Over the years, the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have maintained a frosty relationship with occasional peace, but the last eight months have not been the best of time for the government and ASUU.
Public university lecturers have been on strike since March this year over their resistance to government directive on the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS), demand for the revitalisation of universities and renegotiation of the 2009 agreement as well as agitation for payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA). The leadership of ASUU smells a rat in government’s insistence on IPPIS, saying over 70 percent of members have not been enrolled on IPPIS. The National President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, while giving credence to the union’s position said, “It will take them between three to six months to do so. They are setting a booby trap saying we should enrol on IPPIS first and then they will migrate us to our own University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS).”
However, while ASUU is maintaining its ground, the Federal Government is also saying it cannot pay the N110 billion the union is demanding for the revitalization of universities in the country. Even at that, Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said the government was still committed to the improvement of public universities. In as much as it a known fact that government resources is dwindling due to the fall in the price of oil, a mainstay of the Nigerian economy, the government can pacify the aggrieved lecturers by cutting down on what it spends on public officeholders.
Only recently, the federal government announced the total withdrawal of subsidy payments on petroleum products with a view to conserving resources that could be channelled into development projects. We hold the view that the government can take a cue from such laudable policy to maximize lean resources by slashing the salaries of political appointees and National Assembly members to ensure that the education sector can get the right funding. If the government blocks wastages in its servicing of public office holders, it can achieve the UNESCO recommended 26% budgetary allocation for education against the current 5.6% in the 2021 budget proposal which is well below international standard. Sadly, the ongoing strike is, to say the least, disheartening in view of the fact that the university system, which is supposed to be the fulcrum of development for the country, is being relegated to the background.
Hence, we urge the federal government to not only find solutions to ASUU demands but prioritise the proper funding of the country’s entire education system for sustainable national development.