to the academic and non-academic members of staff of 22 Federal universities. While academics under ASUU will get N18.3billion, non-teaching staff members belonging to the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union will get N4.6 billion.
A Professor of Physiotheraphy at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Rufus Adedoyin, commended the education minister over the release of the earned allowance to the staff in universities across the country.
Adedoyin noted that there had been negotiations in the past years between ASUU and the Federal Government over the allowances and commended the minister for also admitting that the Federal Government had reneged in making good their promises to the union.
“It is impressive that the government fulfilled part of its promise to ASUU because this issue of non-payment of allowances had been on ground for several years. Now that some funds have been released, it means we are already making a headway in the education sector, because whether we like it or not, the sector needs to be funded,” he said.
Also, in December 2017, the Federal Executive Council through the minister of education, approved the establishment of six new private universities, including a Naval University in Delta. According to him, the approvals are a result of the memo submitted to FEC by the ministry.
The new universities include the Admiralty University in Ibusa, Delta state, owned by the Naval Holding Company; Spiritan University in Nneochi, Abia State and Precious Cornerstone University in Ibadan. Also approved are PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt; Atiba University in Oyo town, Oyo State and Eko University of Medical and Health Sciences, Lagos.
Adamu said more applications were received by the ministry, which would later present them to the council for approval. The minister said that FEC had directed the National Universities Commission to look into the quality of courses offered by the new and existing universities in the country. According to him, government would withdraw the registration of any university that failed to meet the standard set for courses being offered.
Reacting to this development, a lecturer in the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Prof. Obododimma Oha, said that the six newly approved universities would create more space for students seeking admission.
“Many people are worried about the increase in the number of private universities, but what they failed to realise is that there are many Nigerian students who need higher education, and since they are not given admission, they become frustrated staying at home and rewriting examinations. But with the approval of these new private universities, I think, it would help them to gain admission. When many young people are not enrolled to pursue their economic dream, they end up victimising their life for doing the wrong thing and that leads to unfortunate consequences,” he said.
Oha added that the process of getting approval for these universities had been on for a long time, even before the advent of the current administration.
Speaking on the high fees charged by many private universities in Nigeria, he said, “There were private institutions, even from the primary school level, that the government used to run, but presently, there is the inability to run private institutions; funding is a problem.
“Even in terms of appointment of heads of ministries of education, there is nothing wrong in private partnership in this kind of a situation. It will only help competition to flourish among Nigerians.”
However, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Chinonso Obasi, berated the Federal Government over its inability to put an end to all strike actions embarked upon by educational institutions in the country in 2017, especially that of the ASUU, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, and College of Education Academic Staff Union.
Obasi said incessant and prolonged strike was one of the factors responsible for the falling standard of education in Nigeria.
He said, “Incessant strikes and stoppage of academic activities as a result of lack of agreements or lack of adherence and implementation of duly executed memorandum of agreement between the Federal Government and academic staff bodies do not reflect and demonstrate commitment to the sustainable development of the nation’s education sector and human capital.
“We cannot say we were okay with the government’s attitude to education last year because of what Nigerian graduates went through during the course of the year. If the government does not solve all pending issues we agitate for, such as lack of infrastructure, unconducive learning environment, we won’t rest until our demands are met.”
