Opinion
ASUU Strike: Time For Truce
The usual parents’ prayer or wish that their children should not go through the same ordeal as them is certainly not being answered in the issue of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s strike in Nigeria. Every parent would wish that their children have a better life devoid of many hiccups. While that may work in other areas of life, it hasn’t been so when it comes to having an uninterrupted academic calendar in our universities and, if care is not taken, in years to come, the desired answer to that prayer request may not materialise.
Many of us parents spent extra months or years in universities due to no faults of ours but because of perennial dispute between ASUU and the government. Painfully today, our children in public universities in the country are having the same bitter experience. Since March 17th, they have been out of school as ASUU embarked on yet another industrial action to compel the federal government to grant their demands.
Incidentally, the demands have remained the same for decades. They ask for improved salaries and welfare; adequate funding for all university programmes and activities; equipping laboratories and libraries with relevant materials and others. As far back as 2009 agreements were signed by both the government and the university unions over the implementation of some of these demands, followed by further talks that led to the 2019 Memorandum of Action. Government is said to have reneged on these agreements.
So the current strike, according to the university lecturers, is a fight over government’s none upholding of agreements acceded to and signed to uphold coupled with their rejection of the payment platform, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which incidentally, has been an issue as far back as 2013. According to ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, the current strike is because of the government’s insensitivity to university education “because there are plans to make education inaccessible to children of the poor.”
A visit to some of our universities will prove that ASUU may not be asking for too much especially with regards to improved facilities on the campuses, staff and students’ welfare. The pitiable state of some facilities in these institutions is no longer news. A few months back, reports on the sorry state of students’ hostels in University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was on virtually every social media platform and the traditional media. Students were said to be living like refugees or inmates of an internally displaced persons’ camp. Overcrowded rooms, leaking roofs, as abandoned hostels, where snakes, lizards, rats and other rodents and wild animals compete for space; filthy environment were some of the issues the student had to contend with. Some of the abandoned hostels were turned to lavatories by the students, where they answered the call of nature.
The story is not different in many other public universities in the country and our leaders know it. An ASUU member in one of the foremost federal universities recently narrated how the institution’s convocation arena has practically been turned into a lecture hall as no classroom can contain the large number of students, especially for general courses. He said that, at a given time, there can be two or more classes going on simultaneously at different corners of the arena with the lecturers each using a microphone to make their voices heard.
There is certainly no way we can continue like this and expect the future of the nation to be better. The United Nations recommends 26 per cent of the national budget for education; but here we are budgeting merely 5.6 per cent for education, including primary, secondary, tertiary and others in the 2021 budget. Yet we budget billions of naira for elections, the National Assembly and other things that interest the powers that be. It is a clear indication of our priorities as a nation.
In the words of Malcom X, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” It then stands to reason that if we want a better future for the country, we should begin to invest more on education. There is no doubt that if the government made deliberate efforts to implement previous agreements with ASUU on funding of our universities the country would have been better off for it and the current quagmire would have been avoided.
Blaming past governments for signing the agreement as the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, recently did, threatening fire and brimstone as the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has a penchant for, is definitely not the way to go. It will only keep the gates to our universities shut for a longer period. What we need is practical, honest and sincere steps on how to improve education in the country in the interest of all, particularly the children of the poor who cannot afford private or oversea universities and are relying on public universities to become somebody in the future.
No one is oblivious of the economic hardship caused by Covid-19 pandemic both in Nigeria and across the globe but if we make education our top priority, we will find a way of keeping the sector running.
On the issue of IPPIS, in the interest of the students who are tired of staying at home, the government should listen to ASUU which has presented very sound reasons why they should not join the payment plan. They say the IPPIS does not address their peculiarities and that it can turn universities into the civil service. The alternative, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) presented by the academic union may be considered. As some other concerned people have suggested, the issue of the payment platform must be resolved before the strike is called off so that there should not be a reason for the lecturers to down tools in the nearest future.
ASUU should also be reminded that going into a negotiation, you cannot expect to get all you want. So they should be ready to shift their grounds in the interest of the students and the education system they protect. They should also think of other alternatives from strike so that the vicious cycle of truncated academic calendar will not continue just as they find a way of dealing with the issues of ghost salary earners, corruption and poor utilization of funds associated with the university system in Nigeria.
By: Calista Ezeaku
Opinion
Betrayal: Vice Of Indelible Scar
The line that separates betrayal and corruption is very thin. Betrayal and corruption are two sides of the same coin. Like the snail and its shell they are almost inseparable. They go hand-in-globe. Betrayal and corruption are instinctive in humans and they are birthed by people with inordinate ambition – people without principles, without regard for ethical standards and values. Looking back to the days of Jesus Christ, one of his high profile disciples-the treasurer, was a betrayer. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ for just 30 pieces of silver. One of the characteristics of betrayers is greed.
So, when on resumption from his imposed suspension, the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminilayi Fubara threatened to bring permanent secretaries who were found complicit in “defrauding” the State during the days of Locust and Caterpillar regime, he did not only decry a loot of the Treasury but the emotional trauma of betrayal perpetrated by those who swore to uphold the ethics of the civil service. Governor Siminilayi Fubara had least expected that those who feigned loyalty to his administration would soon become co-travellers with an alien administration whose activities were repugnant to the “Rivers First” mantra of his administration. The saying that if you want to prove the genuineness of a person’s love and loyalty feign death, finds consummate expression in the Governor Fubara and some of the key members of the State engine room
Some of those who professed love for Governor Siminilayi Fubara and Rivers State could not resist the lure and enticement of office in the dark days of Rivers State, like Judas Iscariot. Rather, they chose to identify with the locusts and the caterpillars for their selfish interest. Julius Caesar did not die from the stab of Brutus but by his emotional attachment to him, hence he exclaimed in utter disappointment, “Even you Brutus”. The wound of betrayal never heals and the scar is indelible. Unfortunately, today, because of gross moral turpitude and declension in ethical standards and values, betrayal and corruption are celebrated and rewarded. Corruption, a bane of civil/public service is sublime in betrayal. The quest to get more at the expense of the people is the root of betrayal and sabotage.
This explains why Nigeria at 65 is the World’s capital of poverty.
Nigeria is not a poor country, yet, millions are living in hunger, abject poverty and avoidable misery. What an irony. Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies and most populous nation is naturally endowed with 44 mineral resources, found in 500 geographical locations in commercial quantity across the country. According to Nigeria’s former Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Olamiekan Adegbite, the mineral resources include: baryte, kaolin, gymsium, feldspar, limestone, coal, bitumen, lignite, uranium, gold, cassiterite, columbite, iron ore, lead, zinc, copper, granite, laterite, sapphire, tourmaline, emerald, topaz, amethyst, gamer, etc. Nigeria has a vast uncultivated arable land even as its geographical area is approximately 923, 769 sq km (356,669 sq ml).
“This clearly demonstrates the wide mineral spectrum we are endowed with, which offers limitless opportunities along the value-chain, for job creation, revenue growth. Nigeria provides one of the highest rates of return because its minerals are closer to the suffer”, Adegbite said. Therefore, poverty in Nigeria is not the consequences of lack of resources and manpower but inequality, misappropriation, outright embezzlement, barefaced corruption that is systemic and normative in leaders and public institutions. According to the World Poverty Clock 2023, Nigeria has the awful distinction of being the world capital of poverty with about 84 million people living in extreme poverty today.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data also revealed that a total of 133 million people in Nigeria are classed as multi-dimensionally poor. Unemployment is a major challenge in the country. About 33 percent of the labour force are unable to find a job at the prevailing wage rate. About 63 percent of the population are poor because of lack of access to health, education, employment, and security. Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) speculated that unemployment rate will increase to 37 percent in 2023. The implications, therefore, is increase in unemployment will translate to increase in the poverty rate. The World Bank, a Washington-based and a multi-lateral development institution, in its macro-poverty outlook for Nigeria for April 2023 projected that 13 million Nigerians will fall below the National Poverty line by 2025.
It further stated that the removal of subsidy on petroleum products without palliatives will result to 101 million people being poor in Nigeria. Statistics also show that “in 2023 nearly 12 percent of the world population of extreme poverty lived in Nigeria, considering poverty threshold at 1.90 US dollars a day”.Taking a cursory look at the Nigerian Development Update (NDU), the World Bank said “four million Nigerians were pushed into poverty between January and June 2023 and 7.1 million more will join if the removal of subsidy is not adequately managed.” These startling revelations paint a grim and bleak future for the social-economic life of the people.The alarming poverty in the country is a conspiracy of several factors, including corruption. In January, 2023 the global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, in its annual corruption prospect index which ranks the perceived level of public sector corruption across 180 countries in the world says Nigeria ranked 150 among 180 in the index. Conversely, Nigeria is the 30th most corrupt nation in the ranking. It is also the capital of unemployment in the world.
Truth be told: a Government that is corruption-ridden lacks the capacity to build a vibrant economy that will provide employment for the teeming unemployed population. So crime and criminality become inevitable. No wonder, the incessant cases of violent crimes and delinquency among young people. Corruption seems to be the second nature of Nigeria as a nation . At the root of Nigerians’ poverty is the corruption cankerworm.How the nation got to this sordid economic and social precipice is the accumulation of years of corrupt practices with impunity by successive administrations. But the hardship Nigerians are experiencing gathered momentum between 2015 and 2023 and reached the climax few days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who assumed power as president of Nigeria, removed the controversial petroleum subsidy. Since then, there is astronomical increase in transport fares, and prices of commodities. Living standard of most Nigerians is abysmally low, essential commodities are out of reach of the poor masses who barely eat once a day.
The Dollar to Naira exchange rate ratio at one dollar to N1,000, is the most economy-unfriendly in the annals of the history of Nigeria. The prohibitive prices of petroleum products with the attendant multi-dimensional challenges following the removal of the subsidy, has posed a nightmare better to be imagined than experienced. Inflation, has been on the increase, negatively affecting the purchasing power of low income Nigerians. Contributing to the poverty scourge is the low private investment due to.unfriendly business environment and lack of power supply, as well as low social development outcomes resulting in low productivity. The developed economies of the world are private sector-driven. So the inadequate involvement of the private sector in Nigeria’s economy, is a leading cause of unemployment which inevitably translates to poverty.
Igbiki Benibo
Opinion
Dangers Of Unchecked Growth, Ambition
In today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive world, the pursuit of success and growth has become an all-consuming force. Individuals, organisations, and nations alike, are locked in a perpetual struggle to achieve more, earn more, and surpass their rivals. Yet, beneath this relentless drive for progress lies a silent danger—the risk of self-destruction. This perilous pattern, which I call the self-destruct trajectory, describes the path taken when ambition and growth are pursued without restraint, awareness, or moral balance. The self-destruct trajectory is fueled by an insatiable hunger for more—a mindset that glorifies endless expansion while disregarding the boundaries of ethics, sustainability, and human well-being. At first glance, it may appear to promise prosperity and achievement. After all, ambition has long been celebrated as a virtue. But when growth becomes the only goal, it mutates into obsession.
Individuals burn out, organisations lose their soul, and societies begin to fracture under the weight of their own excesses. The consequences are everywhere. People pushed beyond their limits face anxiety, exhaustion, and disconnection. Companies sacrifice employee welfare and social responsibility on the altar of profit. The entire ecosystems suffer as forests are cleared, oceans polluted, and air poisoned in the name of economic progress. The collapse of financial systems, widening income inequality, and global environmental crises are all symptoms of this same relentless, self-consuming pursuit. To understand this dynamic, one can turn to literature—and to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. In one of the novel’s most haunting scenes, young Oliver, starving in the workhouse, dares to utter the words: “Please, sir, I want some more.” This simple plea encapsulates the essence of human desire—the urge for more. But it also mirrors the perilous craving that drives the self-destruct trajectory. Like Oliver, society keeps asking for “more”—more wealth, more power, more success—without considering the consequences of endless wanting.
The workhouse itself symbolises the system of constraints and boundaries that ambition often seeks to defy. Oliver’s courage to ask for more represents the daring spirit of human aspiration—but it also exposes the risk of defying limits without reflection. Mr. Bumble, the cruel overseer, obsessed with authority and control, embodies the darker forces that sustain this destructive cycle: greed, pride, and the illusion of dominance. Through this lens, Dickens’ tale becomes a timeless metaphor for the modern condition—a warning about what happens when ambition blinds compassion and growth eclipses humanity. Avoiding the self-destruct trajectory requires a radical rethinking about success. True progress should not be measured solely by accumulation, but by balance—by how growth serves people, planet, and purpose.
This calls for a more holistic approach to achievement, one that values sustainability, empathy, and integrity alongside innovation and expansion
Individuals must learn to pace their pursuit of goals, embracing rest, reflection, and meaningful relationships as part of a full life. The discipline of “enough”—knowing when to stop striving and start appreciating—can restore both mental well-being and moral clarity. Organisations, on their part, must reimagine what it means to succeed: prioritising employee welfare, practising environmental stewardship, and embedding social responsibility in the core of their mission. Governments and policymakers also play a vital role. They can champion sustainable development through laws and incentives that reward ethical practices and environmental responsibility. By investing in education, renewable energy, and equitable economic systems, they help ensure that ambition is channeled toward collective benefit rather than collective ruin.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provides a tangible pathway for this transformation. When businesses take ownership of their social and environmental impact—reducing carbon footprints, supporting local communities, and promoting fair labour—they not only strengthen society but also secure their own long-term stability. Sustainable profit is, after all, the only kind that endures. Ultimately, avoiding the self-destruct trajectory is not about rejecting ambition—it is about redefining it. Ambition must evolve from a self-centred hunger for more into a shared pursuit of the better. We must shift from growth at all costs to growth with conscience. The future will belong not to those who expand endlessly, but to those who expand wisely. By embracing restraint, compassion, and sustainability, we can break free from the cycle of self-destruction and create a new narrative—one where success uplifts rather than consumes, and where progress builds rather than burns.
In the end, the question is not whether we can grow, but whether we can grow without losing ourselves. The choice is ours: to continue along the self-destruct trajectory, or to chart a more balanced, humane, and enduring path toward greatness.
Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi
Opinion
Gridlock at the Gates

-
Featured5 days ago
Nigeria’s First Lady Flags Off Renewed Hope Health Initiative In Rivers …Targets Measles, Rubella, HPV Vaccination For Children, Women
-
News5 days ago
Digital Infrastructure Key To Nigeria’s Economic Growth -NIEEE
-
News5 days ago
First Lady Charges RHI Beneficiaries To Build Foundation For Food-Secure Nigeria …As 800 Rivers Farmers Receive Agric Empowerment Support
-
News5 days ago
RAAMP: Rivers Rated High In Implementation
-
Nation5 days ago
Rivers Chief Judge Pardon 14 Inmates From Prison To End 2024/2025 Legal Year
-
Nation5 days ago
Cancer Care: Expert Seeks Hospice In UPTH
-
News5 days ago
Use Service Year To Build Capacity, Fubara Urges Corp Members
-
Featured5 days ago
Workers’ Audits Not Meant For Downsizing – Walson Jack