IF not for the dogged determination and perseverance by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in defence of education in Nigeria over the years, public universities in the country would have since been in dilapidated condition with poor infrastructure, poor remuneration of staff.
The universities would have been stocked with unqualified teachers, just like what is happening to our public primary and secondary school or perhaps worse than that. Those who misconcieve the ASUU struggles, as being selfish know nothing about what education takes to be efficient. It is common knowledge that people who had the luxury of attending private primary and secondary schools in Nigeria earn more prestige than those who attended public ones.
This is so, because the quality of education in public schools at the basic level has since been diminished. But the reverse is the case at the university level, as products of public universities in Nigeria can show a trick or two to their counterparts who are produced by pivate institutions. This is explicitly to the credit of the ASUU.
Despite the meagre resources and the poor funding universities suffer, public universities are able to produce professionals who are rising and shining in respective disciplines globally. Notwithstanding this feat that is worthy of motivation by the government, the Union has been pushed over the years to go on industrial action at the detriment of students. The action by the ASUU is always greeted with criticisms from the public domain.
As a university student, the fact that our academic career is being elongated, owing to strike is painful and so, I agree that strike actions embarked upon by the ASUU almost annually do not represent the best solution or the best way to put pressure on the government to meet its demands. However, to crucify the Union for its doggedness is not fair.
If we dig deep to understand how much education costs in countries across the globe and compare same to the demands of the striking ASUU members that are yet to be met for over a decade, it will be found that education in Nigeria is as worthless as waste dump. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, recommendation, any nation that wants to meet the demands of education should earmark 15 to 20 per cent of its annual budget to the sector.
Unfortunately, Nigeria’s budget for education has always fallen below the recommended benchmark. Despite the daunting tasks and challenges in the sector, President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2021 proposed budget for education is the lowest in ten years.
Out of N13.08 trillion budgeted for next year, only N742.5 billion, which is equivalent to 5.6 per cent was allocated to education, the lowest allocation since 2011. This is about half of what President Goodluck Jonathan earmarked for education in the 2015 budget.
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