For about six months now, public universities, the most vital
segment of the country’s tertiary education system had been closed down
due to strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) over sundry issues including infrastructure which seemed a major
one.
The academic personnel of polytechnics and colleges of education were at
varying period, at war with government over matters also relating to
infrastructural development, welfare, salaries and conditions of
service.
The relative peace in Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and
Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) could be likened to
the “peace in the grave yard” because they also disgruntled and
dissatisfied over aborted agreement reached with government.
But the most devastating is the industrial action embarked upon by
university teachers which brought the pubic university system to its
knees over alleged non-implementation of the
2009 ASUU/Federal
Government Agreement.
The nation was not taken by surprise by ASUU strike which had become a
recurring decimal in the academic calendar in the struggle to restore
lost glory of the system and match up in quality and excellent academic
performance with other universities of the world.
It is absolutely clear that the rot in tertiary education infrastructure
cutting across polytechnics, colleges of education and public
universities had become monumental, threatening the very existence of
those institutions. Poor infrastructure is one of the major problems
facing tertiary education in Nigeria.
There are about 130 universities owned by federal and state governments,
and over 300 polytechnics and colleges of education spread across the
nation belonging to governments of the federation.
That education is the bedrock of development cannot be doubted even to
the most cynical. A renowned scholar once said, “it is the ignorant who
despises education” whether formal or informal.
According top William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all
time, “the common curse of mankind is folly and ignorance.”
The bane of our national development is due mainly to the low priority
accorded to education and the failure of our schools, colleges,
polytechnics and universities lacking conducive environment to teach and
transmit applied knowledge which is fundamental to success, development
and progress in life.
Components of the controversial 2009 pact between ASUU and Federal
Government include that a minimum of 26 per cent of the annual budget be
allocated to education in accordance with UNESCO recommendations, that
government will spend N1.5 trillion for federal universities between
2009 and 2011, that education will be on first line charge, agreed that
in 2009, N500 billion will be paid, in 2010 N500 billion will be paid
and in 2011, an amount slightly above N500 billion will b e paid.
Conditions of service that are non-salary will include clinical load,
car refurbishing, research leave, housing loan, sabbatical leave, injury
pension, office accommodation and facilities. Others are review of
university laws, membership of governing councils and so on.
Up till now, the Federal Government has not denied reaching such agreement nor signing it with ASUU.
Then why foot-dragging all these years despite several letters and even
some warning strikes by the union to remind government on the need to
implement the deal.
All to no avail, hence the long strike or struggle which has now taken
the life of Professor Festus Iyayi, a former President of ASUU killed by
the convoy of Kogi State Governor on the way to a meeting to resolve
the lingering dispute.
However, the bone of contention remains the issue of infrastructure
which the Federal Government said it has deposited N200 billion with the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which can be accessed for this purpose.
An educationist, Dr. Cecelia Paul, in hr reaction, said with this
deposit, it is no longer mere pronouncement as government can not be
trusted. “ASUU wants concrete evidence because once bitten, twice shy.
The lecturers know where the shoe pains and so won’t want to take
chances again. They don’t want to go in vain and can therefore build on
this foundation.”
Although the Federal Government said it has met all the conditions by
ASUU, they should now call off the strike with President Goodluck
Jonathan expressing dismay after discussing for 13 hours with ASUU and
the strike not suspended.
She hoped by Monday December 9, 2013 when the deadline by government for
lecturers to go back to work expires, ASUU should have called off the
strike and universities re-opened for academic activities.
A glossary of the infrastructural decay is alarming as Saturday Vanguard
investigation showed. A 10-man Needs Assessment Committee headed by
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and which include former ASUU President, Prof.
Awuzie discovered some disgusting state of infrastructure in the
Nigerian public university system.
The committee found that physical facilities for teaching and learning
were grossly inadequate, over-stretched, improvised and dilapidated due
to pressure on existing facilities and unplanned expansion of academic
programmes.
Many of the laboratories and workshops were old, obsolete, with
inappropriate furnishing. They suffered from overcrowding, scanty and
broken furniture, lacking equipment and vital consumables. Kerosene
stoves were being used as Bunsen burners especially in the universities
of Jos and Uyo.
Power and water supply problems are the order of the day. Several
engineering workshops were under zinc sheds and trees, while many
faculties of science discipline were running what can be termed as dry
lab as they don’t have reagents and tools for carrying out proper
experiments.
More than 50 per cent of the universities do not use public address
systems in their lecture rooms or theatres, none had fully automated
libraries, less than 35 per cent partially automated, many with outdated
books, while less than 20 per cent use interactive boards and less than
10 per cent of the universities have video conferencing facility.
There were a total of 701 physical development projects across all the
public universities according to the Needs report, out of which 163 or
23.3 per cent are abandoned. While about 538 or 76.7 per cent are
on-going, some of them are fifteen years old, 60 per cent of them funded
by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) has the highest number of
abandoned projects which are 22. About 84 per cent of students’ hostels
which made up the bulk of projects across universities in Niger Delta
sates handled by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDCC) have been
abandoned.
On hostel accommodation, the report noted: The provision of decent
hostel accommodation to at least 50 per cent of the student population
in any residential university is proving to be an uphill task for
Nigerian universities. University managers have been over the years,
unable to diversify their means of providing hostel accommodation and
associated facilities to students.
There has been over the last two decades an upsurge of students’
population in almost all Nigerian universities, but there was no
commensurate improvement of accommodation and other student services.”
It added: As a result, there is rapid deterioration of hostel
facilities, overcrowding and undue congestion in rooms, over-stretched
lavatory, laundry facilities and poor sanitation. These conditions,
coupled with general condition of the universities, produce graduates
that lack confidence and sometimes even self-worth.”
It was found that there are about 109,509 (about 10.3 per cent of total
population) on-campus hostels’ bed spaces across all public universities
in Nigeria. No university in the country can accommodate more than 35
per cent of its students.
Less than 1 per cent of the hostels are provided via public Public
Private Partnership (PPP). All federal universities charge N90 per bed
space per session, plus hostel maintenance fee that varies between
N5,000 and N20,000. Many universities charge higher than this.
In respect of toilets or lavatories, these are inadequate and unfit for
human use in most of hostels of Nigerian universities. The average ratio
of toilet to users is 1:20, forcing some students to use the bush or
surrounding compounds of the hostels as open toilets.
Invariably this poses serious health hazard. At Michael Okpara
University of Agriculture, Umudike, female students take their bath in
the open, because the bathrooms are in bad condition. Hostel are
infested with rodents.
Basic municipal facilities like water, electricity, transportation,
market are either lacking or inadequate. Most of the universities depend
on water tankers and boreholes. Healthcare facilities are grossly
inadequate. There is no university that has functional integrated water
supply and distribution system.
Laundries and common rooms have been converted into rooms where students
are living, and so no limit to the number of occupants.
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Monday, 23 December 2013
Education Sector Stinks! Infrastructure Bad, Now Worse
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