One year after, lecturers score Buhari, minister low
With barely five days to the first
anniversary of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration,
stakeholders, no doubt, will like to assess his leadership approach in
the various sectors of the nation’s economy. And education is not going
to be an exception.
Issues bearing on funding, policies,
stable academic calendar, among others, will be in the front burner of
the discourse. But how well has the Buhari leadership fared in the last
one year? While a few have given his tenure a pass mark, especially with
regard to stable academic calendar and fighting corruption, many others
say that more needs to be done to properly accomplish the ‘change
mantra’ in the education sector.
According to the Chairman of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities at the Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile Ife, Dr. Caleb Aborisade, the Federal Government has not done
anything significant in the sector in the past one year.
The President, Aborisade added, had not
carried out “any meaningful change” in the sector despite his promises
during electioneering.
The ASUU chairman, however, said Buhari had been fighting corruption effectively.
He said, “I have not seen any meaningful
thing done by this administration in the education sector. The only
thing I know Buhari government is doing is fighting corruption and he is
doing that well.
“This government has also shown that it
is a democratic government. If you look at the way the dissolution of
some boards, including that of universities took place, he did it in an
error and when he saw people’s reactions, he apologised and reinstated
them. This is commendable. But teachers in staff schools of federal
universities have not been receiving salaries since February. This is
bad.”
Despite this, Aborisade said the administration could still carry out an extensive review in the sector.
Aborisade said, “Government should
allocate more funds to the education sector. More hostels should be
built, more lecture rooms should be built and laboratories should be
equipped to make teaching better and create a more conducive environment
for learning.
“There is no significant improvement in
the fund allocated to the education sector in this year’s budget. The
government should encourage teachers by exposing them to trainings and
seminars to make them better. The nation will benefit immensely from
this.
“I also want the government to encourage
local researchers. This will ensure the desired development in the
country. Instead of depending on foreigners to drive our development
efforts, I think the nation will benefit more if we encourage local
researcher.”
The University of Jos ASUU Chairman, Dr.
Chris Piwuna, who also said that the sector had not fared well, blamed
it on the late passage of the 2016 budget.
Noting also that there had not been any
major policy statement within the period, he added that the delayed
budget did not allow intervention agencies, such as the Tertiary
Education Trust Fund, to perform their statutory roles.
Besides, some stakeholders argued that
not much was coming from the ministry, especially from the Minister of
Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu. Apart from the sacking of the 13
vice-chancellors and the accompanying controversy that trailed the
action, the minister, they said, seemed to be “living in inaction.”
There also seems to be no further news
on the recruitment of the 500, 000 teachers promised by the government.
According to the Education Rights Campaign Coordinator, Mr. Taiwo
Hassan, the promised recruitment of teachers and the provision of free
meal and tuition for 100, 000 STEM undergraduates have not materialised.
Even the outcome of the panels the
minister inaugurated to examine the allegations of financial and
administrative abuses levelled against some vice-chancellors and rectors
of tertiary institutions has yet to be made public.
Adamu had last December set up probe
panels to visit the Federal University, Dustin-Ma, Katsina State;
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State;
University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; Federal University, Kashere, Gombe
State and the University of Abuja.
Others are the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, Enugu State; Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State; Federal
Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State; Yaba College of Technology, Lagos
State and the University of Calabar, Cross River State.
The panels submitted their reports in
January. The Civil Liberties Organisation President, Mr. Igho Akeregha,
who maintained that the reports be made public, said the call had become
imperative “to serve the full course of justice and stem ravaging
corruption in the country’s higher institutions.”
The last one year has also witnessed
frequent protests on campuses and an onslaught against student unionism
in the country. The examples abound. From the Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; Yaba College of Technology; University
of Lagos, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State; to the University
of Ibadan, Oyo State, just to mention a few, it has been one crisis
after the other. With regard to this, Hassan said that the minister had
not shown any concern about the plight of the students. According to
him, nobody has seen or heard Adamu comment on all students’ protests
recorded since his assumption of office.
Though on paper education received a
good mention in terms of funding (N369.6bn out of N6trn) this year,
stakeholders said that there was more to it than met the eyes.
For example, Piwuna said that the
government had not looked into the implementation of the 2009 agreement
between ASUU and the Federal Government, an action, he added, was
stifling the growth of the university system.
The unionist explained, “The inability
of the Federal Government in the last one year to look at that agreement
is a minus. There are outstanding issues which are very important and
germane to the growth of education in the country and I think the
government is lacking in its responsibility by not looking at this vital
aspect.”
Hassan, who said the crisis of
underfunding would continue, explained that a large population of young
people would continue to be left behind.
To arrest the situation, Hassan urged
the government to invest massively in funding public education,
judicious spending of the money as well as ensure a democratic running
of the ivory towers.
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