Kwabena,
That, precisely is the point of my critique--that ASUU is suffering from a crisis of identity. It can't decide what it wants to be, a traditional trade union that fights for the interests of its members (absolutely nothing wrong with that) or a pressure group seeking, as it claims, to repair and reclaim Nigeria's comatose higher education system. It's trying to be both, unsuccessfully, because the Nigerian public is no longer buying it. It wants Nigerians to believe that it is both a trade union and a reformist organization; this is clear from its propaganda and claims over the years. It claims that it is not just interested in bettering the conditions of its members but also in bringing healing and improvement to the entire higher education sector--that it is fighting for a holistic amelioration of what ails the higher education sector in Nigeria. If you define yourself and your struggle in these terms, you surrender the right to be judged solely as a trade union fighting only for better salaries and allowances for your members. You have to include the interests of students (matters of instruction and poor student welfare, as depicted in the picture) in your menu of demands. If you do not and instead make demands on and go on strike over only those issues that affect the welfare of your members, you can be legitimately accused of simply using the question of "funding" and the idea of "fighting for the reclamation of the university sector" as rhetorical armor to legitimize what is at base a typical trade union demand for better salaries, perks, and conditions for members (again nothing wrong with it if you're honest with stakeholders). This is the problem.
An ASUU insider gave me an insight into this dilemma recently in a chat witnessed by Okello Oculi (a member of this forum). The insider's argument is that if the union does not make pecuniary demands and only talks about funding, the rank and file will NOT vote for strike. In other words, the rank and file are more concerned with pecuniary issues and those issues shape how they relate to ASUU. Loyal to its members and unwilling to alienate them, the ASUU leadership realize that they cannot simply declare another strike demanding salaries and allowances that may not fly with the Nigerian public, so they tack on the nebulous issue of "funding," to which they actually pay lip service (the proof of this lip service are the pictures). Once the pecuniary demands are met, ASUU acquiesce to vague promises and general principles regarding the "funding" issue (see the embarrassingly wishy-washy so-called agreement and MOU that ASUU is touting as binding documents regarding funding). At any rate, ASUU never actually thinks about students as stakeholders in its struggle and so does not feel a need to press for specific projects that will enhance student welfare. Again, this would be okay if you defined yourself as a trade union, but for obvious reasons ASUU wants to be perceived as more than that. They want the public to believe that their struggle is for a total overhaul of the university system. But because students' welfare and learning are marginalized in ASUU's agenda, the ASUU activists do not see a connection between student issues (poor student infrastructure, poor instruction) and the general decay of the system that ASUU harps on. Because the ultimate goal of producing good graduates is ACTUALLY a secondary (perhaps a tertiary) aspect of to ASUU's priorities, it nevers sees how fighting for those student-centered issues can actually insulate it from the public's angst and suspicion and give it a better footing to cater to its members' needs. Will ASUU be willing, for instance, to pledge itself to some baselines of instructional excellence and ethical conduct for its members? I don't think so, which reinforces the argument that ASUU wants to be seen as the champions of the higher education sector without having to agree to reforms and concessions that actually put students--the primary stakeholders of the sector--at their center.
On Sun, Oct 6, 2013 at 2:16 PM, Akurang-Parry, Kwabena <KAParr@ship.edu> wrote:
Moses:
Pardon my ignorance: I have always believed that such strikes, whether in Ghana or Nigeria, seek to wrestle the salaries, etc. of the teaching staff from the government. Does the ASUU go on strike because of the deterioration of infrastructure?
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Moses Ebe Ochonu [meochonu@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2013 3:04 PM
To: USAAfricaDialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: State of the Nigerian Universities in PHOTOS and Our National Legislators earns N15,000,000,.00K a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Go to Abuja and you see Legislators buying mansions with huge monies WHILE THE UNIVERSI...
Those pictures vindicate those who criticize ASUU, for they substantiate the argument that ASUU's perennially AMBIGUOUS campaign for more "funding" for higher education has not solved the infrastructure problems that make STUDENT LIFE uncomfortable and LEARNING harder, despite the release of funds, no matter how limited, over the last decade and half. Do these pictures not show clearly that the funding has not been targeted at projects that have the capacity to improve the conditions and wellbeing of students? And is that not ASUU's fault, for failing to designate specific projects in the agreements and following up on them? In other words, either ASUU has been using the vague rhetoric of "funding" to glamorize its pecuniary demands, or, as Bolaji eloquently surmised, ASUU has often failed to tie its funding requests to SPECIFIC projects, especially those that would bring more comfort to students and enable them to learn better. ASUU has instead preferred general principles, vague funding agreements, "agreements to recommend," and ill-defined and general funding demands. As long as ASUU gets its pecuniary demands for allowances and other perks met, they don't bother with the infrastructural funding that affect students and learning--and that they claim to be fighting for. It's a classic case of deploying the rhetoric of funding to legitimize more quotidian demands. In all honesty, does anyone believe that if the earned and unearned allowances (the final figure that VCs supplied, per Bolaji's numbers), had been paid in full, ASUU would have gone on strike? As student infrastructures have deteriorated, ASUU members' perks have clearly improved, begging the question of whether ASUU has paid as much attention to infrastructural needs as its members' welfare. After all, these infrastructures are almost exclusively student-related and rarely detract from lecturers' personal comforts. The pictures, almost all of them depicting depressingly poor student conditions, buttress the argument that students and their welfare have never been part of ASUU's discourse and have thus never made it into ASUU menu of demands. This is tragically ironic, since the object of the ASUU struggle, to the extent that it is a genuine effort at reclamation, should be to create conditions for good learning, leading to the production of good graduates. What's the point of having well paid lecturers if students live and study in poor conditions and if the quality of instruction continues to be so bad as to foreclose on possibility of sound learning? All of these factors--quality instruction, lecturers' welfare, students' welfare/conditions, equipments--go together to determine the quality of education we're giving our youths. The problem is that ASUU seems to want to pick and choose the ones that affect its members and to neglect the ones that affect students and their interests directly.There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.
On Sun, Oct 6, 2013 at 12:51 PM, onyima blessing <nonyelin2003@yahoo.com> wrote:
I remember every girl suffered candida because of these infectious toilets in the university hostels. None escaped it, no matter how neat we tried to be,as long as you visited the toilet, you must contact one disease.
Blessing.
From: "emekarhythm@yahoo.com" <emekarhythm@yahoo.com>
To: "USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com" <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 6, 2013 12:34 PM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fw: State of the Nigerian Universities in PHOTOS and Our National Legislators earns N15,000,000,.00K a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Go to Abuja and you see Legislators buying mansions with huge monies WHILE THE UNIVERSITIES ROTTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear all,--
For those who are won't to crucify ASUU for the current strike you may go through this gory pictures and decide whether this is your dreams for the Nigerian Universities. When the chips are down we should also ask our colleagues who end up as Vice-chancellors how they superintend over such mess. We must not let the rest of the world see this.Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Innocent Igwilo <igwilocent@yahoo.com>Sender: nisebnigeria@googlegroups.comDate: Sun, 6 Oct 2013 12:04:09 +0100 (BST)To: chikeoka@yahoo.com<chikeoka@yahoo.com>; victorenemor_nau@yahoo.com<victorenemor_nau@yahoo.com>; tetresearch@yahoo.com<tetresearch@yahoo.com>; ubaojiawka@yahoo.com<ubaojiawka@yahoo.com>; uchefeneh@yahoo.com<uchefeneh@yahoo.com>; emekarhythm@yahoo.com<emekarhythm@yahoo.com>; udedi2003@yahoo.com<udedi2003@yahoo.com>; cnezekwesili@yahoo.com<cnezekwesili@yahoo.com>; jemeh2003@yahoo.com<jemeh2003@yahoo.com>; eze okonk<ejokonkwo@yahoo.com>; josephine nebedum<jossieneb@yahoo.com>; ugochukwu g<ugochukwugc3045@yahoo.com>; adinducs908f@gmail.com<adinducs908f@gmail.com>; Apbch<appliedbiochemistryunizikawka@yahoo.com>; Dr. Ozumba<nwaozumba@yahoo.com>; chikeoka@yahoo.com<chikeoka@yahoo.com>; tetresearch@yahoo.com<tetresearch@yahoo.com>; ubaojiawka@yahoo.com<ubaojiawka@yahoo.com>; uchefeneh@yahoo.com<uchefeneh@yahoo.com>; emekarhythm@yahoo.com<emekarhythm@yahoo.com>; udedi2003@yahoo.com<udedi2003@yahoo.com>; cnezekwesili@yahoo.com<cnezekwesili@yahoo.com>; jemeh2003@yahoo.com<jemeh2003@yahoo.com>; eze okonk<ejokonkwo@yahoo.com>; josephine nebedum<jossieneb@yahoo.com>; dr. ejeatuluchukwu obi<ejeatuluobi@yahoo.com>; okpogba<okpogba4real@yahoo.com>; enemuoh frank<eneody@yahoo.com>; Dr. Ozumba N<nwaozumba@yahoo.com>; jimbanugo@yahoo.com<jimbanugo@yahoo.com>; PROF. UFEARO s<csufearo@yahoo.com>; amaks2cherish@yahoo.com<amaks2cherish@yahoo.com>; dr.okoli<ikeokoli@msn.com>; ugochukwu g<ugochukwugc3045@yahoo.com>; adindu<benchuzy200@yahoo.com>; umeoguaju francis<admin@ufumes.com>; prof. eneanya<ceneanya@yahoo.com>; prof ewuim<cewuim@yahoo.com>; okoye e c<ec.okoye@unizik.edu.ng>; dr. ogbo f<frankogbo@yahoo.com>; icuzochukwu@yahoo.com<icuzochukwu@yahoo.com>; Obiora Ikpeze<ikpezevet@yahoo.com>; io.igwilo@unizik.edu.ng<io.igwilo@unizik.edu.ng>; okonkwo j chike<jamechike@yahoo.com>; prof okigbo r<okigborn17@yahoo.com>; ogoke toochukwu<toochijjr@yahoo.com>; unizikbiochemistry@yahoo.com<unizikbiochemistry@yahoo.com>; Enemor Victor<victorenemor@gmail.com>; nisebnigeria@googlegroups.com<nisebnigeria@googlegroups.com>ReplyTo: Innocent Igwilo <igwilocent@yahoo.com>Subject: Fw: State of the Nigerian Universities in PHOTOS and Our National Legislators earns N15,000,000,.00K a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Go to Abuja and you see Legislators buying mansions with huge monies WHILE THE UNIVERSITIES ROTTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please find attached the level we are now in Nigerian universities. This is now or never to SAVE NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES.
Innocent O. Igwilo (Ph.D)
Senior Lecturer
Department of Applied Biochemistry,Faculty of Biosciences,Nnamdi Azikiwe University,P. M. B. 5025, Awka.420211Anambra State,Nigeria.+234 8036780058
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Ikenna Okonkwo <biokonkwo1@gmail.com>
To: "okonkwonetworks@googlegroups.com" <OKONKWONETWORKS@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Ikenna Okonkwo <biokonkwo1@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, 5 October 2013, 14:49
Subject: State of the Nigerian Universities in PHOTOS and Our National Legislators earns N15,000,000,.00K a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Go to Abuja and you see Legislators buying mansions with huge monies WHILE THE UNIVERSITIES ROTTENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--Friday, October 4, 2013Unbelievable! Please read the photo captions in green. See more photos...Despite being the giant of Africa and being the most populous nation in the African continent, no Nigerian university is listed in the top 1000 best schools in the world. That is because our education system is a mess. The deplorable infrastructures in some of our schools have been captured in photos.
OkonkwoNetworks..........Building NIGERIA of our DREAM
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