A nation whacked by strikes

By Bola Bolawole

Strikes have crippled our universities. After a warning strike that warned no one, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called out its members on full-scale strike and the egg-heads are firing on all cylinders all over the country. A depressed and distressed education sector, where standards have dipped to such point that the certificates they award are no longer widely recognized and their graduates largely unemployable, will be the worse for it.

ASUU is not the only institution on strike; their non-academic staff counterparts, polytechnic lecturers and health sector workers in some states of the federation are either on strike or are threatening to do so. It would seem that we are in a season of strike actions.

The main issue in each of the strike actions is more money for the pockets of the strikers, euphemistically referred to as better conditions of service, HAPTISS this, HAPTISS that etc. Also in issue are increased funding, more freedom (autonomy), improved facilities to get the job done etc. The problems and efforts to come to agreement between the Unions and Government are long-standing and have dragged for years. Because of the dynamic nature of human societies, new challenges crop up by the day while Governments come and go and their dispositions to issues as well as their capabilities in terms of both human and material resources are not static but experience their own ups and downs.

Nevertheless, it would be naive to assume that every Government that has come has not been aware of, even sympathetic to, the plight of workers. My guess is that some of these Governments have largely been constrained by the poverty of ideas or the paucity of funds or both. For the present regime of President Umaru Yar’Adua, himself a former university lecturer, I would think that paucity of funds more that poverty of ideas is the problem. Water appears to have passed the garri of the Yar’Adua Administration as it is assailed on many fronts by critical problems that it did not create but which it must grapple with nonetheless, failing which the President would be held accountable by the people.

It is a dilemma which must have accounted for the inability of last week’s Federal Executive Council meeting to make a pronouncement on ASUU’S on-going strike. Education Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu’s volte-face not withstanding, he had initially hit the nail on the head when he said the funds needed to drive the agreement with ASUU were beyond the Government. To now turn round to say that the same Government reached no agreement with ASUU is just a desperate effort to buy time.

Government’s fortunes, truly, have dipped in recent times – and this affects all tiers, federal, state and the Councils. Crude oil sales, the mainstay of the economy, have experienced bad weather, losing over 100 U.S. dollars per barrel at some points since Yar’Adua’s ascension to power. Actual volumes of crude traded have also continued to dip, due to the activities of militants in the Niger Delta. Sabotage activities by the militants have accounted for crude oil shut-ins counted in hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude now and again, such that a nation with the capacity to produce over two million barrels of crude per day now produces around one-and-a-half million barrels.

In addition, the bureaucracy of Government, as if unfazed by the stark realities that confront the nation, has grown insatiable in its thirst for money. About one-third of the Federal Government’s budget for 2009 goes to servicing this leviathan. With Government’s inability to rein in corruption, not to talk of rolling it back or uprooting it, one can be sure that at least another one-third of the budget will be lost to that octopus. Whatever remains of the budget will certainly not be enough to meet the needs of the citizenry because there are too many critical areas crying for attention.

Decades of neglect occasioned by misplaced priorities, over-dependence on crude oil exports, corruption and fiscal indiscipline, to mention but a few, have meant that we have left social infrastructures in decay and many national institutions in disarray.

Practically every sector now is in critical need of presidential declaration of an emergency: Education, Health, Power supply, Roads, Niger Delta, Aviation, the refineries, access to funds, again, to mention but a few. Yet, the funds are not there to tackle these problems head-on. Even if the bureaucracy is tepid, corruption curbed, our priorities set right and the right prescriptions applied to the problems at hand, we still will find that we do not have enough funds to solve all of our accumulated problems all at the same time.

As it is with the Federal Government, so also it is with the two other tiers of Government. With the exception of Lagos , I doubt if any state Government in the country generates any worthwhile funds internally; the councils are worse. All of them depend on dole outs from the Federation Account; with the Federation Account itself depending on crude oil sales. For the exploration, production, sale and refining of this crude oil, we depend on foreigners. We are mere landlords collecting rents.

And like the typical landlord, what interests us is the rent that we collect; repairs, renewals etc. if not effected by the tenant, can go to hell. And woe betides the tenant who dares to complain! Some landlords employ corrupt policemen, jankara court officials, area boys, OPC, even Juju, to pacify, terrorise, intimidate, cajole, even maim or kill “troublesome” tenants. Witness our own unenviable record as landlord in the Niger Delta: Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others’ judicial murder, the destruction of Odi by the military and the on-going military action against Niger Delta militants by the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Yet, none of these arm-twisting tactics appears destined to solve the problem; not even an amnesty that papers over the cracks or sweeps germane problems under the carpet. What, then, is to be done? We all must rationalize our demands and rein in our appetites. We need to appreciate the enormity of the problems that we confront in all sectors of our national life and the challenge of dwindling resources, especially with global economic meltdown. We need to realize that even if Government has the intentions, it cannot solve all the problems at one and same time because of paucity of funds. There is therefore the need for us to set out priorities – and get them right.

There is also the need for us to exercise patience, for Rome was not built in a day. Even if the right quantum of funds needed to drive the various sectors of the economy is available today, we will still require hard work and patience to achieve the required results. All the work needed to be done cannot just be done over night.

But there, again, goes another problem. The people must be convinced of the genuine intentions of their Government and of its commitment to doing the right thing for them to not only suffer in silence and hope for a better tomorrow but to also rally round the same Government so that all hands can be on the deck to move the nation forward. Sadly, I am not sure that Nigerians trust the Yar’Adua Administration that much. Education Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu’s clever-by-half approach to the ASUU strike smacks of dishonesty and grandstanding which destroys, rather than build, the much-needed confidence required to move the education sector forward.

FEEDBACK

She was given birth to by her own children; although those children meant well for her, the unborn ones have ruined and destroyed her pride. Nigeria ! What a country! The hero of the heroes has passed away. New ones were born but came at the wrong time. I pray for better days before the best.
-Alao Olusegun

Your write-up on June 12 is great. May God preserve you. What I will tell General Babangida and Nwosu is to publicly confess their sins so that posterity can forgive them, if possible, because any evil done to man will surely be revisited, if not by man, then, certainly by God, if not now, certainly hereafter. Prof. Nwosu should cover his face in shame for coming out to exonerate I.B.B. on the evils done to June 12. The souls of the martyrs of democracy will not rest in peace but fight on until true democracy prevails in Nigeria . Let those that have ears hear.
-Toyin Larayetan, Abuja .
Why do we continue to ad

dress Late Mrs. Kudirat Abiola as a pro-democracy activist? She only supported the cause of her husband, knowing full well that she was the First Lady in-waiting. May their gentle souls continue to rest in everlasting peace.
- Ndola Abiodun

Your write-up is good. Although it is true that democracy is still at a teething stage, that does not erode the importance of 29th May, being the date the military finally returned to the barracks. Again, June 12 is significant to the entire country and should not be tribalised. We must surely have a democracy day and democracy must survive in our great country, Nigeria
-Tewo Lamuye, Osogbo.

May 29, June 4, June 8, June 12 anniversaries are all products of our low productivity. What we need in Nigeria is few public holidays and full employment for our unemployed, under-employed and suffering youths.
-Fasipe Akintayo A, Ibadan .

I am impressed with your apt illustrations and intense objectivity to any public discourse. I admire your courage. May God toast your labour for favour.
-Joe.