Opinion
ASUU’s Demands, Nigeria’s Future
It goes without saying that why poor countries remain poor is that they lack knowledge and pay little attention to the education sector. As stated by professor Frederick Harbison in his book Human Resources as the Wealth of Nations: “Human resources … constitute the ultimate basis for the wealth of nations. Capital and natural resources are passive factors of production: human beings are the active agents who accumulate capital, exploit natural resources, build social, economic, and political organisations, and carry forward national development. Clearly, a country which is unable to develop the skills and knowledge of its people and to utilise them effectively in the national economy will be unable to develop anything else”.
The protracted dialogue between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) without a definite resolution of the dispute speaks for itself. To many, it shows the ever lack of momentum and propulsion in the nation’s handling of issues of growth and development of education in the country. And it brings to question the sincerity of our dream to join the elite club of the top 20 economies in the year 2020, 11 years away.
By 2020, we expect Nigeria to be like, at least, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, and Russia. And we hope that, perhaps, the Nigerian economy will come close to those of Canada, Spain, France, and United Kingdom. Better still, by 2020, we look forward to enjoying the good life that attracts us to Germany, Japan, and the United States. This is to say that by 2020”, the income of Nigerians will rise to levels where basic food, shelter, and clothing will no longer be the main consumption objectives of the labour force. Rather, automobiles, TV sets, refrigerators, and so on will become the items that will catch the interest of consumers.
Now let us face the fact. How possible is it for Nigeria to realise this lofty dream in a situation where, paradoxically, the sector – the education sector- the nation is contingent upon to perform the magic is treated with levity.
What are the demands of ASUU? The striking university lecturers are asking for autonomy for the ivory towers, increased funding of the universities, 70 years as the retirement age for lecturers, and a 109 per cent rise in their pay.
Apparently ASUU’s demands are aimed at strengthening the education sector and ensuring federal government implementation of the standards recommended by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, which include allocation of 26 per cent of national budget to education.
While the Minister of Information and Communications, Dora Akunyili says that the federal government has granted three of the four demands made by ASUU, the union has been spitting fire, accusing the government of trivialising the critical issues that provoked the strike.
So in spite of Dora Akunyili’s statement that government has accepted autonomy for the universities, increased funding and approved 70 years as the retirement age for lecturers, and the chairman of the re-negotiating Federal Government/ASUU team, Gamaliel Onosode’s announcement of a 40 per cent increase in the salaries of the ASUU members, the union says that there is no going back on their demand for better funding of the country’s universities.
It will be recalled that the nation’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, had in 2006 set up a committee headed by Onosode to review an earlier agreement reached between Federal Government and ASSU in 2001. It is believed that if the agreement was properly formalised, the strike would have been avoided.
In the words of the National President of the union, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie: “Enough is enough. The union had to resort to the avoidable option of strike action when continued negligence, failure, and refusal of government to sign an agreement had reached an intolerable point.
The public, our students, patriotic groups and individuals should appeal to government to sign and implement the agreement reached by the negotiating teams for progress of the system”.
Strictly speaking the ASUU strike has highlighted many issues and raised several questions about the determination of our governing elite to build a strong and self-reliant nation, and a great and dynamic economy. For decades now ASUU has been doing real battle with the Nigerian government over issues of funding of Nigerian universities. If government is therefore committed to the fulfillment of our human capital needs; if it really desires to prepare our children as spiritually guided, self-propelled and technically- equipped citizens who can serve our nation through academic excellence; and if it is sincere in its efforts to put the country on the path of socio-economic progress, this is the time for it to yield to ASUU’s demands.
Opinion
Is Dialogue The Answer?
If there is one person who has been consistent on the call for the
dialogue as a way of ending banditry in Nigeria, it is Sheikh Ahmad Gumi. The Kaduna-based Muslim cleric had during the government of Muhammadu Buhari, advocated for dialogue arguing that it will lead to the resolution of grievances, addressing root causes of banditry such as poverty, marginalisation, and lack of opportunities in affected communities and that by engaging in dialogue, it may be possible to persuade some bandits to lay down their arms, reintegrate into society, and pursue lawful means of livelihood. The cleric who claimed he had been voluntarily visiting the bandits in different locations across the northern part of the country, as his own contribution to solving the insecurity problem in the country, canvassed intensively for amnesty for the criminal Fulani herdsmen.
He called for dialogue, rehabilitation of the herders for there to be peace in the country. According to him, the herders are aggrieved by the way they are being treated by the government and other members of the Nigerian society; hence they resorted to banditry as a way of fighting the government. Making a case for the bandits he said: “They have genuine complaints. They feel oppressed by the government and the people in the society. They don’t have uniformed leadership, they don’t have lawyers, they don’t have people to speak for them, and they don’t have means of explaining their grievances to the people. Many Fulanis are killed in the bushes, nobody to speak for them. They use the money they make from kidnapping to buy weapons to fight the Nigerian government.” Sheikh Gumi, who confirmed the speculations that some of the bandits are foreigners, decried the lack of amenities like water, hospitals and schools in the bushes they choose to reside.
He suggested that the bandits be incorporated into the country’s security system, that they be placed on salaries, warning that “if Nigerians do not want this type of thing, Nigerians should be ready to be kidnapped.” Apparently, Buhari did not take his advice and may be that is why kidnapping has not abated in the country. Early in the week the respected cleric offered identical guidance to President Bola Tinubu, saying he should not repeat the mistake made by Buhari who refused to dialogue with bandits. He volunteered to negotiate with the bandits who abducted about 287 schoolchildren from Kuriga Government Secondary and LEA Primary Schools in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State last week. Armed gangs have been terrorising the North-central, North-West and some other parts of the country for many years. Records have it that there were 18 abduction events targeting students across northern Nigeria between January 2018 and April 2021.
According to the Wisconsin-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), one of the world’s most reliable conflict data aggregators, bandits killed more than 2,600 civilians in 2021, an increase of over 250% from 2020. Records have it that between December 2020 and August 2021, more than 1,000 students and school staff were abducted. Within the next six months, as many as 343 people were killed, while 830 others were abducted by bandits between July and September 2021 in Kaduna state alone. The latest kidnapping incident at Chikun took place barely 24 hours after insurgents abducted 200 internally displaced women in Ngala Borno State, while fetching firewood in the bush. Yet someone says the president should have a round table discussion with the bandits?
For years, these criminals have been terrorising the citizens, killing them, destroying their houses, property and crops and making them homeless in their own country. The hunger and food crisis in the country currently can be traced to the bandits who have chased farmers away from their farm lands and ensured that those who dare to remain must pay taxes to them regularly. And someone is saying that the best way to stop the criminal act is to appease the criminals? The federal government once admitted that some of the bandits are non-Nigerians. Story had it that some of them are people recruited from neighbouring countries by some top Nigerian politicians to oust former President Goodluck Jonathan and claim power for the Fulani group. Even Gumi alluded to the claim that some of the bandits are not Nigerians.
How then can these non Nigerians be conscripted into our security agencies. Does it mean Nigeria is no longer a sovereign nation such that any group can build their own nation inside our nation with their own ideologies and be giving conditions for peace in the country? how can the criminals be given a part on the back after all the atrocities they committed? On the issue of being neglected and oppressed, the question is, who relegated the nomadic Fulanis to the bush? We have seen educated and enlightened people of the same ethnic origin come on air to defend their nomadic nature. Before his demise, the former Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, issued a seven-day ultimatum to herders to vacate the state’s forest reserves and that became a big issue. Many ethnic groups across the country have asked them to leave the forests to towns as their cattle rearing business causes a colossal damage to their farming business and that was seen as a threat.
On the issue of education, in 1989, the National Commission for Nomadic Education was established by Decree 41 0f 1989 (now Cap 243 LFN 1990) to provide education to the nomadic pastoralists and migrant fisher folks, with the aim of providing functional and relevant education that will facilitate integrating the nomads into the national life and equip them to make favourable contributions to the nation’s socio–economic development. How many nomads have taken advantage of that? Shouldn’t the Sheikh and his likes be educating and sensitising the nomads to get educated through this means or make moves to make the commission function optimally if there is a problem in that regard? Bad governance at various levels is a problem being faced by many Nigerians. What then happens if all aggrieved persons and groups decide to take up arms against the government? The Niger Delta militants that were granted amnesty in the past had genuine reasons for their agitation.
On the other hand, the bandits are criminal elements who deserve to be arrested and dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land if the security agencies would work in the interest of the country and its citizens instead of seeing the insecurity situation in the country as an opportunity to enrich themselves. One thinks that it is high time the authorities mustered the political will to deal with banditry in the country. It has become a pure organised crime with multi-sectoral stakeholders in our governance system. Kidnapping for money has become a high profile criminal enterprise and the government should deal with it using the instruments of the law as it deserves instead of the usual empty threats that follow most reported kidnap incidents. We are tired of hearing that the government has given matching orders to security agencies to secure the release of kidnapped victims.
Nigerians want to hear and see that those in power are patriotic enough to do the needful to stem insecurity in the country and stop the ugly trend of criminals kidnapping harmless citizens for money. Nigerian leaders know what to do to solve the insecurity problem in different parts of the country. But negotiating with criminals should be out of the question because that may legitimise their actions and encourage further criminal behavior. Dialogue may also undermine the rule of law and send the wrong message about the state’s ability to enforce security. What is even the guarantee that should there be a dialogue that the bandits will be willing to adhere to any agreements reached through that process. If Tinubu has the political will to deal with banditry, insecurity and other forms of crime in the country, let action speak louder than words.
By:
Calista Ezeaku
Opinion
Of Being Begotten
The gestural appellation, “the only begotten son of God”, which is ascribed to Jesus Christ is one of the numerous hoaxes in the literature of Judeo-Christian theology. Firstly and rather unfortunately, it places Jesus on a humanly unattainable pedestal thereby psychologically incapacitating and defeating the faithful in the spiritual quest for oneness with God (whoever or whatever He, She, They or It may be). Pedestalising Jesus beyond human reach negates the essence of his ministry; it is, therefore, counterproductive. In the history of organised religion, Horus, Dionysus, Zeus, Mithras and other messianic figures who preexisted Jesus with no less than 500 years were also known by that gestural name and more. Other commonalities in the epics of the messianic figures are: (1) mysterious birth (born of virgins), (2) born on December 25, (3) visited at birth by three star-guided wisemen, (4) survived infanticide, (5) child prodigy at twelve, (6) had twelve followers, (7) known by the same gestural names such as “Lord of Lords”, “Prince of Peace”, “Savior” etc., (8) performed wondrous works, and ((9) was killed, buried and resurrected on the third day.
The truth is that the epic of all the messianic figures is the same reenactment of the astro-theological account of the sun’s annual journey on the equinox, the Winter Solstice. It is all about sun worship, which man has indulged in from when he became conscious of his environment and began to gaze into the velvety night skies for answers to the mystery and bewilderment of his existence, His observations of the visible cosmos informed speculations and conjectures that gave birth to his beliefs. The realisation that the sun gave light and life to man, his neighbors in this animal kingdom, the trees and crops gave rise to the veneration of that most visible heavenly body, hence the worship.The spiritual truth is that every man, woman, boy and girl, irrespective of color, creed, situation and location, is at a rung of the ladder of life, which is, essentially, the spiritual process of being begotten. We are all sons and daughters of God. By consistently referring to himself as Son of Man, Jesus was explicit on this issue; he furthered it in John 14:12 when he said thus: “truly…I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do”. To appreciate the phrase “whoever believes in me”, we must understand the inferred meaning of “belief” and “me” in the context of the phrase.
The word “me” is not used in self reference; rather, it refers to his gospel, which is the spiritual template for humanity to achievement at-one-ment (atonement) with God. Regarding “belief”, it is assumed that when you believe in something you commit to it. In other words, those who commit to the spiritual template of Jesus will do exploits that will dwarf his works. Note that Jesus also rejected being called “good”, saying that “none is good but the Father” (Mark 10:18). A deadly armed robber or the more systemically devastating “pen robber” goes to church with part of his loot; keeping a holier-than-thou face, the priest lays hand on him, blesses him and prays that his source should continue to yield fruitage and the congregation of the hoodwinked thunders AMEN! He goes home believing that old things have passed away and that he is a new creature. In his knack for not taking responsibility for his actions, man has farmed out his spiritual responsibilities by touting the potency of the blood of Jesus in the foolhardy permissive philosophy of vicarious remission of sins. The reader is enjoined to incisively study (not read) Gal 6:7 and Rev 22:12 and endeavor to find a place for vicarious remission of sins.
The journey towards oneness with the Divine is arduous and it’s fraught with pitfalls and Herculean tasks; it’s like climbing a steep ladder hence some call it Ladder of Life. We are all at various rungs of the same ladder; and in that spiritual venture, our deeds, not our beliefs, determine our ascendancy, stagnation or descent on the mysterious ladder. In that process, there is no forgiveness of sins: you reap what you sow (Gal 6:7) and you are rewarded in accordance with your works, not faith or beliefs (Rev 22:12). The American philosopher, Thomas Paine (1736-1809), advocated a humanity in which the whole world would be everyone’s country and doing good is the universal religion. John Lennon imagined “a brotherhood of man where there’s nothing to kill or die for”. Santana saw “a future where children live in peace and harmony” while Sting reminds that “we share the same biology regardless of ideology”. These postulates expressed musically constitute the philosophical foundation of Humanism.
Being begotten has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the number of times you go to the Temple, Synagogue, Shrine, Church, Mosque or Chursque to worship whatever or whoever you believe in. The gospel of Jesus Christ propagated universalism. It requires a universal consciousness that transcends the primordial sentiments of ethnicity, tribalism, religious bigotry and all the natural differences and man-made fences that set man against man; it also requires disconnecting from the inordinate quest for materialism. If you ask me, I would say that I believe in God with all my heart. However, I do not believe that God has an only begotten son; that would be exclusivist, which is certainly not Godly. My take is that we ALL are at various spiritual stages of being begotten in our collective sonship of God. By saying “why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God”, Jesus brought himself down from the pedestal of humanly unachievable exploits.
Sadly, in the shallowness of our thoughts, weakness of understanding and our full freaking fanaticism, we either fail or blatantly refuse to see the collective sonship and universalism in the teachings of Jesus. Meanwhile the gospel of Jesus was essentially geared towards the realisation of Divine sonship of all in humanity. We play the ostrich by the permissive belief that Jesus died for our sins. We commit heinous crimes against humanity and ask for forgiveness. Man should liberate his mind from the ossified creeds of institutional religion, especially the permissive philosophies of Abrahamic Religions. He should brace up snd get back on track for the personal spiritual race towards oneness with his source; that is the process of being begotten. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Jason Osai is a Professor of Development Studies Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
By:
Jason Osai
Opinion
Nigeria’s Endangered Supply Chains
It is gathering like the nimbus, and it is a warning sign, enough to stir discerning stakeholders towards disarming a looming tyranny. Before now, Nigerians have been described as the most happiest people on earth. That satirical recognition came at the height of military misrule and hardships and the seeming complaisance of Nigerians during the era of General Sani Abacha. These days, corruption, insecurity, inflation and hunger, have hit new heights without parallels from the years gone by. Moreso, Nigeria is becoming an imperial state clothed in democracy, where the whim of one man virtually runs the system. The experiments of President Tinubu’s government since inception have left so much to be desired, while endangering many lifelines. Former President Mohammadu Buhari after running such experiments on Nigerians, had to apologise in one of his parting speeches, to the extent he thanked Nigerians for tolerating the hardships of his administration.
Unfortunately, at the point when Nigerians were getting ready to heave a sigh of relief from the years of Buhari, the new administration came in with destabilising reforms that unleashed greater hardships, in ways that make Buhari’s years glorious. During Buhari’s government, disposable incomes dwindled to zero for many, but this time, providing basic needs is proving a difficult task for almost every family. In less than one year of the new administration, prices of food items, petroleum products, building materials and virtually every basic need, have more than doubled, while the Naira remains devalued from about N750 per United States Dollar to over N1,600. The spate of insecurity is also dimming previous records. The recent kidnapping, in one swoop, of 280 persons at a school in Kaduna state, has relegated the Chibok Girls’ abduction saga.
Up to the present, prolonged outcries against economic hardships in Nigeria appear to be falling on deaf ears. Unresolved frustrations, hunger and a sinking hopelessness have driven many Nigerians, especially the youths, towards desperate migration, cyber frauds, drug abuse and trafficking, while some others are now resorting to outright vandalism and looting. Considering reports of rising attacks on warehouses and haulage trucks, in addition to escalating smuggling and insecurity, it appears ‘the most happy people on earth,’ driven by hunger and general frustration, are being forced-off their usual nature. Some Sundays ago, it was reported that hoodlums attacked a warehouse belonging to the Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, looting bags of rice and other items.
Trucks held in traffic in Suleja area of Niger State were attacked by some youths who stole food items from the trucks. In Ogun state, another set of miscreants attacked trucks conveying building materials, while in Kaduna a truck conveying spaghetti was also vandalised. The proverbial hungry man is getting angry, and government needs to move fast to disarm him before society plunges into unbridled tyranny. But it appears there is no clue to an immediate solution. In a knee-jerk reaction to the problems, the federal government ordered urgent distribution of stored grains, in similar moves of the Buhari era that saw billions of naira meant for poverty alleviation being diverted. The Nigerian Customs in compliance with such orders, commenced a free-for-all auction of seized food items at its Old Zonal Headquarters at Yaba, Lagos state, leading to a stampede that claimed seven lives, and suspension of the exercise.
That notwithstanding, stranded Nigerians still await the commencement of distribution of promised grains from federal reserves. However government needs to be more circumspect in planning the exercise as almost everyone is hungry, and criminal tendency is driving many into lawlessness. For millions of Nigerians, the billions of Naira reportedly spent on free cash transfers under President Buhari remain doubtful, as they did not receive a dime of it, nor know any who did. For such persons government’s budgets for largess have become suspicious, and perceived as means of diversion of the collective resource. Many civil society organisations continue to call for greater transparency in such endeavours, while preferring relief expenditures that bear directly on the downtrodden.
While the sharing of palliatives should be a short-term measure as immediate relief, government needs to take far-reaching steps to ensure not just food security, but to resuscitate the entire economy. Government’s plan to import 2,000 agricultural tractors every year for the next five years, is a step in the right direction. However, without solving insecurity, agriculture remains destabilised, while porous borders, the inexorable depreciation of the naira and exorbitant haulage costs across north to south of Nigeria, continue to handicap in-country distribution.
There may be other factors, though. The sudden rise in terrorists attacks in the Borno axis following increased customs surveillance on smuggling activities, indicates there might be a correlation between insurgency and smuggling. Is there a connection between banditry and food drives outward the Nigerian borders? Meanwhile, some weeks ago the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) threatened to shutdown due to the high cost of fuel, but suspended action after talks with government. This time, they are threatening that vandalism is adding to their plights. According to the National President of NARTO, Yusuf Othman, “if such kind of attacks continue, what will happen is that transporters will stop carrying food items and this will lead to food scarcity across the country.”
Also, manufacturers across the country are now on red alert as hoodlums target several company warehouses and transport trucks, a situation that is making the organised private sector to contemplate shutting down industries across the country. To whose benefits or disadvantages would all these result? While these attacks are criminal in nature and should be entirely condemned, government should urgently address the underlying economic hardships that Nigerians currently face in order not to give criminals excuses to plunge the nation into anarchy. It is also pertinent to remind Nigerians that hard times like these call for patience and greater commitment towards genuine economic emancipation, rather than collapsing the entire system. No amount of disappointment on the Nigerian state is enough to warrant the break down of law and order, for anarchy spares no one.
Attacking innocent manufacturers, warehouses and haulage trucks would collapse our fragile economy and make things worse. As Mr Othman puts it, “It can threaten the distribution of food because if you load (goods) and somebody is going to stop you on the road to loot the goods, why will you continue to load?”
Joseph Nwankwo
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