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By Bimbola Oyesola
Against the backdrop of the protracted Academic Staff Union of Universities’ strike and the general state of Nigeria’s educational sector, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has tasked the Federal Government to facilitate urgent meeting of all the stakeholders for a lasting solution to the crisis.
This comes following the end of two weeks’ ultimatum given by President Muhammadu Buhari three weeks ago and the recent breakdown of consultation and negotiation between ASUU and government.
NECA’s director-general, Mr. Wale-Smatt Oyerinde, in an interview with Daily Sun, expressed concerns over the long-term damage that tertiary institutions’ closure could do to the nation.
He said, “For the umpteenth time in as many years, Nigerian universities and indeed educational system witnessed another crisis with the ASUU strike that has lasted for over five months. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in solidarity with ASUU, called for a national rally that was held from July 26 to 27, 2022. While the action of the NLC did a lot to compel government to give more attention to the protracted negotiations with ASUU, the reality remains that, beyond the resumed negotiation or finalization of agreement, the fundamentals of our education system are being destroyed.”
Stressing the need for urgent resolution of the crisis, Oyerinde noted that Nigeria ranking 40th in Africa in global ranking out of 164 countries in the world in the 2020 Human Capital Index should be a wakeup call.
While stating the implication of the incessant disruptions in the academic calendar on businesses and national development, Oyerinde opined that businesses were managed by people and human capital is a critical factor for the success of any endeavour, notwithstanding recent upsurge in artificial intelligence (AI).
He said, “Without the necessary competencies and skills by individuals, business sustainability and national development could be compromised.
“As the academic calendar continues to be disrupted, a critical mass of brilliant and intelligent Nigerian youths who ordinarily could have formed the foundation of Nigeria’s educational, industrial and technological revolution are being forced to leave the shores of the country to pursue higher education and seek employment opportunities in foreign lands.
“It is more worrisome to note that while Manufacturers and other real sector players grapple with scarce Foreign Exchange, what is available continues to be competed for by Nigerians. Recently, the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) released its May/June examination results. With a 5% decline in performance, stakeholders should be saddened.”
The NECA DG charged the government to take responsibility for the rot in the educational system and address the deep-rooted problems.
“Beyond the technicalities, accusations and counter-accusations, government should take responsibility and show regard for signed agreements, not only with ASUU, but with whoever such agreements were signed. Outside the ongoing negotiation with ASUU, a platform for engaging the whole unions/stakeholders in the tertiary education sector should be created in order to avoid the resolution of the ASUU dilemma leading to the commencement of another crisis in the same sector.
“Funding tertiary education is not cheap, rather than the creation of other mushroom universities, government will do well to focus on the funding of the current public universities, while a road-map for their total autonomy is established.”
He charged ASUU and government to put national interest at the forefront as negotiations progress, “while government must continue to demonstrate zero-tolerance for corruption and wastage in governance. It is indefensible to request ASUU to demonstrate commitment to national interest while government officials continue to demonstrate recklessness in the management of scarce national resources.”
