Casualisation in its basic definition according to
the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary is the practice of employing temporary staff for short periods instead of permanent staff in order to save costs.
Casualisation in Nigerian parlance does not necessarily mean temporary employment even though it cannot be said to be permanent. Casualisation of works is prevalent in Nigeria today because unemployment is steadily on the increase. So, most of the employers of labour rather than appreciate the services of their employees see themselves as doing them favour.
By right, it needs not to be so. If the skill of the person is of no consequence to you, you can as well do without him but that’s not the case because employers of labour are aware of the fact that unemployment is a pandemic in Nigeria; so they use and dump people because they know there’s always someone out there longing to grasp that opportunity.
Casualisation is a legalised form of industrialised slavery. You do not need to be in chains and shackles before you can be said to be a slave. When the services you render is not commensurate with the benefits that accrue to you, it is a clear case of slavery, no matter the nature or nomenclature of the job. Public and private corporations are all culpable of this. Slavery is a crime against humanity. No matter how organised or embellished, it is a criminal act.
One of such places where you see this crime being perpetuated the most in Nigeria is in the education industry. Of course, there are other organisations or corporations guilty of the same crime but my focus is on the education industry in Nigeria. Particularly, the owners i.e proprietors and proprietresses of private schools are the major culprits of this heinous act. The effects of this act are mostly being borne by graduate teachers who go home with peanuts as their basic salary.
The constitution or the laws of any land have binding effect to check crimes and apprehend defaulters by using the appropriate authorities. In my opinion, the government should come up with a uniform pay across all schools or better still stratify the schools and make them pay according to their resources and income. Society is stratified and so the mega schools should give back to their staff what is commensurate with their services. They cannot continue to charge arbitrary fees and in turn pay stipends to their staff.
The average schools should as a matter of fact follow suit and pay their teachers accordingly, while the mushroom schools that are obviously below standard should be closed down until when they have enough resources to beef up their standards.
Casualisation of workers should be checked as a matter of urgency if we want our nation to be among the league of nations that are doing well. Today, we have a situation where a teacher in an average private school cannot afford the fees of the same school where she works and therefore sends her children to less standard schools.
If these teachers are paid accordingly, they too can afford to send their children to good schools. Most of these teachers have families and they can barely feed because of what they earn. If an educated person with the requisite skills cannot take appropriate care of himself or family, what would become of the illiterate? People will gradually lose faith in the integrity of having education since it cannot change their lot. Education, they say, is the bedrock of every civilised society. But when people begin to feel apathetic to education, then our future as a nation is doomed.
Teachers are indispensable and so must be given  their pride of place in the scheme of things. I urge owners of private schools to rise up to the occasion and correct the  wrong. There is always room for improvement. What we should always have at the back of our minds is that education is the only way to solve our problems as a people. We should not turn our back against it. We should put together everything that is needed to see that illiteracy is eliminated to its barest minimum. This cannot happen if we fold our arms and do nothing about the casualisation of Nigerian teachers. They too deserve the best like doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects and what have you.
After all, those highly paid professionals were all taught by teachers and they in turn have the sense of duty to transform our great nation. Teachers deserve the best; they have the right to normal lives. They deserve to live in good houses, feed properly, wear good cloths and most importantly, be able to pay their children’s school fees.
If we continue to casualise staff, a day would come when teachers will stand for their rights and take their collective destinies in their hands. I pray it happens soon!
Ogwama is a student of University of Port Harcourt.

Margret Ogwama