Mina Ogbanga: ASUU strike – The more you look, the more you see (Y! FrontPage)

by Mina Ogbanga

minaogbanga as Pres (1)

 …irrespective of who is right or who is wrong, it is most obvious that this continued strike will do the nation no good.

I am an unrepentant optimist but as days go by my pessimism over certain issues take the best of me. Yes, it’s the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the agenda again! The more I look, the more I see the speedy slide downhill if we let this matter deteriorate further. I still cannot fathom why ASUU and the FG cannot tie the knot once and for all. This is the longest engagement ceremony I have seen in a long while with multifarous impact.
Primarily, because of the acuity of my observation, I am committed to pushing for an adroit timing of these features and hope that the key stakeholders get to view it and take action before we all become vulnerable preys to the aggression of aggrieved students.

It is in recognition of the fear of the unknown that I sought to highlight the 10 more ways in which the ASUU strike could affect our students.

[1] Records have shown that over 50 per cent of the students in public institutions are from poor and average homes and were simply struggling to graduate. Extending their stay makes their lives harder, especially for their parents (or sponsors) who have to cope with sustaining them.

[2] Many students have had to resort to odd jobs to make ends meet. There are even suggestions that some female students have to sell their bodies to sustain themselves especially for self sponsoring students. Realising that the world out there has ready predators who are more than willing to jump at a vulnerable prey, one wonders at how far their inherent values can take them.

[3] A recent press statement from Ndi Anioma, a Igbo socio-cultural group, about a young man who was lynched by an irate mob in Badagry was an unfortunate case. He was a student and would perhaps have been at school were it not for the industrial dispute. Who knows how much more of this is happening around the nation.

[4] In view of a certificate driven society as a tool to job openings, many of these undergraduates who intended to go for further studies will now have to spend at least another year at home as they would have missed the start of new academic sessions. This is particularly the case with those going abroad to further their education.

[5] Prior to this time, the NYSC schedule used to run according to a fixed calendar but now, many of these students will spend time at home before the start of their service year and help increase already accumulated backlog.

[6] Considering the lack of books available to these students at home, it is particularly disheartening wondering how they will study effectively when the universities are shut?

[7] Sadly, the quality of education offered in various institutions is questionable. Rushing schools’ academic calendar will only serve to aggravate the problem.

[8] Given that lecturers are allegedly not being paid their dues, will they be motivated to discharge their duties effectively on resumption?

[9] Considering that many of the students will be desperate to graduate and some of the lecturers will be severely cash-strapped, this may end up leading to more incidence of cash for pass marks which is rampant in the country’s higher institutions.

[10] We already have enough unemployed young people, adding to this through the university shutdown only provides unscrupulous politicians with more idle hands to create mischief and achieve their selfish political ends.

Therefore, irrespective of who is right or wrong, it is most obvious that this strike will do the nation no good. Both parties, ASUU and the FG, need to come to a consensus.

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Mina Ogbanga is an ardent development activist with a strong passion for sustainable development in rural communities, institutional building and social performance.

A social entrepreneur par excellence, Mina has had over 20 years of development experience. A Post Graduate Alumni of Cambridge University UK, United Nations Training Institute, Alumni of Harvard Kennedy School Boston, US, LBS etc and a Doctoral Researcher in Nigeria,

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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