For time ‘immemorial’, the issue of Strike has been part and parcel of Nigerian higher institutions of learning in general and Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye in particular.
On Wednesday last week, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), OOU chapter embarked on an indefinite strike due to the non payment of fifteen months salary subventions, earned entitlement and non funding of the University.
On hearing this sad news, the first thing that ran through my mind was the advise an elderly man gave me while I was obtaining my JAMB form last year. He encouraged me not to choose OOU as my university choice. He stressed that the school is internationally known for strike. Since strike is no prayer of any student he advises me to run away from the institution. I turned deaf ears!
In fact, I’ve heard several news of how the school used a whole year for a semester. This is not encouraging. I mean, it is a ‘song of a goat’; a complete tragedy!
But sir, since the slogan and mission of the APC is to ‘change’ the dilapidated parts of our society and the motto of your administration is to rebuild the state. For one to rebuild, it simply means something has been destroyed or damaged which the present government is aimed at rebuilding. In the education sector, Olabisi Onabanjo University in particular, rebuilding means to us, rebuilding the physical structure, payment of salaries as at when due, payment of benefits, staying away from the disease called strike and lot more. With this slogan and mission, it will be an error and a sort of infidelity if the strike persists.
It will be erroneous for a person to say that Your Excellency has not been trying his best in the payment of salaries and taking care of education. In fact, for the whole of the last academic session, there wasn’t strike to halt academic process. In this your tenure too, the University was ranked the best state University in Nigeria. This is wonderful of you sir. But the cause of this strike is that, maybe, your Excellency have forgotten to pay the union there salary subvention, for I’m very sure you’re your government cannot deliberately abandon the schoolAs a student of the school, I can testify to the fact that the learning environment of the institution is not conducive. And that our lecturers have been patient enough to endure the suffering by not getting the salary subvention.
According to what Your Exellency posted on Facebook that you haven’t entered any contract with the school authority for any subvention, it will be imperative to state here that even if you haven’t entered an agreement with them, it is needful of you to see to the condition of the institution. Since the school is government owned. And I don’t think the union will suffer from such dishonesty by demanding for a benefit which you have not promised to pay them. The whole academic staff of the school can’t be so daft to the extent of not remembering the promise you made to them. Or is it that our lecturers love strike? Hell NO!
Sir, if two elephants fight, the ground suffers. In this case of daily strike, it is the students that suffer the loss coming from it. Psychologically speaking, impromptu break in academic process causes loss of concentration resulting to poor performance of students. It has been one of the factors contributing to the decline of education quality in Nigeria. Even before the strike, our school calendar has been fashioned in such a way that the school’s will meet-up with the normal academic calendar of other schools. Now that there is strike which no one knows when it will ends, it will be correct if I say that, anytime the school resumes, irrespective of the time spent at home, the calendar will be close to examination time. Put simply, examination will be at the door step of the ‘innocent’ students. Because of this, academic calendar will be compressed and some parts of the curriculum will be skipped and this is at the detriment of the student.
With this compressing, the graduates pulled out of the university on yearly basis will turn out to be half-baked.
It will be important to note that there is a great relationship between economic development and educational growth. So, if proper care is not taken and the graduates end up becoming half-baked, the nation’s economy will eventually be in a state of calamity and this I’m sure is not the goal of thy administration.
In Nigeria, students are known for anti-social behaviors (not all though) but the school have been trying her best to put an end to this by keeping them busy in school. Now that the school is on strike, more petrol has been added to the fire of antisocial behaviors among students. The strike will also encourage pregnancy among our ladies and some of our guys will go into armed robbery, hooliganism, cyber crimes and a host others. To those ladies that are one time or the other into ‘runz’ business but have left the dirty job because of school, the strike is now a gate opener to the doors of different hotels both home and abroad.
The business men and women in Ago-Iwoye are seriously in great hardship. The bus/taxi drivers, petty traders, the ‘Printout-photocopyers’ , the photographers, doughnut sellers,…, in fact, all the economy of Ago-Iwoye is in a state of mourning just because of the strike. Since the students that are centre of concentration of their businesses and these student have left the school for their various homes, hence the groaning.
Since these men and women see nothing to trade on, they become idle and they start imagining some funny things which are dangerous to the health of the state. And the idle hand, they say, is the devil’s workshop. If the strike is not call off quickly, many of these gentle men and women will involve themselves in criminal activities; armed robbery, money rituals, which will worsen the state of the economy.
Sir, the fact is that the lecturer won’t resume if their demands are not met, it will be advisable for you to have a round table discussion with the ASUU to make things change for better. If the strike continues, one shouldn’t be surprise if the school, which is presently ranked the best state university, turn out to be first from the rear next year. This will be a great shame on the institution. Ant I think it is inevitable because a school with inadequate facilities, equipments and infrastructural facilities won’t meet the requirement of a standard institution.
For the strike, I think, is not for their (ASUU) personal interest but for the interest of the student which are the leaders of tomorrow. Since education is the fulcrum of national development, the educational sector must be properly taken care of so as to have a better future for the country. The education sector is in comatose and needs urgent overhauling. And if this overhauling is not done quickly, it requires little or no imagination to admit that the government only enjoys toiling with the future of the country.
We hope the cry of we(the students, the mercies and the ASUU) will be heard as soon as possible. As we look forward to seeing you care about the future of the country, we thank you in futurity.
Yours Faithfully,
Festus Ogun
200 Level Law Student,
Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.
