FGN-ASUU CRISIS: Need Or IdeologicalPragmatismBLOG | OCTOBER 31, 2013 -

“…Next in importance to freedom and justice is
popular education, without which neither
freedom nor justice can be permanently
maintained”. - James Abram Garfield
(1831-1881), 20th President of United States
of America.
On July 1st 2013 the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) which is the umbrella
body of all academic staff in the 74 federal
and state universities in Nigeria, that was
formed in 1978 as an offshoot of the Nigerian
Association of University Teachers (NAUT)
established in 1965 rose from its National
Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Olabisi
Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago-Iwoye, Ogun
State and resolved to embark on another fresh
round of total, comprehensive and indefinite
industrial action to compel the Federal
Government of Nigeria (FGN) to honour the
2009 Agreement and 2012 Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) it signed with the
leadership of ASUU led by its immediate past
President, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie on funding
requirements for the revitalization of Nigerian
public universities as well as the payment of
Earned Allowances of academic staff,
university autonomy and academic freedom
and myriads of other issues, has once again
brought to the front burner of national
discourse the issues of university education in
Nigeria vis-à-vis the critical issues of funding,
staff conditions of service and remuneration,
administration and government attention.
After perusing the over 50-page 2009 FGN-
ASUU Agreement and listening to the plethora
of misguided utterances and actions by some
groups and the need to put the issues behind
the present halt in academic activities in our
campuses in proper perspective so as to avoid
ambiguity, informed this write-up. For
analysis sake, it is imperative to look at the
background of issues which prompted ASUU to
embark on this fresh round of industrial
action, after less than two years of relatively
stable academic calendar in Nigerian public
universities after the 2011 industrial action
which was suspended on February 2, 2012.
In 2001, the FGN negotiation team, according
to ASUU National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola
Aremu entered into an agreement with ASUU
aimed at resuscitating the university system in
Nigeria and saving the system from total
collapse. The agreement according to him
provides for re-negotiation every three (3)
years for impact assessment and its
implementation. The agreement was due for
re-negotiation in 2004, but the FGN reneged
and it didn’t take place until 2007, when the
then Honourable Minister of Education Dr.
(Mrs.) Obiageli Ezekwesili, on behalf of the
FGN inaugurated the FGN-ASUU Re-
Negotiation Committee comprising the FGN
Re-Negotiation Team led by the then Pro-
Chancellor University of Ibadan, Deacon
Gamaliel O. Onosode (OFR), and the ASUU Re-
Negotiation Team led by the then President of
ASUU, Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano, and lasted
more than two (2) years to produce the 2009
Agreement, which was freely entered into by
ASUU and FGN. Out of the 10 issues agreed on
in 2009, 2 have been implemented (extension
of retirement age of academic staff in
professorial cadre from 65 to 70 years and
staff pension clause). Of the 8 remaining issue
none has caused more ruckus than the
revitalization of Nigerian universities as well
as the payment of Earned Allowances of
academic staff totaling N1.5 trillion spread
over three years, 2009-2011”. However three
(3) years lapsed, he claimed without any
action in this direction, necessitating the call
for industrial action. The above position was
confirmed by Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie
immediate past president of ASUU and current
Ag. VC Imo State University, Owerri and Dr.
Nasir Fagge, the current ASUU President in
different fora.
In the 2013 fiscal year alone Nigeria’s annual
budget profile stood at N4.9 trillion out of
which N426.53 billion was allocated to the
education sector representing 8.7% of our
annual budget with the university sub-sector
getting a paltry sum of N55.4 billion. The
World Bank in its report of global education in
2012 stated that allocation to education
sectors in some countries improved
tremendously with Ghana = 31%, Cote d’Ivoire
= 30.0%, Uganda = 27.0% South Africa =
25.8%, Swaziland = 24.6%, Kenya = 23.0%,
Botswana = 19.0%, Venezuela = 23.0%,
Mexico = 24.0%, United Arab Emirates (UAE) =
22.5%, Iran = 17. 1%, USA = 17.0%, Norway =
16.2%, and India = 12.7%. It is noteworthy to
know that in this intervening period our
annual budget allocation relative to the
education sector stood at 8.4%. It is also
painful and disheartening that Nigeria, which
is the intellectual hub of Africa (by given her
its first Nobel Literature Laureate), could
spend only 0.76% of its GDP on education,
while other less endowed countries invest
more of their GDP in education (Angola =
4.9%, Ghana = 4.4%, Kenya = 6.5%, South
Africa = 7.9%, Malawi = 5.4% and Tanzania =
3.4%) This amount does not only fall far
below the UNESCO 26% minimum benchmark
for allocation to the education sector by
developing countries in their annual budgets
so as to meet the UN MDGs, but has also far-
reaching negative implications and effects on
the ability of university administrator to
strategically position them to perform their
traditional roles of making the university a
place for teaching, learning, research and
community engagement, hence threatens the
realization of our national strategic vision of
making Nigeria among the top 20 leading
world economies in the year 2020.
The poor conditions of service of university
staff, which serve as a disincentive to work,
dilapidated and inadequate infrastructure in
our universities, shortage of teaching aids,
research laboratories, libraries, qualified and
experienced lecturers and a less conducive
learning environment occasioned by serious
security concerns due to the increasing
menace of cult activities as well as the anti-
intellectual stance of the establishment led to
mass exodus of generations of well trained,
experienced and world class intellectuals such
as Professors Chinua Achebe and Sam Okoye
(of blessed memory), Wole Soyinka, Niyi
Osundare, and Biodun Jeyifo and many others
to Europe, North America, South Africa and
Asia in search of the proverbial greener
pastures leading to the brain- drain syndrome
plaguing the Nigerian university system in
contemporary history. The above problems and
myriads of others have to some extent, tended
to accelerate or decelerate the pace and
dynamics of dysfunction in the growth and
development of the public university system in
Nigeria and the promotion of viable
intellectual culture. The problem of the
university system in Nigeria was aptly
captured by Prof. Peter Okebukola, former
Executive Secretary National Universities
Commission (NUC) in Nigerian Universities
and World Ranking: Issues, Strategies and
Forward Planning at the convocation
ceremony of Covenant University, Otta, Ogun
State and Prof. Niyi Osundare in his
valedictory lecture at the University of Ibadan
on July 26, 2005 titled: The Universe In The
University: A Scholar Poet’s Look From Inside
Out, published and serialized on the Daily
Guardian newspaper of August 4 & 8, 2005.
It is a compelling paradox that Nigeria so
richly endowed with human and natural
resources with over 167 million people
according to the National Population
Commission (NPC) data of year 2012, by far
the most populous country in Africa,
accounting for 47% of West Africa’s
population and over 2.26% of world
population, placing it at 7th position
according to 2010 UN estimates, with
approximate land mass of one million square
kilometers suitable for commercial agriculture
land over 34 solid minerals, largely untapped
an ranked among the top ten (10) crude oil
and natural gas exporters in the world by the
Vienna, Austria-based OPEC, with daily crude
oil output of 2.2 mbpd and 2nd largest African
economy, 6th fastest growing economy in
African with real GDP of 6.9% in 2011 and
nominal GDP of $280 billion as at 2011 fiscal
year, hence prides itself as the giant of Africa!
But the irony of it all is that with all this
potential, Nigeria is still grappling with trivial
issues of nation building, development and
optimum harnessing of its potentials.
With less than 20 per cent of about 1.5
million candidates that applied and sat for the
UTME in 2011 alone offered admission into
universities, over 12 million out of-school
children, 115 million adult illiterates, high
unemployment rate at an all-time high of 20.1
per cent, low life expectancy, averaging 45
years for men and women and over 70 per
cent of its citizens living below the poverty
line, coupled with its worst economic indices
of human development not only in sub-
Saharan Africa region but the world at large,
scoring on appalling 0.511 point and ranked
158th out of 182 countries in the UNDP HDI
report for year 2009, placing Nigeria at the
bottom of human development in the world.
The above scenario can be rationalized by the
negative effects of bad leadership, wrong
policy choices, policy inconsistencies and the
hydra-headed monster called corruption.
For many years successive governments have
not deemed it fit to prioritize education and
give it its pride of place in the scheme of
things, the adoption of neo-liberal policies of
the Bretton Woods Institutions - The World
Bank and The IMF which prescribes the
adoption of the Envelope System in budgeting,
by restricting the amount of money that will
be budgeted to any sector of the economy,
high cost of governance where about 75%
constitute recurrent expenditure of our annual
budget and loss of over $500 billion in
earnings to corruption between 1960-1999,
according to the Human Rights Watch Report
of 2007 and Global Financial Integrity
Initiative Repot of 2011 through fraudulent
schemes like contract inflation, kickbacks, fuel
subsidy schemes racketeering which are
laundered in tax free havens: Liechtenstein,
Cayman Island, Luxembourg and Jersey etc.
etc. All these factors contribute to our
underdevelopment as a nation. No wonder the
corruption perception index (CPI) report of
German-based Transparency International
ranks Nigeria as the 147th most corrupt
countries in the world out of 174 countries
polled in 2010.
The importance of education towards the
socio-economic, political and technological
development of any society cannot be
overemphasized. It is the catalyst and engine
room needed to drive any nation towards
greatness. The implication of the above
statement means that any nation that doesn’t
prioritizes education is bound to be under-
developed and relatively backward as the
statistics above reveals. The advanced nations
of the world like United States of America
(U.S.A), Japan and China, knowing the critical
role education plays in national development
annually commits the whopping sums of $282
billion, $104 billion, and $60 billion
respectively towards funding Education,
Science and Technology research and
development (R&D) initiatives. The impact of
this investment can be attested to their
positions in global ranking of development
competitiveness, standard and quality of life of
their citizens, with over 60% of the Top 400
universities in the world coming from these
countries, led by California Institute of
Technology (Caltech).
In this twenty-first century, where the influence
of globalization accelerated by discoveries in
microelectronics, information and
communication technology (ICT), space
science, telecommunication, engineering,
medicine, nanotechnology, trade, commerce
and finance have combined to make the world
a global village it makes it imperative for a
paradigmatic shift in university education
funding, administration and governance if we
are to be taken as a serious and forward
looking nation. A scenario where no Nigerian
university made it to the Top 400 ranking
positions of world major university ranking
organizations like webometrics, Times Higher
Education (THE) and 4icu.org is not only
shameful and embarrassing but an indictment
on our leadership and collective sense of
national pride as the giant of Africa! There are
two key indicators used to know how well a
university is faring. These are Growth
Competitiveness Index (GCI) and Public
Institutions Index (PII). In GCI, the World
Economic Forum (WEF) in 2004 ranks Nigeria
12th in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and 87th in
the world. In terms of PII , Nigeria ranks 20th
in SSA and 98th in the world. GCI uses hard
data and survey data for ranking institutions,
while PII is a composite of the contracts and
laws sub index and corruption sub index.
Nigeria ranks below such less endowed
countries as Cameroon, Namibia, Ghana and
Senegal.
In order to resolve the lingering industrial
dispute in our university system which is best
characterized by A. Rapoport (1974) as
asymmetric and structure-oriented conflict due
to its longstanding antagonistic and fractious
nature which makes its resolution intractable
and complicated, calls for constructive
engagement on the side of both ASUU and
FGN and deep reflection of ideological
pragmatism rather than rigidity. The ASUU
under the leadership of Dr. Nasir fagge should
as a matter of patriotism and strategic
national interest call off the industrial action
and return to lecture halls cross our
universities in the interest of longsuffering
students who have been compelled to spend 4
months at home, while efforts are being
intensified to settle their grievances.