Most people that knows one or two about politics will know that everything can be turned into a political game. It can be in the office, churches or even schools. To those that not all these places practice politics, I will give you a scenario where politics is played in these organizations. At office, people lobby to get promotion and when two people are equally qualified for the position the one that is better at the game eventually gets the limited slot. Churches are wonderful places to be put when it is time for election into some positions or appointment into some other positions, politics is a very strong weapon to use. At schools, Student play politics and their teachers know the game better than the students.

As at yesterday, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspended the over three month strike they embarked on. The strike was not called off if you thought so, the strike was suspended which means they can resume anytime they feel that government are no longer planning to accept their request.

The ASUU National President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi who announced the suspension, however, said that the union had embarked on the strike to “stem the continued slide into rot and decay in public universities since the 1980s.”

Ibadan is the largest city in West Africa. The only public university in Ibadan is University of Ibadan. While you might ask about Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, we say that it is in another city in Oyo state called Ogbomoso. The Technical University, Ibadan might also be involved in the struggle that ASUU embarked on but their voices were not as strong as that of the University of Ibadan.

University of Ibadan happens to be extremely loyal to ASUU, this is so because the University of Ibadan is the oldest university in Nigeria. We all know an Ibadan man does not shy away from a fight and perhaps that made the University of Ibadan ASUU to always take charge during any ASUU struggle.

ASUU president Dr. Biodun Ogunyemi gave the conditions for the suspension of the strike and what can make the union to use the strike action again.

While it is obvious that the terms and conditions of ASUU has not been fully met by government, it is to be noted that government has never been sincere in honouring their agreement with the body. Government have released a certain amount of money to ASUU during this strike period. A question that should be asked is if there was no strike action by theses academic sound group consisting of Ibadan men and women will government release that amount or even release the amount released? The answer is obviously no. The Buhari led Federal Government might think they have won a war by resolving this problem after three whole months. The reality is it would have been better if the issue was resolved earlier as a lot of properties have been lost or destroyed. It is sometimes better to lose a battle with very casualties than win the battle with heavy casualties. The present government won this war with heavy casualties.

While students have started going back to their various schools today, it should be noted that the Buhari led administration will likely lose at virtually all polling units in the Universities. About 25% registered voters are students and most of these students happen to be at the receiving end of the battle between government and ASUU and will express their displeasure at the present government during the presidential general election that is to hold in few days time.

I believe that the education sector is the most important ministry in any government. It is more important than defense or agriculture. Yet Nigeria allocates so little to this sector. After allocating so little to the sector, government expects the body to be able to compete globally. This is not possible. It is just like giving an army wooden swords to use to fight another army with real swords. Obviously it will be too easy for the army with the better swords in the battle. That is the case of our education system in Nigeria.

We as a nation can not afford to continue playing with our future. We need to start seeing this country as our own. We have no other nation to call ours. A problem truly solved can not come back to hunt us because we now know the solution. We need to give more attention to the Universities to make Nigeria a better place.

Source: https://ibadantalk.com/are-universities-problems-really-solved/