USA Africa Dialogue Series - Article: ASUU And The Seduction Of Silence

By Adeshina Afolayan, PhD

In the 90s, I was a student of the University of Ibadan. When I gained admission, I had a reasonable expectation that I would graduate in four years and then get to the next stage of my life. Well, that was before the first and second ASUU strikes hit us hard and disrupted not only the academic calendar, but also our plans and lives. Some two decades later, I had successfully crossed to the other side. The tragedy of my transition, however, is that nothing seems to have changed as to how I perceive ASUU either as a student or as a lecturer and ASUU member. As students, we were vehemently bitter against our lecturers who took the strike option with alacrity without giving, it seemed then, a second thought to us. Paradoxically, as a lecturer now, I still retain a depth of unease even though I seem to have a grasp of the other side of the story. The source of my unease is this: For over two decades now since I got burnt by FG-ASUU face-off, strikes are still a constant feature of higher education framework in Nigeria, and—this is the crux—nothings seems to have changed qualitatively from then to now. Well, that isn't correct: Salaries have somehow increased. But what do salaries tell us about the state of higher education in Nigeria? This industrial action has been suspended, one way or the other, as we expected. What have we gained? What have we lost? Where should we go from here?.........

Click here to continue reading

--

Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Publisher of PublicInformationProjects

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.