Open Letter To Striking Lecturers

Recently a number of retired university professors paid a solidarity visit to their ailing colleague who had been bed-ridden for the past eight years. It was a pathetic sight to find a once vibrant professor of engineering lying helpless like a sick baby, home alone. Rather than self-pity or cherish any expression of such from the visiting friends and old colleagues, the professor in a humourous manner, asked that one of us should read aloud the Editorial of The Guardian newspaper on his table.
Part of The Guardian Editorial comment went thus: “Primitive acquisition enabled by massive corruption would seem to be the directive principle of state policy, rather than the welfare of the people as enshrined in chapter 2 of the Nigerian constitution”. That day was Wednesday, July 6, 2022; and the bed-ridden professor was able to add that there are fewer things that weaken the urge to stay alive and fight injustice, than giving into intimidation. According to him” the ready instruments of human degeneration are not health challenges, but giving into blusters and gangsterism”.
While the visitors to an ailing professor refused to use the occasion as a platform to discuss the ASUU strike or politics, the reading from The Guardian Editorial, as well as the professor’s statement remained as issues to think about, as the visitors left. Also the courage and humour of the 84-year-old man became the issues which dominated the conversations of the visitors as they were driving away from the sick man’s home. All his children were in foreign countries, working, and his old wife also ill and living abroad with a daughter.
Without asking too many questions or revealing too many secrets, one of issues of gossip as eight professors were driving away after visiting their sick colleague, was the “lechery charge” that a professor was facing in court that same period. Nobody raised any objection about the suspension of the professor from service until the court case would be discharged or disposed of. What because of a vital concern to the “visiting professors” was the seriously deteriorating image and reputation of the “Ivory Tower” generally, especially in Nigeria.
Therefore, the issue of ASUU strike should be seen as going far beyond monetary benefits, funding of education in Nigeria, or the shenanigans of the negotiations intended to end the strike to tell striking lecturers that “enough is enough” looks like making a travesty of the ASUU case. Similarly, the strategy of “No work, no pay” is an old game that rarely holds any water. The level of degeneration and rot in Nigerian universities can best be appreciated by honest persons who have firsthand knowledge of situations in that sector, not the prattlers who think that they know it all.
While this is not a medium to take sides with ASUU members, patriotism demands that truth must be told, no matter “whose ox is gored”. For reasons that cannot be examined here, the ranks of Nigerian lecturers as well as the solidarity that there used to be among them, have been successfully undermined. Now there are more of “political lecturers” than real “Ivory Tower” lecturers. One group are politicians in lecture rooms, while another group are dyed-in-the-wool academic professionals. Academic autonomy is vital!
From the appointments of Vice-Chancellors, to the phenomenon of cultism in universities, there are more issues that have undermined the pride of Nigerian tertiary institutions, than what the public is aware of. It would take an honest and fraud-free commission of inquiry to be able to get to the roots of the rots in Nigerian universities. Even then, many of those in positions to speak the truth would choose to remain silent rather than give testimonies, for obvious reasons. What can be said in summary is that Nigerian universities are exact mirrow-image of the Nigerian polity. Is the phenomenon of examination malpractices or certificate scandals different from various forms of elections malpractices and other corrupt practices?
When an Australian professor of Zymurgy said that Nigeria is “a nation of contradictions”, it was due to surprises which he encountered with Nigerian students that he had taught and supervised. By the way Zymurgy is the branch of technological chemistry having to do with the brewing of wines and alcoholic drinks. One of the professor’s Nigerian Ph D. students refused to return home, but chose to work in New Zealand because of fear of being called “professor of booze”. One is not sure if there is currently any professor of Zymurgy in Nigeria.
Prior to 2009 when a long-drawn ASUU strike resulted in the signing of an agreement between the lecturers and federal government of Nigeria, the way that the agreement stands currently, speaks much about credibility and sincerity. To describe the 2009 ASUU/Federal Government agreement as controversial or an issue to renege on, does not create a befitting image on a government that should be taken seriously.
Among other shenanigans, that 2009 agreement did, a lot of injustice to many lecturers who retired during that period, especially with its implementation being shifted to 2011. Without going into the details, any fair-minded person would wonder why lecturers who participated in the negotiations which resulted in the 2009 agreement but who retired in 2010, should be denied and deprived of their rights and entitlements. Even if the financial burdens were considered enormous for the government, a right solution would not have involved placing some people at a disadvantage, with no intention to revisit the injustice done.
Besides, there is now a division between lecturers in federal universities and those in state-owned universities. While some students are out of lecture rooms because of ASUU strike, some others in state and private universities are having lectures and writing examinations. Thus university calendar becomes so distorted that nothing commendable can result from such disparities and distortions. Apart from the strike phenomenon causing lecturers and students to find alternative engagements during the period of strike, there are other damage to the Nigerian educational system generally.
To say that children of Nigerian political elite are studying abroad and in private universities, does not account for why there are degenerations in the education sector generally. Lecturers as insider-stakeholders are in a better situation to know where things have gone wrong. Unfortunately, the political will to address the situations holistically is rarely there.

By: Bright Amirize
Dr Amirize is a retired lecturer from the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.