Dear TF,
Let me first commend your good heart, and your deep commitment to the Fatherland. It is clear to everyone on this forum that you are a patriot. For those of us at close quarters, we feel your pain, and even impotence, at how the destinies of students could be so politicized like this. Which is why your recommendations on the way forward are crucial.
The question, however, is: Who is listening?
Both parties to the crisis are operating from some perspectives of set beliefs. For ASUU, the government understands nothing but strike actions. And the strikes must continue, no matter whose ox is gored or whose lives are sacrificed. There is even the saying that strikes are not "ended" but "suspended". The fixation on strike action has become a fetish! I do not need to say anything about the government. You have beautifully characterized the illogic of government actions and policies. Which is why i found your Recommendation 7 very curious. What would compel the government to give 26% to education, given the illogicality of politician's "legacy" thinking that lacks future relevance? If allocating 26% to education does not provide the political factor that all politicians are looking for, it will not work.
With regard to Recommendation 6, aren't politicians and transparency mutually exclusive? Even ASUU is not transparent in her dealing with members. Ask members from the various branches, and you will hear tales of woes. This is galling because this is supposed to be an association of intellectuals who ought to know better.
Recommendations 3 and 4 appear contradictory. If ASUU must insist on resolving the IPPIS issue before suspending the strike (recommendation 3), then why should the association suspend the strike while the alternative payment platform UTAS is being tested? And if the integrity test fails, should ASUU resume the strike?
There is a whole lot at stake in this wahala that is not open to all of us. For instance, government has since forcibly migrated all those who refused to register for the IPPIS to the platform, and they have been issued the IPPIS number. And yet, the government refused to still pay these same people the June, July and August salaries because it is insisting they must register.
My argument has always been simple: Let ASUU revert to being a traditional trade union that is interested in fighting for her members and their interests. The struggle for the revitalization of the university is a contradiction since striking and other internal symptoms mean that ASUU itself is already compromised with regard to the objective it is fighting for.
Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan
+23480-3928-8429
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan
+23480-3928-8429
On Monday, August 31, 2020, 06:09:20 PM GMT+1, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
Sent from my iPhone
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