otokx: Why should state universities also join in the strike?

The issue of state universities is another tough one. I work in a federal university, so it is easy for me to distance myself from them. However, selfishness aside, these are my thoughts:

In Nigeria, everything is politicized. As I have made clear, tertiary education is very expensive. Many states have no business owning universities because they cannot afford to. However, the people of the state will clamor, the governor who wants second term will promise etc, etc. Now, the universities have been created, but cannot be well-funded.

We then run the risk of having two distinct classes of universities in Nigeria, which, for many reasons, is not acceptable. So what to do? Charge the students the real cost of educating them? Uniosun and LASU are doing this I believe, to widespread outrage The other option is the most common one in Nigeria: dump it on the neck of FG. So during every negotiation, ASUU makes a pitch to government about the risks of having two different classes of universities. FG realizes how unfair it is to ask them to partly-fund universities created by states. However they also realize (I think) that the states cannot afford those universities, so they sprinkle some crumbs to the state universities (please note, all of this is my interpretation).

So why are state universities on strike? Because if they do not associate with ASUU, and get some crumbs from FG, they run the risk of being left to the states alone to fund, and they know that is just not going to happen.

I'm not saying I support this. I'm just tellin' the way I see it.

prof.femi:


Thank you all the same. I think you have said enough for people to get a good idea of the value of the education you got from your university.

u are been clever by half. Why did you leave out the main point in my post which is ASUU has no moral justification to talk about fg not implementing an agreement. By staying at home u greedy lectures has also breached their employement contract. If it were in the private universities u stay off work for just a day........

With or without ASUU Nigeria is moving forward.

And pls stop thanking me. Engage me. I thought u said that what u want?

oxford: And pls stop thanking me. Engage me. I thought u said that what u want?

Engage you, when you come in speaking in such a rude manner? Do you see the long replies I am giving others? I was giving you a wide berth because I wondered if you wanted to reason, or to fight based on the negative impression that your experience with your lecturers has given you.

If you want to debate with me, you will please do so in a civil manner or I will simply ignore you.

@prof Femi: ASUU members are currently enjoying unmerited pay which a lot of them aren't working for...Yes I mean it! There is no structure in the university system to make ASUU members accountable for the students in their charge it is terrible so terrible! If pushed I will start mentioning names with cases....

I have followed your posts meticulously on this thread, and found it worthy to input my little opinion.

I am a staunch enthusiast of ASUU's struggle. It is commendable.
I am of the view that, the reason most students are against this commendable struggle is due largely to poor publicity. ASUU should have put in place decisive strategies to address dearth of information so as to intimate my fellows on what this struggle is about. Over the years I have always longed for good education, education that encompasses that which obtains over here Nigeria. I am a student of MOUAU. I have always roamed our campus in search of facilities that would make me universally competent. I am not oblivious you all know the result of my quest. With the ongoing struggle embarked upon by ASUU, my dream might seem to be possible. Time, indeed can only tell. Prof.Femi, a "rare gem" is an understatement!

smartchoice: @prof Femi: ASUU members are currently enjoying unmerited pay which a lot of them aren't working for...Yes I mean it! There is no structure in the university system to make ASUU members accountable for the students in their charge it is terrible so terrible! If pushed I will start mentioning names with cases....

Please don't mention names I agree with you 100% The truth is that once any system gets comfortable with being a particular way, getting it to change is hard. The universities are structured in the inefficient way you mention, with lack of accountability at most levels (hey, lest we forget, this *is* a general Nigerian problem...). The fact however is that there are a few voices pushing for reforms. Some of those reformists are too brash and if you remember what Machiavelli said about why it is difficult to effect change, you will know why those brash reformists are often frustrated. However, there are more subtle reformists, of which I hope I am one.

Summary: yes, there are *many* things wrong with the system. I probably know one or two that you don't. However, believe me when I say there are people who are committed to giving their entire career to the hope that our education system will one day be where it should be.

@Williams nope! ASUU is a big part of the problem the Nigerian University system has!

smartchoice: @prof Femi: ASUU members are currently enjoying unmerited pay which a lot of them aren't working for...Yes I mean it! There is no structure in the university system to make ASUU members accountable for the students in their charge it is terrible so terrible! If pushed I will start mentioning names with cases....

Je suis d'accord avec vous. I agree with you that we need to shame some erring academics. But is this enough reason to run our universities aground? by refusing to fund them properly? Its only normal that those academics who are not up to par give way by the time the reforms start. We should avoid throwing the baby away with the bath water...

Williamchuks: I have followed your posts meticulously on this thread, and found it worthy to input my little opinion.

Thank you very much. Anyone who sees the volume of my output here over the last few days will wonder what I have to gain from it, or whether I have too much free time on my hands. Believe me, I am a very busy person (nope, I *don't* do runs!) . This time comes at a considerable cost to me. However, as you have noted, I realized that nobody was trying hard to try to explain things. I have decided to "donate" up till midnight tomorrow to posterity to try a little harder to make people understand "why we struck" (apologies to Ademoyega).

prof.femi:


Hmm. Unilorin is, for me, a thorny issue. They benefit from every ASUU strike, but don't get to do any of the dirty work. There is some history to this, which I won't like to go into. There is a certain element of monkey-dey-work-baboon-dey-chop element to it, but personally, I just believe that posterity acts as a filter that sorts out everything.


It's important to stress that ASUU is not this cult-like organization where everyone agrees to everything. all shades of opinion are usually expressed at meetings, and it is no surprise that some universities would, for whatever reason, decide not to take part in the strike. I am not here to judge whether that is right or wrong.

I have laid out the facts to the best of my abilities above. Let Nigerians decide whether ASUU has reason to take government on or not. If we can't make the system better, them no tie our leg down here, abi?

Then I think its unfair and partial for Unilorin not to join d strike afterall its an industrial action. Therefore,all public institution should be on strike and not sparing some.

I guess this is a trick question Of course nothing you mentioned has any place in a proper university. In my opinion, fund education well and put pressure on us to deliver. Those of us who do not deliver or who err, ship us out!

So it means students should continue to pay for d negligence in d sector?

It will be hard to answer this in a few words. Different universities use their IGR the way they see fit. If you want to know whether it is true that they embezzle most of it, I cannot fully speak to that. While there is inevitably going to be some losses due to corruption (this is Nigeria..) I have also seen enough to know that most people have no clue about how expensive the sundry aspects of running a university are.

we need to kill corruption and not d otherway round..some students look up to you guys (lecturers),they always follows ur footprints. U ppl should try n portray yourselves positively and lay good examples to follow by.

prof.femi:

Engage you, when you come in speaking in such a rude manner? Do you see the long replies I am giving others? I was giving you a wide berth because I wondered if you wanted to reason, or to fight based on the negative impression that your experience with your lecturers has given you.

If you want to debate with me, you will please do so in a civil manner or I will simply ignore you.

what do you term rude? Truth?
It time somebody stand up to ASUU. Am sure if i were the president, u wont be second quessing on how i will deal with this issues.

I have challenged u on key points but obviously u have no response to them

1. Lecturers are in breach of its terms of employement.

2. In terms moral and intergrity, ASUU is worse than the govt (i dont even want to talk about hand out racketering, marks for money, sexual assualt.....)

3. ASUU does not have Nigeria best interest at heart. ASUU is a selfish body that see strike action a tool of blackmail

4. ASUU is always on strike. Strike action is not the only tool at the disposal of trade unions. ( i should be lecturing u on this, u are a prof u know)

5. Like the president said, this strike is politicised. For ASUU to remain hell bent on what we all know is impossible ie govt should cought out 3trillion here and now!

6. Why am not surprise that opposition characters like elrufai, lie mohammed, npdp are suddently the mouth piece of ASUU?

ennon92: we need to kill corruption and not d otherway round..some students look up to you guys (lecturers),they always follows ur footprints. U ppl should try n portray yourselves positively and lay good examples to follow by.

I'm not sure I quite get what you mean.

oxford:

what do you term rude? Truth?
It time somebody stand up to ASUU. Am sure if i were the president, u wont be second quessing on how i will deal with this issues.

I have challenged u on key points but obviously u have no response to them

1. Lecturers are in breach of its terms of employement.

2. In terms moral and intergrity, ASUU is worse than the govt (i dont even want to talk about hand out racketering, marks for money, sexual assualt.....)

3. ASUU does not have Nigeria best interest at heart. ASUU is a selfish body that see strike action a tool of blackmail

4. ASUU is always on strike. Strike action is not the only tool at the disposal of trade unions. ( i should be lecturing u on this, u are a prof u know)

5. Like the president said, this strike is politicised. For ASUU to remain hell bent on what we all know is impossible ie govt should cought out 3trillion here and now!

6. Why am not surprise that opposition characters like elrufai, lie mohammed, npdp are suddently the mouth piece of ASUU?

Hope you won't mind if I decide not to debate you? I don't think we have the same conceptions of logic, evidence-based arguments, and politeness. Yes, I admit you have me totally floored. I have made my points. I will let others read yours and realize how terrible we are.

am not talking about non brilliant lecturers and am not talking about 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 or 15 of them!

olu_kenzo :


Je suis d'accord avec tous. I agree with you that we need to shame some erring academics. But is this enough reason to run our universities aground? by refusing to fund them properly? Its only normal that those academics who are not up to par give way by the time the reforms start. We should avoid throwing the baby away with the bath water...

prof.femi:


Hope you won't mind if I decide not to debate you? I don't think we have the same conceptions of logic, evidence-based arguments, and politeness. Yes, I admit you have me totally floored. I have made my points. I will let others read yours and realize how terrible we are.

mr. Prof come back here.

I wont let u get away with ur cheap propaganda! U came here with ur crafted interview trying to hoodwink unsuspecting public in an attempt to garner public sympathy for a selfish course and now that i confront u head on, u are running away.

Go back and tell those that sent u here that the cat is out and we can see through u.

smartchoice: am not talking about non brilliant lecturers and am not talking about 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 or 15 of them!

Ahem. Intelligence is not the only metric used to assess a lecturer. I know of "smart" lecturers who have been fired for acts of indiscipline. In short, if the 15+ lecturers you are referring to have been naughty, they should face the music, even if they are Einstein himself. However, methinks there is something specific bothering you. I think we should let you land. Perhaps mention cases, but please do not mention names. I don't want the thread sidetracked into a he-said-I-said-no-you-said forum.

Prof. Femi, in addiction, Lecturers should stop seeing themselves as demi gods. I can remember vividly how some of our lecturers treat us. That apparently wouldn't be attributed to paucity of funds.

Some of the lecturers are not worthy to be academicians.

oxford: mr. Prof come back here.

Against my better judgement, I will address your points. I do so solely because I don't know how many visitors to this thread reason like you, and I don't want that stale smell of a suggestion of retreat.

1. Lecturers are in breach of its terms of employement.
- So what if we are? What is your point? That we should be fired?

2. In terms moral and intergrity, ASUU is worse than the govt (i dont even want to talk about hand out racketering, marks for money, intimate assualt.....)
- This is a wild statement that you cannot substantiate. Dude, *what* university did you go to You make the place sound so bad.


3. ASUU does not have Nigeria best interest at heart. ASUU is a selfish body that see strike action a tool of blackmail
- Another wild statement. What is your evidence for this?

4. ASUU is always on strike. Strike action is not the only tool at the disposal of trade unions. ( i should be lecturing u on this, u are a prof u know)
- Yes. Please enlighten us with your version of Best Way to Get an Unserious Government to Perform its Duties.

5. Like the president said, this strike is politicised. For ASUU to remain hell bent on what we all know is impossible ie govt should cought out 3trillion here and now!
- if you bothered reading through my post, you will see where I said what ASUU needs is a sign that the government is serious.

6. Why am not surprise that opposition characters like elrufai, lie mohammed, npdp are suddently the mouth piece of ASUU?
- I refer you to my answer 25.

Williamchuks: Prof. Femi, in addiction, Lecturers should stop seeing themselves as demi gods.

To me, it comes down to getting what you paid for. The system is not yet good enough to perennially attract only top minds. Have you noticed that the most competent people never make life hard on others? It's the inept ones that usually go around with a chip on their shoulders. Tell me, from your interactions with me, do you think I see myself as a demi god? Don't get me wrong, I demand the best from my students. But when it comes to interacting with them...

So yes. Lecturers should stop seeing themselves as demi gods. But more importantly, the system should get competent lecturers who are unlikely to be forming rubbish.

FYI, I will need to go offline just before 10.30. I do need to get home. Now, why would I mention such a personal detail? Because I don't want certain individuals <cough...oxford...cough> to claim that I ran away...

you're right today I saw one of my colleagues working as a trailer mechanic...a brilliant student in our school days! A lot of lives have been turned upside down by these tutors...imagine a lecturer that comes to class to write a State equation----7 and jumps to eqn 41 and then eqn 57 then last one 76 and he expects the students to characterize the full model in exams! (UI), am close so close to mentioning names!

To the great OSUITES ADO EKITI (now EKSU) Science and Engineering students of then...am sure LT-7 is still in your minds! Or the Oluaye of Computer or The Redeemed Pastor in Civil Engineering who merrily tells the class that A is for God, B for himself and C for the brightest student! of course he meant it!
turned

prof.femi:


Ahem. Intelligence is not the only metric used to assess a lecturer. I know of "smart" lecturers who have been fired for acts of indiscipline. In short, if the 15+ lecturers you are referring to have been naughty, they should face the music, even if they are Einstein himself. However, methinks there is something specific bothering you. I think we should let you land. Perhaps mention cases, but please do not mention names. I don't want the thread sidetracked into a he-said-I-said-no-you-said forum.

Hit em up rage in my veins tonight

smartchoice: Hit em up rage in my veins tonight

Hmm, sofri sofri o Your point is very well taken: lots of us lecturers are grossly unprofessional. I know exactly what you are talking about. However, I do believe (or hope?) they are in the minority.

Williamchuks: Prof. Femi, in addiction, Lecturers should stop seeing themselves as demi gods. I can remember vividly how some of our lecturers treat us. That apparently wouldn't be attributed to paucity of funds.

Some of the lecturers are not worthy to be academicians.

Touché! Need I remind you that "lecturers" are humans too and thus are susceptible to fallibilities just like the rest of us. However, this is not to justify what those guys put us through. We meet mean people everywhere.
Take for example, at work, I have this boss who is mean and unfeeling, and there is this other one who's outlook is a stark opposite to the former's. People are that way. I hope you get my point?

olu_kenzo :
The prof has thrown down the gauntlet. I have always been a staunch believer in the gospel of this ASUU strike, so I fall in the "as mentioned" category, however, I think you left out some of the important benefits of the strike to the students.

1. What is the benefit of attending school when "graduates" would still need years of moulding to be able to function in the least? half-baked, somebody? Effectively, what is worth doing at-all, is worth done best.

2. In furtherance to the above, not only the students will get reap the fruit of better education, the society will work better too. I'm not a member of ASUU, at least not for now, but I convinced we share the same view on this point.

etc etc...

The problems u raised are not due to lack of infrastructure but due to the fact dat these lecturers are lazy, greedy and not committed to their jobs.

Sadly they are not...imagine the current Dean of The Faculty of The Social Sciences coming to a Masters' class unprepared and banging his head and stamping his feet trying to remember something in class! Yet such a man is still populating UI with his "boys" then imagine what dysfunctional educational system growing there!

prof.femi:

Hmm, sofri sofri o Your point is very well taken: lots of us lecturers are grossly unprofessional. I know exactly what you are talking about. However, I do believe (or hope?) they are in the minority.

ZackiGp: The problems u raised are not due to lack of infrastructure but due to the fact dat these lecturers are lazy, greedy and not committed to their jobs.

So what's your solution? Fire them, right? And replace them with whom? With brilliant first class students who will never touch this job with a long pole (I wonder why?) or replace them with primarily second-class students and o-wase-wases (those wey look for work tire)? We are back to the point: fund education properly and things will sort themselves out. Then we can fire the ones who don't perform, in the knowledge that we will be able to replace them with brilliant graduates.

smartchoice: Sadly they are not...

You're indeed feeling rage The picture you paint is the sort of thing that makes me seethe in anger.

On the one hand, I feel bad seeing colleagues thrown under the bus, but to be frank with you, I am sick and tired of this system. If we need to name and shame people, so be it. I still maintain though that when it comes to being stuck with incompetent lectures or those with nasty attitudes, the only solution is for universities to be able to attract the higest quality replacements if necessary. Then, people would sit up.

ZackiGp:
The problems u raised are not due to lack of infrastructure but due to the fact dat these lecturers are lazy, greedy and not committed to their jobs.

I didn't raise problems brother, at least not in that post you quoted. I highlighted the benefits that accrues to US -- students, parents, Nigerians etc etc -- when our schools are reformed...

prof.femi:

Against my better judgement, I will address your points. I do so solely because I don't know how many visitors to this thread reason like you, and I don't want that stale smell of a suggestion of retreat.

1. Lecturers are in breach of its terms of employement.
- So what if we are? What is your point? That we should be fired?

2. In terms moral and intergrity, ASUU is worse than the govt (i dont even want to talk about hand out racketering, marks for money, intimate assualt.....)
- This is a wild statement that you cannot substantiate. Dude, *what* university did you go to You make the place sound so bad.


3. ASUU does not have Nigeria best interest at heart. ASUU is a selfish body that see strike action a tool of blackmail
- Another wild statement. What is your evidence for this?

4. ASUU is always on strike. Strike action is not the only tool at the disposal of trade unions. ( i should be lecturing u on this, u are a prof u know)
- Yes. Please enlighten us with your version of Best Way to Get an Unserious Government to Perform its Duties.

5. Like the president said, this strike is politicised. For ASUU to remain hell bent on what we all know is impossible ie govt should cought out 3trillion here and now!
- if you bothered reading through my post, you will see where I said what ASUU needs is a sign that the government is serious.

6. Why am not surprise that opposition characters like elrufai, lie mohammed, npdp are suddently the mouth piece of ASUU?
- I refer you to my answer 25.

Empty responses!!!

1. Yes u all should be fired! What are guys been paid for? For running ur photocopy centres? Since u agreed u guys have breached an agreement then dont come here and tell about a 2009 silly agreement( or isnt asking govt to transfer land to ASUU silly?)
2. Wild statement? Ok so ASUU is see no evil, hear no evil abi? Prof i challenge u to tell this house if u as a person has ever or not sold handout before. This is an intergrity test.
3. Go check the dictionary definition of blackmail
4. Ever heard of street protest, ever heard of industrial court? What about partial strike action?
5. 130 billion + bugetary allocation + etf fund is not enough sign? What other sign are u asking for? The sign of jona i quess
6. My take is that ASUU will make a very good political party, why not apply to inec to be registered as one?

ASUU = strike. Kindly prove otherwise

Prof Femi I'm sure when this hits FP you will get worse comments than that of 'oxford'...

Concerning Universities dat do not participate but benefit from all industrial actions Like UNI-ILLORIN,please can you shed more Light on dis.

I'm sure it has to do with the UNI-ILLorin 33 or 44, can't rily rememba all the details but dis incident occured sometime in the early part of the new millenium, maybe btw 2001 and 2005 when some lecturers from dat school were sacked for embarkin on an industrial action and had to take dia case up to the Supreme court.

Is dia no other way schools behave like Uni-illorin...

hmmmmmmn, u gat some point there prof buh dis strike is really affectin us (students). ASUU knws very well d FG is nt ready to meet d conditions laid down, are we just goin 2 sit and watch d educational system go down d drain? ASUU shud try 2 reach a compromise wit d govt. Anyways, i've alwayz blived dat agreement is agreement and it shud b honoured, buh dis is gettin too much and m juz soo tired of stayin @ home