Gradually, it’s going to be 200 days that Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other campus-based unions have gone on strike over some knotty issues; including poor conditions of Universities, non implementations of signed agreements by the federal government as well as poor conditions of service of the knowledge workers. The strike which began on February 14, 2022 has not only paralyzed academic activities on campuses, it has negatively skewed so many destinies and destroyed not a few life ambitions!
However, the focus of this small piece is to challenge some major stakeholders in this case on why they have been playing possum over this prolonged crisis, remaining silent as if they had lost their voices even when Dante Alighieri asserted that the “darkest places in hell should be reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. This is a time of moral crisis. A time President Buhari is feeling unconcerned about the plight of our children! A time Boko Haram activists are celebrating that they have succeeded in banning and proscribing scholarship in Nigeria! A time millions of university students are rotten at home! A time government has stopped the salaries of university workers including academic and non teaching staff for more than five months, leaving them to die of hunger and starvation! And, you keep quiet, You?
1. Governor Kayode Fayemi: You keep quiet. You are the Chairman of Governors’ Forum. You profess to be Awoist with your trademark Awo cap. You are from Ekiti state, the Fountain of Knowledge. You are from South West where education is a major industry. Mr. Governor, what have you been doing over this matter? Have you raised it at your Forum? Can’t you prevail on President Buhari to dialogue with the aggrieved university workers? If northern Governors will not flow with you, can’t you call on all other south west Governors and visit President Buhari in order to resolve this matter? Governor Fayemi, it is not enough to be donning Awo’s cap every day, you should be seen as defending Awo’s legacy. Education is one of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s legacies without which this writer would not have been able to taste education to the university level. Governor Fayemi, please wake up!
2. Traditional Rulers: You are our fathers. You are the custodians of values and culture. You elders say, “elders should not be present in a market place and allow matters to go awry” . What is going on here? Your children have been sitting idle at home for the past six months and you are comfortable enjoying the company of ‘oloris’ in this cool weather! With due respect, Sirs, kindly get up and visit President Buhari. Call leaders of the unions and visit President Buhari in Aso Rock and broker peace. The cumulative impact of this prolonged strike is unimaginable! Our children are gradually losing interest in education. And, that is the intention of Boko Haram and their supporters and grand commander. Dear Kabiyesis, k’ade o pe lori, please, call yourselves together, Ooni, Olubadan, Alake, Oba of Lagos, Emirs of Kano, Sokoto, Gbong Gwom of Jos among others, I respectfully call on you to wade into this matter. What we want is truce and peace. Let the students return to school.
3. Religious leaders: You preach peace every day. Both of you Christian and Muslim leaders. Why are you so aloof in this case? What have you been doing? Yes, I know some of you have directed your congregants to pray. After prayers, there should be actions. Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), Islamic scholars and leaders, get involved. Pay courtesy call on President Buhari. Mount pressure on all these people whose priority is 2023 elections. We know that their children are not here in Nigeria. But you can appeal to them to do the needful. This matter should be resolved. Students have stayed much longer than necessary at home.
4. National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS): The pressure is not enough. You have been too docile. Has the leadership been settled? Have you been bought? Shouting Peter Obi up and down shouldn’t drown your education. Wake up, don’t collect any money. Fight for your tomorrow.
Footnote: Like every other parent, I am very uncomfortable seeing students who are supposed to be in school, staying at home doing nothing. Four of them are leaving with me in the University of Ibadan. Their ages are irreversible. Their lives are at stake. Their counterparts all over the world are fast moving on in this highly competitive global market. Let us all work towards the betterment of the lives of these students. I will be glad to see action from the people I have mentioned as from next week. President Buhari, no father abandons his children to die in wilderness of hopelessness and helplessness. I know you are itching to leave, but don’t leave this matter for the incoming administration to handle! It takes nothing away from you Sir to invite ASUU leadership to a meeting and beg them for understanding.
Saanu writes from Ibadan.
