USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Jonathan offers no plan to resolve ASUU crisis

Abba:

When countries like the USA still lament the state of their Higher Education, imagine what Nigeria should be also doing: yes, a serious meeting of all stakeholders, discussing students, staff, mission, curriculum, facilities, governance, financing, alumni and 

community relations, standards, assessment and accreditation.

This week's Time Magazine is devoted to a discussion of Higher Ed in the USA:

                      http://nation.time.com/the-time-summit-on-higher-education/

And on this day of US Fed Gov shut down, Howard University's president Ribeau resigned.

And there you have it.

Bolaji Aluko

On Tuesday, October 1, 2013, Abba wrote:

Excellent stuff, Bolaji.  I would be happy to...for now, I am focused on our AUST (Abuja) and Sokoto (where I am an adjunct).  I may even vie to build on your successes (after your tenure) at good old Otueke.  But unless the systemic problems (government meeting its funding obligations and varsities allowed to charge competitive tuition fees), it is quite difficult for any VC to truly set a culture of academic excellence on his/her campus (this entails hiring and retaining quality academics; having well-equipped modern libraries, labs, ICT technologies; unlimited power and water supply...I recall Jega telling us, when he came to the Education Reform conference you and I co-hosted in Toronto in 2007...the huge sums he was spending on electricity alone everyday on his campus etc.).  I really think the government now needs to convene a meeting of all stakeholders (ASUU, NUC, varsity administrators, industry folks, student organizations, labour unions, community leaders etc.) to essentially determine the kind of education system we want and map out strategies to fully implement it.  

Abba

 

Abba

On 1 October 2013 19:15, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:

Abba:

I am happy that you see the clarification.

There is need to be tact on all sides in handling the present crisis.

Finally, I challenge you to come home and head one of the universities around here - either a new one or one of the younger ones, either in the North or Middle-Belt - or even Abuja!. Some of the older ones may be more difficult to steer! -)

Best wishes.

Bolaji Aluko

On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 7:53 PM, Abba <abba2007@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Bolaji,

 

Thanks for the clarification.  The impression I was receiving from some of my ASUU friends is that it was the 2009 agreement that the President says the other day is ``not implementable".  But if, as you stated, the figures being discussed now were never part of the 2009 agreement, then the FGN is not at blame here (but why would the President say (not in so many words I must add), in his live TV interview, that the officials who negotiated the deal with ASUU were essentially incompetent...and not authorised to sign the agreement they signed)?

 

I like your equating of public education in our case with ``national security".   Rescuing our failed education system must, henceforth, be seen as a major national security objective.  We (all stakeholders) need to do whatever it takes to find a lasting solution to this mess.  I offered a three-stage solution:

 

1.  government to commit the minimum investment of 26% of annual budget (as recommended by UNESCO)...and make sure the funds are judiciously used (Nigeria is a rich country; and I cannot see why we cannot invest, say, one in every three naira we earned towards educating our citizens);

 

2.  ASUU to be de-centralized....that is, each campus has its own local union that addressed local issues (and solely focused on working with the varsity admin to set up and maintain a culture of academic excellence, ethics, academic integrity on campus; they, of course, will also promote/defend the interests of their local members, vis-à-vis interaction with their varsity administrators/management); government to ban nation-wide closure of varsities.

 

3. varsity administrators to focus exclusively on two things:

       (a) setting up and maintaining a culture of academic excellence

       (b) raising the funds they need to make their campuses financially viable (via endowments, donations, research grants, consultancy, appropriate fees etc.)

            I am pleased to note that you are already making progress on Item (b)...and I hope other varsity administrators who were not paying attention to such

             would follow suit. 

 

Abba

 

 

 

On 1 October 2013 18:12, Mobolaji Aluko <alukome@gmail.com> wrote:

Abba:

Just some quick intervention here:

1.  It is NOT the 2009 agreements that are now being re-negotiated;  rather it is the detailed FIGURES,  which were never part of the agreement.  For example, with respect to Earned Allowances, negotiations have gone from N183 billion to N90 billion to N30 billion, the last figure being what ASUU is not agreeing to.  With respect to NEEDS capital money, ASUU wants N500 billion right away, FG is offering N100 billion now, and N100 billion per year for the next four years.  With res

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