ASUU Strike: Enough Of Toying With Nigeria’s Future, NUJ Tells FG

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has weighed in on the ongoing strike by university lecturers in the country, accusing the federal government of having not done enough to promote education in the country.

National Secretary of the umbrella body of journalists in Nigeria, Shuaibu Usman Leman, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, said it was about time the government gets serious in securing the future of the country which was through education.

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“We note with grave concern the way and manner the Federal Government has continued to fail in a bid to reposition education in the country. This is despite the fact that Nigeria has the potential to play a major role in the development of West Africa and indeed the entire continent,” Leman stated.

Read the full statement below:

With the country accounting for more than 45 percent of the total population of the sub region and a substantial percentage of its GDP, the transformation of its education system which is viewed as a reference point by many countries will have far reaching effects throughout the sub region and beyond.

Unfortunately, one of the self-inflicted calamities on Nigeria in the past two decades is the virtual collapse of its educational system which the nation’s founding fathers established on sound developmental goals. Nigeria’s higher education had boasted of world class Universities which have now unfortunately deteriorated so much so that graduates from these supposedly Ivory Towers are no longer attractive in the employment market, while overseas higher institutions have to put these graduates to rigorous tests or through remedial programs to enable them cope with graduate studies.

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Regrettably, the Federal Government has continued to abdicate its responsibility of tackling the rot in Nigerian Universities and other Institutions of Higher Learning by out rightly ignoring all agreements signed with Academic Staff Union of Universities- ASUU, and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics- ASUP. These agreements we note were all aimed at bringing life back into these Institutions but sadly, though, the FG continues to remain impervious while Lecturers suffer as strikes are rampant.

The Union also notes that positive learning outcomes generally sought by educational systems can only happen in quality learning environments, which are made up of physical, psychological and service delivery elements. Such environments are mostly lacking in our public Institutions which are situated in conditions that are not healthy and safe and lack adequate resources and facilities.

We are alarmed that in terms of the provision of physical facilities, our infrastructure remain inadequate for a system that is rapidly growing while existing facilities are either inadequately maintained or not even maintained at all, and there is also little effort by government in providing new ones. The intervention of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund had however prevented many of such Institutions from folding up.

It is instructive to note that children who attend public schools without basic requirements, library facilities, instructional material and teacher motivation, are significantly more likely to show poor output than those schools that are well equipped. On the other hand, inadequate working conditions for teachers in all levels of our education system affects their ability to provide quality education and influence their experience as educators. Their remunerations also matter, as low and late payment of remunerations may lead teachers to take additional jobs elsewhere as is the case in most parts of the country and this divided attention hurts students’ learning. It equally affects the quality of administrative support and leadership which are critical elements in the education process.

We therefore urge the FG to stop toying with Nigeria’s future by urgently beginning the full implementation of all agreements entered into with ASUU and other Unions in the sector. We must take the issue of education at all levels with utmost priority and urgently too, because there lies Nigeria’s future.

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Shu’aibu Usman Leman

Walin Shadalafiya,

National Secretary

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