Owk Prof, I'v followed this tread closely...and i'ld want to understand something. Why in any sensible reasoning would ASUU, in it's bid to revive the University's infrastructure watch things pass during the budjet defense and approval for 2013. It's like somebody wakes up in June and expect that government starts to make efforts in paying 3trillion.Then we here of a strike action that could have been completely averted if ASUU planned properly. What I expected to see was..a strike that began towards the year end, ASUU submits an Educational Reform Bill to the House of Assembly, we see adequate efforts been made in realizing this by both ASUU and the FG...and no student is made to suffer. I see no point in all this..we would hv to wait till nxt year...so why the 6 or more months strike?

Eminey: Owk Prof, I'v followed this tread closely...and i'ld want to understand something. Why in any sensible reasoning would ASUU, in it's bid to revive the University's infrastructure watch things pass during the budjet defense and approval for 2013. It's like somebody wakes up in June and expect that government starts to make efforts in paying 3trillion.Then we here of a strike action that could have been completely averted if ASUU planned properly. What I expected to see was..a strike that began towards the year end, ASUU submits an Educational Reform Bill to the House of Assembly, we see adequate efforts been made in realizing this by both ASUU and the FG...and no student is made to suffer. I see no point in all this..we would hv to wait till nxt year...so why the 6 or more months strike?

Thank you. As you know, in Nigeria, we make so much noise about things following due process. ASUU has been engaging the government *continually* since last year at least. Government has been giving excuses all along. ASUU has claimed they wrote the government over 50 (or is it 70?) times, and the government is yet to refute that. I think June just happened to be the time that ASUU came to the conclusion that the FG was just "posting" it.

texazzpete:

I am totally thrilled that you have taken yourself and your inane, defeatist logic out of this conversation. I read your initial posts with mounting disbelief that anyone could be so silly.

The problem I've noticed with you and many other Nairalanders here is the fallacy of hasty generalization, as well as a chronic desire to reach for hyperbole at every moment. There ARE crooked lecturers. Some are womanizers. Some are extremely cruel. That much I agree. But saying "Most lecturers are 'unqualified, corrupt and unfit'" is as m0r0nic as someone saying "most students are cultists and brutal killers" because they've had bad experiences with cultists.

I feel sorry for prof.femi. He has displayed more tolerance than I would have, but it must feel like casting 'pearls before swine' at the moment. This is a forum where people like you will call lecturers out for being 'unqualified' yet complained bitterly when ASUU went on strike to press for more befitting remuneration for its members. I graduated in 2004. The best graduating student in Engineering in my set finished with a GPA of 4.89. The school offered this Electrical/Electronics Engineering graduate automatic employment. Do you know what the young Engineer did? He turned it down to become a cashier at Zenith Bank. So where are the qualified lecturers to come from when the best and brightest grads see the current system as not being lucrative enough, or are put off by the decaying infrastructure ?

We face a critical time in our history. We NEED to DRAMATICALLY improve out tertiary educational system with enough investment to boost infrastructure, hire better talent and motivate existing talent. We NEED to do this quickly!

Sometimes, the utter lack of shame in many of you undergraduates (and fresh graduates) makes me laugh. You do not feel shame that accounting graduates need to be put through a long training program to enter any of these local banks. You do not feel shame that your laboratories do not work. You do not feel shame that your country touts a space program that none of your Universities offers. You do not feel shame that homeless palestinians can build Qassam II rockets while your graduates will struggle to even put together a garden variety solid-fuel rocket with blackpowder propellant. You do not feel shame that private universities like Covenant Uni are outpacing the venerable Universities.

ASUU has my support in this strike, 100%. Full support to the Resident Doctors Strike. This is the crucial moment where we choose to be patriotic and reposition Nigeria for the future...or when we accept our place as the 'cannon fodder' for the rest of Africa. Such a shame some of you are all too willing to slip into bovine complacency and accept a future where we are subservient to the likes of Ghana. The race is NEVER about resources and population...which is why Israel (with a MUCH higher focus on Education and Technology) is easily able to outmuscle the likes of Saudi Arabia.

at first i thought of ignoring you but then you might out of folly think that is because you made any sense. If actually u graduated top of ur class as u claimed then God help us; no one else can. ASUU should really be asking for 10 trillions!

Ur zenth bank is enbeded with lot of employee issues, at a point staff salaries were slashed by over 50% - where were ur balls then? Am aware of a lot of contractualization in the banking sectors, how comes ur support for strike there where u are worked like a donkey is less 0%?

By ur theory, all institution that has for form of challenge or the other should down tool abi? People dey shay! Just tell one human institution world wide that does not have challenge with funding?

Am not in to name calling contest with you. Am way out of ur league.

Whoever awarded you that grade is a bigger problem than ASUU, trust me

I really have to go offline now, but please fire in the comments and queries. I will be sure to return here from time to time.

So prof...look at this description...this man in his "hummer" gets bashed by a man on his "okada"....the Hummer's gets down...and grab d okada's by his throat...oh u must pay for the damages he says....the Okada's is like...oga...I no get money now....meanwhile a hold up is building(the hold up can be interpreted as us students..and others affected by the strike, the Hummer's ASUU with all the authority...and the okada man's the FG..lacking enough money as we speak).....the hold up lingers as the Hummer's bent on...pay me or the hold up's gonna last for as long..."we don't care"..."we r fighting a just course"....so the Okada man's pressured to find money as he goes away to come bck nxt year...what would u do if u are stuck in diz hold up?....what would u fink of the Hummer's that's refused to park well...and negotiate with the Okada's...averting hold up and d likes...

Prof Femi, would ASUU consider a termination of the strike if its infrastructure demands are met but not the allowance demands?

Mr academic, u r simply defendin ur own and I can understand that. I'm doin PG in one of d affected schools where I sponsor myself financially n otherwise, ur strike is nt helpin me ok. Incase u want to apologise, keep ur apology to urself.

Prof femi continue to talk about under funding of the universities.What about the yearly subvention granted to these schools by government nd the IGR they generate?

prof.femi:


Thank you. I have just one question for you. How do you recruit good lecturers then? How many first class students do you know who pick up lecturing? Can you tell me why? Thank you.

You have been using this line and I find it very deceitful. You dont need more money to get better lecturers, except you are saying the FG should go and recruit lecturers from the USA. If you are really honest, post your salary for us to see. I have a good idea how much lecturers are paid in Nigeria because my brother is one. Interestingly, he is not interested in this your strike and thinks you guys are being selfish and deceitful. Does a good lecturer in Ghana earn more money than you? You guys are very well paid and you keep trying to tell us no good lecturer would want to receive your salary. How much is the average salary out there? Most of the folks working in banks and going around with big suits and ties earn less than you. Many MTN, Glo and Airtel staff still earn 40, 000 - 80, 000. How much is the salary for an entry level lecturer? Please tell us! And now FG is still paying billions in allowance which you claim you guys have earned by either asking students to come to you for "blocking" or harassing female students for marks! How exactly have you earned anything? In fact, it is ironic that on one hand, you claim the lecturers cant produce good students because they are not well funded, and on the other hand, you claim you have earned some kind of allowance? You mean you have earned good allowances for the poor job you do? I told you, you aint being honest at all at all!

I must say professor your opinion is very professional. .. I also am a student who many would describe as the suffering grass but I think otherwise... for I believe life is more about my reaction than the occurence. No doubt the universities need to be developed and when I hear stories of billions on news I laugh because storytellers never make history and offcourse those who make history dont tell stories, they work. I want to stop hearing stories of allocation of funds I want to start seeing pictures of new state of the art facilities on the news, that is the work needed not all these stories.
Besides when people bemoan about ASUU I laugh and laugh cos most people dont put themselves in ASUU's shoes.... no doubt does days when my mum sent me to chase a hen "(chicken)" which had escaped, after much chasing, once I caught it, I never let it go. So I dont blame ASUU. And if Nigeria must change some persons must pay the price. If its in my time no wahala. Education is so sacrosanct.

dontops: I must say professor your opinion is very professional. .. I also am a student who many would describe as the suffering grass but I think otherwise... for I believe life is more about my reaction than the occurence. No doubt the universities need to be developed and when I hear stories of billions on news I laugh because storytellers never make history and offcourse those who make history dont tell stories, they work. I want to stop hearing stories of allocation of funds I want to start seeing pictures of new state of the art facilities on the news, that is the work needed not all these stories.
Besides when people bemoan about ASUU I laugh and laugh cos most people dont put themselves in ASUU's shoes.... no doubt does days when my mum sent me to chase a hen "(chicken)" which had escaped, after much chasing, once I caught it, I never let it go. So I dont blame ASUU. And if Nigeria must change some persons must pay the price. If its in my time no wahala. Education is so sacrosanct.

....oh...pay the price of stagnation...and then the strike without adequate plans is rily encouraging aii?...and u don't care wot happens to students and all...people whose rights hv been trampled upon...

You keep comparing our universities to US and Ghana but you never compare the price the students pay for them.

Education is never run by government alone, Fashola knows this hence LASU new fees, until we start to value our education (instead of these so-called free education), government injecting 100 trillion naira won't mean shit

Eminey: ....oh...pay the price of stagnation...and then the strike without adequate plans is rily encouraging aii?...and u don't care wot happens to students and all...people whose rights hv been trampled upon...

Nice point my dear I love your veracious observations its true the strike has no plan, its alao true rights are being trampled upon. But its also true that when a man is given food in prison and beaten like a slave, his rights are still contravened, so half-baked education is also an abuse of the rights of student it therefore makes no difference. Furthermore when you speak of a plan, I believe our dead educational system also has no plans of improving, but every plan of dying, for as the saying goes if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. I also believe the ASUU strike is ASUU's plan to bring government to respect the sacrosanctness of education and improve the sector. And i am really sorry I dont sound so sympathetic about students, let me reteriate I also am a student, and I am affected by this strike but like Karl Marx said there is no war without bloodshed, there is seldom success without sacrifice and there is never greatness without the delay of immediate gratification.

Dear prof femi, I must really commend your efforts for all you have said in this forum. But I must point out that you have taken a position concerning this issue and no other person will convince you to shift grounds. But from all the comments and replies so far, it's pretty evident that most people here on nairaland didn't agree with your line of thoughts. Yes, tertiary education is expensive but ASUU should be reasonable with this strike and try to accept whatever government has given them. There are so many sectors of our economy that needs urgent attention just like education. Please, try and discuss with ASUU to return to class. This long stay at home will greatly batter the image of tertiary institution in nigeria. I must also say that oxford has done a great criticism of prof femi's position.

There's a lot to be said about this subject but I will try and be as brief as possible.

texazzpete:
I feel sorry for prof.femi. He has displayed more tolerance than I would have, but it must feel like casting 'pearls before swine' at the moment. This is a forum where people like you will call lecturers out for being 'unqualified' yet complained bitterly when ASUU went on strike to press for more befitting remuneration for its members. I graduated in 2004. The best graduating student in Engineering in my set finished with a GPA of 4.89. The school offered this Electrical/Electronics Engineering graduate automatic employment. Do you know what the young Engineer did? He turned it down to become a cashier at Zenith Bank. So where are the qualified lecturers to come from when the best and brightest grads see the current system as not being lucrative enough, or are put off by the decaying infrastructure ?

Few things irritate me as this dubious line of argument which I put in bold in the quote above and which goes as follows: Employee A should be paid more because employee B, operating in an entirely different sector by the way, is paid more. It stems from a profound misunderstanding that wages are largely a product of the interplay of the demand for and the supply of labour, with demand being a function of the financial resources of the employer. The notion that one group of employees, in this case university lecturers, deserve more by comparison to another group may perhaps be worthy of a debate about societal values and the like but is not the basis of sound economics or good policy making. It simply does not follow, even if you accept the premise that university lecturers should be paid more, that a person who ''deserves'' a higher wage must therefore be granted higher wages. I say this as a resident of country where train drivers with little more than A Levels (WAEC or JAMB equivalent) often make more than lecturers in Oxford and Cambridge (See the following links: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/52000-a-year-pay-deal-for-tube-drivers-and-theres-no-ban-on-strikes-6449485.html & [url]http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_May_2012/attachments/Average_salary_of_academic_staff.pdf [/url])

It is not even clear that Nigerian lecturers deserve a higher wage if the question is determined by reference to Nigeria's financial resources. From my understanding, starting wages for lecturers in Nigeria are around 800,000 Naira or $4900 per year in a country where most live on less than $1 a day, almost a million children die each year due to poor health conditions, life expectancy is at levels last found in medieval Europe and few have access to things like pipe-borne water or regular electricity. Of all the country's pressing needs, why is boosting the income of the relatively far better off in Nigeria (it will be fair to say our lecturers are at least in the 95th percentile of wage earners) the focus of our attention?

The usual retort is to say that lecturers should be paid more when one considers the vast waste caused by corruption and theft. However, it is not clear why savings from waste should be directed to the well off and not to the vast majority of Nigerians for whom life is short, nasty and brutish. I have made this point in earlier posts but it is worth making again: increasing public sector wages requires trade offs and is in effect a zero sum game. Every increase in wages or expenditure in one particular area is met by a reduction in spending in another area. The national budget, if paid to each individual Nigerian, will work out at less than 32,000 Naira or $200 per person per year. You can bet your last Naira that increases in lecturers wages won't be met by reductions in oil theft or legislators wages, it will simply be met by reductions in public investments: fewer roads, medicine, hospitals and schools. Sincere 9gerian, though a paid hack, made a salient point that all the strike actions by ASUU and the consequent increase in wages have barely made a jot of difference to standards of education or the quality of life in Nigeria. This is why our recurrent expenditure is so high, we simply allocate more and more portions of the national budget to public sector workers in response to strike actions when economic growth and better standards of living require that money should be channeled towards public infrastructure. Do you know how much lecturers wages have increased in nominal terms over the last 2 decades whilst most Nigerians progressively slide into more poverty?

Make no mistake, I have always said that Nigeria needs to spend significantly more on education as this builds up human capital. Where I differ from the ASUU defenders is my belief that this requires building more schools and providing more educational facilities and not simply wiring more money into lecturers bank accounts and certainly not an emphasis on university education. Why in a country where many don't make it to primary school and vast swathes of people, particularly in the North, do not finish secondary school do we think that University education alone, which benefits a minority made up of mainly Southerners justifies spending of close to 15% of the annual budget? Prioritising university education when primary and secondary education is appalling, is like building a house and starting with the roofing first.

I support any strike action, be it by the NLC or the like, to force political change in general or specific politicians to resign. In respect of the latter, would a strike action by NUPENG or PENGASSAN not have an effect on the odious Ms Allison Madueke? What irritates me is when unions, a la ASUU, strike simply to increase their wages whilst operating behind the cloak of fighting for the general good. In my time in UNN, we witnessed protracted strikes preceeded by soaring talk of fighting for the general welfare of the university sector only for the strikes to be
called off when the wage demands were met with no discernible improvement in university facilities.

We will never learn until we realise that in a country of 170 million, policy and spending priorities have to maximise projects that affect the greatest number of people. University education, as laudable as it is, is a fixation for only a minority of Nigerians. While you and I are busy arguing on Nairaland about whether lecturers should be given more money, most of our country men and women will go to be hungry wondering where the next meal will come from. This is no way to develop a country.

dontops:

Nice point my dear I love your veracious observations its true the strike has no plan, its alao true rights are being trampled upon. But its also true that when a man is given food in prison and beaten like a slave, his rights are still contravened, so half-baked education is also an abuse of the rights of student it therefore makes no difference. Furthermore when you speak of a plan, I believe our dead educational system also has no plans of improving, but every plan of dying, for as the saying goes if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. I also believe the ASUU strike is ASUU's plan to bring government to respect the sacrosanctness of education and improve the sector. And i am really sorry I dont sound so sympathetic about students, let me reteriate I also am a student, and I am affected by this strike but like Karl Marx said there is no war without bloodshed, there is seldom success without sacrifice and there is never greatness without the delay of immediate gratification.

I completely agree wit u...I'm not saying ion't see sense in all of this..I'm saying...ur rights 'll always end where anoda begins....u see...I know 6months or more strikes ain't gonna do anybody no good. Even if 10trillion is poured into the educational system tonit...we won't see any significant changes until Ten years from now!....so the question....R dey not aware of this?...y strike for 1yr and affect poor studs...wen change won't been seen until 10yrs...I bliv if there's gonna be any change in the educational sector...it's not a chain event of strikes that'll bring about it...it involves proper planning...logistics...Policy and Bill amendment/ review...it takes time to do these things...ur idea's dat...we sit at home all this while aii?...and then...3trillion is paid...good structures?...and u fink itz gonna do anyfin to change the course of things?...well I'm not u...if I was u...I'll rethink this.

Prof femi, ur write up reeks of bias & I make bold to say that the so called academics/ lecturers are liars and so corrupt! Here is are some examples:
1. At University of Ibadan,while this current strike is still on and ASUU members are refusing to attend to students, the Dean of Faculty of Law in connivance with the VC organised clandestine examination for the final year Law students so that they can have their children leave for Law school! SO WHY SET DOUBLE STANDARDS

2.What do we say about universities giving honourary degrees to money bags of questionable characters while turning blind eyes to real deserving individuals. I KNOW UNIVERSITY DONS WANT TO NETWORK WITH BIG MEN.

3. ;DProf femi, ur write up reeks of bias & I make bold to say that the so called academics/ lecturers are liars and so corrupt! Here is are some examples:
1. At University of Ibadan,while this current strike is still on and ASUU members are refusing to attend to students, the Dean of Faculty of Law in connivance with the VC organised clandestine examination for the final year Law students so that they can have their children leave for Law school! SO WHY SET DOUBLE STANDARDS

2.What do we say about universities giving honourary degrees to money bags of questionable characters while turning blind eyes to real deserving individuals. I KNOW UNIVERSITY DONS WANT TO NETWORK WITH BIG MEN.

3.Nigerian Professors now retiring at 70 years is a huge joke. While their counterparts in other educationally developed climes have their retirement age below 65 years. Everyone knows all these are for personal gain of ego & power in the ivory tower. WE KNOW OUR UNIVERSITY DONS SECRETELY ADMIRE OUR DEAR MUGABE & MUBARAK!

Pls let me stop cos I don't want to spill more bean! ASUU is just another typical congregation of people just like PDP, PENGASSAN, APC, NPF, SSANU etc. All fighting for personal gains & not for the common man. QED.

Iriruaga100: Prof femi continue to talk about under funding of the universities.What about the yearly subvention granted to these schools by government nd the IGR they generate?

You surely didn't read every page of this thread. You said IGR? You're funny. When the schools start charging 500000-1000000naira per session, then you can come back with the IGR talk.

Just to point out that the aforementioned countries u mentioned, u are designated as an INTERNATIONAL STUDENT...U obviously cant compare ur fees with those of the local indigens or home students.
Moreover in the UK, most of the students are all on student lons which they would have to pay back to the government installmentally once they graduate and start working

stagger: Prof. Femi,

You are so exactly on point.

I was a university student when ASUU was on strike in 1992 for 9 months and in 1996 for 6 months. Not to count the numerous school closures we had as a result of riots against the university authorities to improve conditions, the same conditions ASUU is fighting for.

My first year school fees? N40. My first year accommodation? N110.

By the time I left school, my total school fees and accommodation was not more than N10,000. So when we check the total fees I paid in my first degree, it could not come to more than N100,000 in school fees and accommodation combined: less than $650. LAUGHABLE.

ANY WONDER WHY FACILITIES AND CONDITIONS WERE SIMPLY SO DIFFICULT FOR US?

Fast forward a few years. Did 2 post graduate programs in Australia and Europe. Total cost? Tuition fees alone: nearly $40,000. Not counting living expenses, accommodation (paid in three months what I paid for my house back in PH for a whole year).

Check out the difference: paying less than N100,000 total school fees in Nigeria, as opposed to $40,000 (N6.6million) for post graduate degrees abroad.

THE COLD HARD TRUTH: Nigerians love good things but do not want to pay for them.

ASUU is fighting a very just cause for Nigerian students who have totally failed to see the big picture. A day will come when ASUU will stop agitating to get the Nigerian government to do their work: fund public universities. PUBLIC universities are GOVERNMENT PROPERTY. How can a house owner totally neglect to take care of his own property?

The only other option when ASUU stops agitating: NIGERIAN STUDENTS WILL START PAYING TUITION FEES. By the time a student in UNILAG or UNIABUJA or UNIMAID or LAUTECH will start paying N3million, N5million, N10,million a year, then the eyes of Nigerian students will open and they will start screaming: HAD WE KNOWN! Then it will be too late.

sage007: Prof femi, ur write up reeks of bias & I make bold to say that the so called academics/ lecturers are liars and so corrupt! Here is are some examples:
1. At University of Ibadan,while this current strike is still on and ASUU members are refusing to attend to students, the Dean of Faculty of Law in connivance with the VC organised clandestine examination for the final year Law students so that they can have their children leave for Law school! SO WHY SET DOUBLE STANDARDS

2.What do we say about universities giving honourary degrees to money bags of questionable characters while turning blind eyes to real deserving individuals. I KNOW UNIVERSITY DONS WANT TO NETWORK WITH BIG MEN.

3. ;DProf femi, ur write up reeks of bias & I make bold to say that the so called academics/ lecturers are liars and so corrupt! Here is are some examples:
1. At University of Ibadan,while this current strike is still on and ASUU members are refusing to attend to students, the Dean of Faculty of Law in connivance with the VC organised clandestine examination for the final year Law students so that they can have their children leave for Law school! SO WHY SET DOUBLE STANDARDS

2.What do we say about universities giving honourary degrees to money bags of questionable characters while turning blind eyes to real deserving individuals. I KNOW UNIVERSITY DONS WANT TO NETWORK WITH BIG MEN.

3.Nigerian Professors now retiring at 70 years is a huge joke. While their counterparts in other educationally developed climes have their retirement age below 65 years. Everyone knows all these are for personal gain of ego & power in the ivory tower. WE KNOW OUR UNIVERSITY DONS SECRETELY ADMIRE OUR DEAR MUGABE & MUBARAK!

Pls let me stop cos I don't want to spill more bean! ASUU is just another typical congregation of people just like PDP, PENGASSAN, APC, NPF, SSANU etc. All fighting for personal gains & not for the common man. QED.

I'll only address one issue which is the retirement age. You know education is faster in those "educationally developed climes" right? You know the factors that prolong PG education here will be reduced significantly if the FG honours the ASUU agreement right?

oxford:

at first i thought of ignoring you but then you might out of folly think that is because you made any sense. If actually u graduated top of ur class as u claimed then God help us; no one else can. ASUU should really be asking for 10 trillions!

Your problem is crystal clear now. You have severe difficulties comprehending written English. I never claimed to be the best graduating student in my set, It is clear to all but the most inebriated that I was referring to someone else. It's a dead giveaway that I used words like 'He' not 'I'.

oxford:

Ur zenth bank is enbeded with lot of employee issues, at a point staff salaries were slashed by over 50% - where were ur balls then? Am aware of a lot of contractualization in the banking sectors, how comes ur support for strike there where u are worked like a donkey is less 0%?

I have never worked with Zenith Bank, or even banked with them. See my response above. I suggest you refrain from quaffing alcoholic beverages before you respond to posts made by people who are intellectually on a notch (ok, make that three notches ) higher than you.

oxford:

By ur theory, all institution that has for form of challenge or the other should down tool abi? People dey shay! Just tell one human institution world wide that does not have challenge with funding?

A whole lot of institutions in Nigeria have challenges with funding, true, but some are WAY more important than others. How many buckets of tears are we to shed if the Culture and Tourism ministry (for example) is somewhat financially constrained?
Technology develops a nation. Education is the key to develop this country. Without a sound tertiary education, we will remain a shadow of our true potential. It would be VERY beneficial if some of the huge sums being stolen under fuel subsidy scams and oil bunkering can be recovered and used to fund our universities.

oxford:

Am not in to name calling contest with you. Am way out of ur league.

Thank you. At least I knew the difference between 'I'm' and 'Am' when I was in JSS1. I humbly suggest you procure a copy of this wonderful book below. I read it when I was still in primary school.

[img]http://exhibits1.museums.org.nz/collection3RML/exhibit4/images/e40002a.jpg[/img]

You're nowhere near my league. Turn aside from me and continue your usual habits of abusing perceived 'enemies' and 'haters' of GEJ.

oxford:

Whoever awarded you that grade is a bigger problem than ASUU, trust me

Oh, the irony

4 Play: There's a lot to be said about this subject but I will try and be as brief as possible.



Few things irritate me as this dubious line of argument which I put in bold in the quote above and which goes as follows: Employee A should be paid more because employee B, operating in an entirely different sector by the way, is paid more. It stems from a profound misunderstanding that wages are largely a product of the interplay of the demand for and the supply of labour, with demand being a function of the financial resources of the employer. The notion that one group of employees, in this case university lecturers, deserve more by comparison to another group may perhaps be worthy of a debate about societal values and the like but is not the basis of sound economics or good policy making. It simply does not follow, even if you accept the premise that university lecturers should be paid more, that a person who ''deserves'' a higher wage must therefore be granted higher wages. I say this as a resident of country where train drivers with little more than A Levels (WAEC or JAMB equivalent) often make more than lecturers in Oxford and Cambridge (See the following links: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/52000-a-year-pay-deal-for-tube-drivers-and-theres-no-ban-on-strikes-6449485.html & [url]http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Journals/THE/THE/10_May_2012/attachments/Average_salary_of_academic_staff.pdf [/url])

It is not even clear that Nigerian lecturers deserve a higher wage if the question is determined by reference to Nigeria's financial resources. From my understanding, starting wages for lecturers in Nigeria are around 800,000 Naira or $4900 per year in a country where most live on less than $1 a day, almost a million children die each year due to poor health conditions, life expectancy is at levels last found in medieval Europe and few have access to things like pipe-borne water or regular electricity. Of all the country's pressing needs, why is boosting the income of the relatively far better off in Nigeria (it will be fair to say our lecturers are at least in the 95th percentile of wage earners) the focus of our attention?

The usual retort is to say that lecturers should be paid more when one considers the vast waste caused by corruption and theft. However, it is not clear why savings from waste should be directed to the well off and not to the vast majority of Nigerians for whom life is short, nasty and brutish. I have made this point in earlier posts but it is worth making again: increasing public sector wages requires trade offs and is in effect a zero sum game. Every increase in wages or expenditure in one particular area is met by a reduction in spending in another area. The national budget, if paid to each individual Nigerian, will work out at less than 32,000 Naira or $200 per person per year. You can bet your last Naira that increases in lecturers wages won't be met by reductions in oil theft or legislators wages, it will simply be met by reductions in public investments: fewer roads, medicine, hospitals and schools. Sincere 9gerian, though a paid hack, made a salient point that all the strike actions by ASUU and the consequent increase in wages have barely made a jot of difference to standards of education or the quality of life in Nigeria. This is why our recurrent expenditure is so high, we simply allocate more and more portions of the national budget to public sector workers in response to strike actions when economic growth and better standards of living require that money should be channeled towards public infrastructure. Do you know how much lecturers wages have increased in nominal terms over the last 2 decades whilst most Nigerians progressively slide into more poverty?

Make no mistake, I have always said that Nigeria needs to spend significantly more on education as this builds up human capital. Where I differ from the ASUU defenders is my belief that this requires building more schools and providing more educational facilities and not simply wiring more money into lecturers bank accounts and certainly not an emphasis on university education. Why in a country where many don't make it to primary school and vast swathes of people, particularly in the North, do not finish secondary school do we think that University education alone, which benefits a minority made up of mainly Southerners justifies spending of close to 15% of the annual budget? Prioritising university education when primary and secondary education is appalling, is like building a house and starting with the roofing first.

I support any strike action, be it by the NLC or the like, to force political change in general or specific politicians to resign. In respect of the latter, would a strike action by NUPENG or PENGASSAN not have an effect on the odious Ms Allison Madueke? What irritates me is when unions, a la ASUU, strike simply to increase their wages whilst operating behind the cloak of fighting for the general good. In my time in UNN, we witnessed protracted strikes preceeded by soaring talk of fighting for the general welfare of the university sector only for the strikes to be
called off when the wage demands were met with no discernible improvement in university facilities.

We will never learn until we realise that in a country of 170 million, policy and spending priorities have to maximise projects that affect the greatest number of people. University education, as laudable as it is, is a fixation for only a minority of Nigerians. While you and I are busy arguing on Nairaland about whether lecturers should be given more money, most of our country men and women will go to be hungry wondering where the next meal will come from. This is no way to develop a country.

You misunderstand my post.
I never claimed there needed to be parity in pay between a graduate assistant in a federal university and the pay for a new employee in a private organization like Zenith Bank. My point was that conditions of service were so bad then that a man who had spent the last 5 years of his life becoming a scholar in Engineering would easily cast his discipline aside for a mundane, repetitive job as a cashier.

You'll also notice that apart from the comment on remuneration, I also talked about decaying infrastructure.

4 Play:

We will never learn until we realise that in a country of 170 million, policy and spending priorities have to maximise projects that affect the greatest number of people. University education, as laudable as it is, is a fixation for only a minority of Nigerians. While you and I are busy arguing on Nairaland about whether lecturers should be given more money, most of our country men and women will go to be hungry wondering where the next meal will come from. This is no way to develop a country.

Actually, UNESCO recommends 26% of the budget for education as 'vital for national development'. There's still a lot of scope left in the 74% remaining if judiciously used. This IS a pragmatic way to develop a country.
As far as I know, we're still devoting less than 10% to Education, a far cry from UNESCO's recommendation. You may argue the 'minority of Nigerians' line, but the ripple effect from millions of Nigerians receiving top notch tertiary education in a decade will be felt by a much larger pool of Nigerians.

I respect the intellectual edge you've brought to this discussion. If only that 'oxford' fellow could learn from you!

Well, I've been reading a lot of the comments here, I don't support the strike(Neva had), I argue on this with my mom regularly (even though I'll benefit from the 90 billion).

There is no problem in employers wanting to earn more, but blackmailing and threatening government is what I hate most.

Luckily, I just passed the system before this there marathon strike, so I have no reason to support or castigate them

But personally I'm sick of ASUU, I wish they could ban that association. ASUU members are lecturers who want to live like politicians - that's the major problem.

If infrastructure was their priority, VCs would invest their IGR into building labs/equipment, instead they focus on buying exotic cars and build (wedding) halls

oxford:

abide by ur own employement agreement (terms of appointment) which is to teach and to get paid. If have 'bright' ideas on how to commit trillions to the university system( and please stop confusing this with the educational sector), resign, contest election and then commit all our national budget to only the universities.

ASUU and strike are thesame. I lost two years because of useless ASUU strike. What do they even teach sef. Most lecturers just come to the class read direct from books like news casters. ( pls stop refering to urself as an academician).

SHAME ON ASUU

God bless you boku boku for asking him those questions. All we hear is 'we are not fighting for our benefits alone but for the infratructures in a various Universities'..Yeah right?! What happens if after the FG dishes out the said 'billions' ASUU is asking for and NO CHANGES are made in our Varsities after much Bruohaha? Should the FG arrest all the VCs or Governing body under ASUU? And then what? There should have been changes already with the little ASUU has, you don't wait till a trillion bucks is deposited before you budge..let's face it, our lecturers here don't do shii.iit, all everybody wants now is MONEY, and a very BIG yes..this whole drama has been meddled with politics, same thing happened some years back in RSUST.

Prof. Femi, I must commend you for sparing your time to enlighten ignorant students......I must also give kudos to you for been civil in your arguments. I sincerely will be grateful to God if we have more lecturers of your standard in our universities.

I graduated from a Federal university in the North East where I studied a course in Natural Sciences (Botany). I never used a microscope till I graduated, yet there were instances where we needed to. I also knew of the lack of adequate tools in the Engineering department workshops (which I was opportune to visit on several occassions).

Few years later, I was lucky to have secured a job with a research-oriented Federal Government Agency. During one of our initial laboratory work at my office, I wasn't surprised to find out that many of my colleagues didn't understand 'tissue culture' even as biologists.

I also remember when I was in my third year, myself and few other students from different levels and departments in the Faculty of Science were selected to represent the Faculty before the NUC accreditation team. I could remember how embarrassed I was, when a second year Geology student was asked if he had any knowledge of the computer and he answered by saying ''is it the software or the hardware?"

Truly, we have produced numerous half-baked graduates, no thanks to the infrastructural decay in our educational institutions. A nairalander earlier asked how the dearth of standard tools in our science labs/engineering workshops affect the quality of a political science graduate? I would ask, what does a political scientist have to offer Nigeria in terms of industrialisation and technological advancements? Science graduates are the hope of any country that wants to compete globally. (Apologies to non-science students/graduates). Our president/vice president are scientists (zoologist and architect respectively, not political scientists or public administrators). Seeing engineers and scientists work successfully in banks and other institutions outside their field of study and science graduates doing well in politics, without any case of a sociologist treating sick people or an accountant building a rocket, that goes a long way to illustrate how important science and technology is to the development of a nation.

Education in any part of the world do not come cheap............I later realised that one of the reasons why my alma-mata was lacking in infrastructure was because we paid peanuts as school fees. I remember paying N500 as acceptance fee, my first year school fees was N8,500 while my final year (which was the highest) was N15,000. This was between 2005-2009. Nigerian students want quality education but can't pay quality fees.

We are seriously lacking behind as most of the new technologies being adopted by other countries of the world still seem alien to us.......stem cell, biofuels, weapons defense system, drones etc! We have a Biotechnology Agency where most of its staff cannot tell you five importance of biotechnology to the common man. A friend who works at the Space Research Agency knows little or nothing about space technology. When we need to launch a satellite, the Chinese are called to carry out the project. Yet, these people earn more than the highly intellectual lecturers in the university.
To secure a job as a graduate assistant in any university, you must have at least a first class degree or a second class upper and a master degree, yet the average starting salary of a graduate assistant is about N7x,000, while a Bachelor degree holder who is lucky to secure a job in a government parastatal starts with between N90,000-N250,000 (depending on the agency) as starting salary. Worse still, is a senator who cannot boast of a degree certificate earning over ten times what a University Professor (who has dedicated several years to learning and research) earns. Please look at countries whose universities rank top in the world and compare their lecturers' salaries! Nigeria has a large percentage of lecturers teaching in US and Canadian Universities, yet many are still ready to leave Nigeria if offered the opportunity! Why would a bright graduate pick a lecturing job (that pays relatively lesser) over a more lucrative job with an oil & gas coy, or Nigerian Customs?

For those crying that govt cannot afford the amount ASUU is asking for, it may interest us to know that: a senator earns $1.5m
annually aside their quarterly constituency projects allowance. GEJ spends N1.09b on food yearly and spends billions to maintain the fleet of presidential aircrafts. If only you guys knew the level of misappropriation of public funds in govt offices....you'll know that Nigeria can afford what ASUU is asking for. Everyday, Nigeria produces at least 2m barrels of crude oil. Bonny light sells between $105-107.69 per barrel currently. That means Nigeria produces 2m x $106 (average) =$212m (almost N34billion)......At least N20b is accruable to Nigeria daily as royalties! FIRS and Customs generate trillions of Naira annually for FG. Dangote, Adenuga, Otedola, Alakija pay heavy taxes to govt. Yet, they tell us govt is broke? If it is to travel with a 600-man delegate abroad, money will be available, if it is to purchase new aircrafts or campaign round the 36 states, money will become available, if it is to hold party conventions and pay delegates, money will be available, if it concerns Madam Dame's Peace Mission building, money will be available. Misplaced priorities!
SOLUTION TO THIS CRISIS IN MY OPINION:
@Prof. Femi, IMHO I'll advise that all Federal and State Universities become autonomous. They should find ways to increase their IGR and set up endowment funds. Each university will determine its lecturers' pay and this will lead to competition as universities will employ only intelligent, student-friendly lecturers. Students will opt for the best universities in term of infrastructure, quality of lecturers, accredited courses, university ranking etc, knowing fully well that they will be paying a huge amount as school fees. Of course, school fees will also be increased by individual universities according to how they deem fit. (Maybe when all these ignorant students venting their anger on ASUU are asked to pay a minimum of N300,000 per session, they'll appreciate ASUU better).

Also, alumni associations should be encouraged to donate for the up-keep of their alma-mata. Whereas, the usual funding from government should be channelled into subsidising tuition, accommodation and feeding for students while the very bright students can be offered full scholarships.

The Federal Scholarship Board should be restructured to offer scholarships to students with excellent grades in WAEC/JAMB while subsidising fees for other students. Sponsorship of students for undergraduate or postgraduate studies abroad should be minimized drastically and stopped as soon as we see significant improvement in our local universities.

Laws should be enacted to prohibit children of political/public office holders from studying in foreign universities/colleges.

Among lecturers, there are cases of s.exual harrasements, lack of commitment, sadist behaviour, poor student-lecturer relationships, imposing of handouts on students etc. To solve this problem, there should be a confidential student-friendly platform where students can assess lecturers, rate lecturers, report lecturers or suggest ideas to the school authority that will guarantee them a better period of study on campus. The website idea by Prof. Femi isn't a bad idea too.....

Finally, Nigerian students must know that in any part of the world where quality education is offered, it doesn't come cheap. Therefore, if we must improve our quality of education, this is the price to pay. You should even be thankful that your lecturers are fighting for what you should be fighting for ideally. I understand you guys are eager to graduate and be free from the campus environment. Have you sat down to think about how the labour market is presently? If you must know, priority is placed on skill than on paper qualifications. That's how competitive the market is presently, your qualification doesn't guarantee you a good job (which are very limited).

NB: I apologize for the long post.........but just like Prof. Femi said, not all things should be summarized. May we not summarize our lives o! . To those who'll say 'U're saying all these cos' you are not a student and so it doesn't affect you'......it may interest you to know that I was applying for my master degree at Unilag before the strike started. It hurts me too 'cos I'm been pressured to get a higher degree. We are all affected!

Bless U Prof. Femi!

I have to be honest, this whole situation seem Laughable to me with ASUU as a body thinking they have the Federal Govt by the Jugular,Like we dont all know the end results to things Like this.


Considering the history of this whole Saga between these two Non corruption-Free bodies in this country and how the FG evades the gruesome situation phased by our educational system posed at their awareness by ASUU, what moral effect and Solution has been brewed ?


I have to say that i am indeed in support of what the prof said about funding'' the system for better yielding of expertise and professional dishing effect academically. However, i have a troubling question for the prof himself,..........


1) Should the Fed'' not consent to the terms of this strike on wheels by ASUU and their bid to profer a better educational platform due to Lack or insufficient funds by the FG to meet with the unscrupulous demand from ASUU.......?


............What happens next?.....

Ooh the prof already said and i quote from his previous premise.>>>


In my mind, there are a few possibilities:
1. The strike goes on for so long (next year?)
and some ASUU guys just get tired and say
"what the heck, lets call off and let the schools
do whatever they can to raise IGR. That means
astronomical fees)


3. Government shifts ground much faster (and
ASUU shifts likewise) because the groundswell
of public opinion is so much against them that they become afraid they will lose control.
I am hoping for option 3, and that is part of
why I am trying so hard to let everyone know
what the stakes are so we can mount more
pressure on government.

Ok i know you went with Option 3'' as what you'd prefer but i choose to single out option 1 as an affirmative nod to what the federal Govt would want as you have earlier stated hence agreeing to astronomical fees from students just to have an increment in ''internally generated revenue?....hmmmmm.....

Prof, wouldnt this defy your stance as a body(ASUU) for the masses{students} thus as credence to being against us the masses?....

If you agree to this whole process of an alternate solution, then why the inception of an incessant strike in the first place when you and your colleagues are suppose to be for us and against the FG's plight and unreasonable negotiations?...

please note, i already agree to funding and that one party has to pay,but not in support of the strike to the detriment of students still having the notion of what the defeat of not winning the FG' will bring. ..

Im sorry to say that the Non transparency in Govt bodies,FG included doesnt help matters as well and i dont trust ASUU either to profer a changing plot in our educational system, why now?, going by how we know of the illicitness and unhealthy corruption industry this nation embraces.

Surely you dont expect the FG to just dole out that sum which i consider a ransom easily and freely.....lol...e no go work..!

Both bodies are corrupt and although we need a change but not with this on-going strike. And what is it with NLC threatening theirs as well, is this some form of distraction in support of the FG' in the bid to deter this already sad state from seeing the light courtesy ASUU demand ?

Kudos Prof.

All I knw is dat I am an ASUU member by virtue of my profession as a university don.

But I'm not proud of being one.

Education is not adequately funded I believe, but we are too greedy.

My question is: Is d health sector adequately funded? Are even d Prisons adequately funded? Don't even go to infrastructures: roads, water, etc... And even creation of jobs. Look sir, its a general problem. We can't shut down d country because of ASSU's greed.

Top in our demand now is 'earned allowance'. That's what Fagge emphasises each time.

I submit, we are greedy, despite d fact that I agree that politicians also squander our resources. If we want more money, we can still join politics.

I have never worked with Zenith Bank, or even banked with them. See my response above. I suggest you refrain from quaffing alcoholic beverages before you respond to posts made by people who are intellectually on a notch (ok, make that three notches ) higher than you.



A whole lot of institutions in Nigeria have challenges with funding, true, but some are WAY more important than others. How many buckets of tears are we to shed if the Culture and Tourism ministry (for example) is somewhat financially constrained?
Technology develops a nation. Education is the key to develop this country. Without a sound tertiary education, we will remain a shadow of our true potential. It would be VERY beneficial if some of the huge sums being stolen under fuel subsidy scams and oil bunkering can be recovered and used to fund our universities.

Thank you for the correction. I guess you silly ability to communicate CLEARLY need to be worked on. All the same thanks.

However that does not in any way belittle the points I have made which is ALL human institution have challenges with funding and it thus mean by ur stup!d postulation that all institution should be on strike right now! see ur mumulity?

So what if I don't have the time to cross my 't's and sot my 'i's? on my priority list nairaland is not even on the first page.

The bottom line is ASUU is an AS$-hole and you.....emmm an as$ licker!

Thank you for the correction. I guess you silly ability to communicate CLEARLY need to be worked on. All the same thanks.

However that does not in any way belittle the points I have made which is ALL human institution have challenges with funding and it thus mean by ur stup!d postulation that all institution should be on strike right now! see ur mumulity?

So what if I don't have the time to cross my 't's and sot my 'i's? on my priority list nairaland is not even on the first page.

The bottom line is ASUU is an AS$-hole and you.....emmm an as$ licker!

texazzpete:

I have never worked with Zenith Bank, or even banked with them. See my response above. I suggest you refrain from quaffing alcoholic beverages before you respond to posts made by people who are intellectually on a notch (ok, make that three notches ) higher than you.



A whole lot of institutions in Nigeria have challenges with funding, true, but some are WAY more important than others. How many buckets of tears are we to shed if the Culture and Tourism ministry (for example) is somewhat financially constrained?
Technology develops a nation. Education is the key to develop this country. Without a sound tertiary education, we will remain a shadow of our true potential. It would be VERY beneficial if some of the huge sums being stolen under fuel subsidy scams and oil bunkering can be recovered and used to fund our universities.

What happens to the internally generated revenue from students and what have u? Why can't these be used to settle ur earned allowances and other infrastructions?

prof.femi:
Thanks, U235weapongrade, olu_kenzo, appliedmaths, and others.

@appliedmaths, sadly, I don't know of any substantial funds that the universities remit to FG, so I do not think we can "catch" them there. Even if there were such funds, the universities would not dare seize them, since they depend on monthly allowee from FG...

texazzpete today is Saturday and I have some free time in my hands and I will gladly take you on any dim-witted, ludicrous and ridiculous comment you have.

GEJ is here to free from the shackles of people like ASUU that has held us back for years and people like you are advocating stone age methods of resolving trade dispute.

Am only glad that your opinion on this matter is trivial, immaterial, completely insignificant.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to expose the real issues behind the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The NANS president, Comrade Yinka Gbadebo told journalists in Abuja that the union’s demands are egocentric and has so far been largely responsible for the corruption and rot in the university system.

The student association who questioned the demands of the union warned ASUU to refrain from politicising the strike, but should embrace useful solutions like the call for a National Education Stakeholders Dialogue.


This threat is coming at the heels of the strike embarked upon by members of ASUU entering its 100th day.

Thousands of students, including those undertaking postgraduate programmes have been idling away at home since July 2.

The failure of the federal government to fulfil resolutions reached with ASUU in 2009 and non-payment of accumulated earned allowances owed the university lecturers are yet to be addressed
http://www.channelstv.com/home/2013/10/09/dialogue-or-we-expose-you-nans-threatens-ASUU/