Striking ASUU

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Toyin Falola

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Aug 31, 2020, 1:09:19 PM8/31/20
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https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2020/08/31/urgent-practical-steps-towards-resolving-the-asuu-strike-by-toyin-falola/


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Adeshina Afolayan

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Aug 31, 2020, 3:16:04 PM8/31/20
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Dear TF,
Let me first commend your good heart, and your deep commitment to the Fatherland. It is clear to everyone on this forum that you are a patriot. For those of us at close quarters, we feel your pain, and even impotence, at how the destinies of students could be so politicized like this. Which is why your recommendations on the way forward are crucial.

The question, however, is: Who is listening?

Both parties to the crisis are operating from some perspectives of set beliefs. For ASUU, the government understands nothing but strike actions. And the strikes must continue, no matter whose ox is gored or whose lives are sacrificed. There is even the saying that strikes are not "ended" but "suspended". The fixation on strike action has become a fetish! I do not need to say anything about the government. You have beautifully characterized the illogic of government actions and policies. Which is why i found your Recommendation 7 very curious. What would compel the government to give 26% to education, given the illogicality of politician's "legacy" thinking that lacks future relevance? If allocating 26% to education does not provide the political factor that all politicians are looking for, it will not work. 

With regard to Recommendation 6, aren't politicians and transparency mutually exclusive? Even ASUU is not transparent in her dealing with members. Ask members from the various branches, and you will hear tales of woes. This is galling because this is supposed to be an association of intellectuals who ought to know better. 

Recommendations 3 and 4 appear contradictory. If ASUU must insist on resolving the IPPIS issue before suspending the strike (recommendation 3), then why should the association suspend the strike while the alternative payment platform UTAS is being tested? And if the integrity test fails, should ASUU resume the strike? 

There is a whole lot at stake in this wahala that is not open to all of us. For instance, government has since forcibly migrated all those who refused to register for the IPPIS to the platform, and they have been issued the IPPIS number. And yet, the government refused to still pay these same people the June, July and August salaries because it is insisting they must register.  

My argument has always been simple: Let ASUU revert to being a traditional trade union that is interested in fighting for her members and their interests. The struggle for the revitalization of the university is a contradiction since striking and other internal symptoms mean that ASUU itself is already compromised with regard to the objective it is fighting for.  

 

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429


On Monday, August 31, 2020, 06:09:20 PM GMT+1, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:


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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Aug 31, 2020, 3:47:57 PM8/31/20
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Oga Afolayan.

I lost you in the last paragraph.

Is the revitalization of the university system not part of ASUU's vital interests considering the larger picture?

Can they function optimally without an autogenous  framework for revitalization  to which Prof Falola alluded with respect to  the United Nations percentile budgetary allocations?

OAA



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-------- Original message --------
From: 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 31/08/2020 20:20 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Striking ASUU

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Dear TF,
Let me first commend your good heart, and your deep commitment to the Fatherland. It is clear to everyone on this forum that you are a patriot. For those of us at close quarters, we feel your pain, and even impotence, at how the destinies of students could be so politicized like this. Which is why your recommendations on the way forward are crucial.

The question, however, is: Who is listening?

Both parties to the crisis are operating from some perspectives of set beliefs. For ASUU, the government understands nothing but strike actions. And the strikes must continue, no matter whose ox is gored or whose lives are sacrificed. There is even the saying that strikes are not "ended" but "suspended". The fixation on strike action has become a fetish! I do not need to say anything about the government. You have beautifully characterized the illogic of government actions and policies. Which is why i found your Recommendation 7 very curious. What would compel the government to give 26% to education, given the illogicality of politician's "legacy" thinking that lacks future relevance? If allocating 26% to education does not provide the political factor that all politicians are looking for, it will not work. 

With regard to Recommendation 6, aren't politicians and transparency mutually exclusive? Even ASUU is not transparent in her dealing with members. Ask members from the various branches, and you will hear tales of woes. This is galling because this is supposed to be an association of intellectuals who ought to know better. 

Recommendations 3 and 4 appear contradictory. If ASUU must insist on resolving the IPPIS issue before suspending the strike (recommendation 3), then why should the association suspend the strike while the alternative payment platform UTAS is being tested? And if the integrity test fails, should ASUU resume the strike? 

There is a whole lot at stake in this wahala that is not open to all of us. For instance, government has since forcibly migrated all those who refused to register for the IPPIS to the platform, and they have been issued the IPPIS number. And yet, the government refused to still pay these same people the June, July and August salaries because it is insisting they must register.  

My argument has always been simple: Let ASUU revert to being a traditional trade union that is interested in fighting for her members and their interests. The struggle for the revitalization of the university is a contradiction since striking and other internal symptoms mean that ASUU itself is already compromised with regard to the objective it is fighting for.  

 

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429


On Monday, August 31, 2020, 06:09:20 PM GMT+1, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:


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Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Aug 31, 2020, 4:49:05 PM8/31/20
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My argument has always been simple: Let ASUU revert to being a traditional trade union that is interested in fighting for her members and their interests. The struggle for the revitalization of the university is a contradiction since striking and other internal symptoms mean that ASUU itself is already compromised with regard to the objective it is fighting for.  

Thanks AA. This is the koko of the matter, to use a Nigerianism. ASUU is a confused organization with an identity crisis. Unless and until it resolves that crisis of self and being, no serious person should take it seriously. Embrace your primal identity as a trade union and no one will have a problem with you if you decide to strike ten times a year to press home demands regarding the interests of your members. But when you claim, FALSELY, that you're fighting for the revitalization of the Nigerian university system and you incubate and protect mediocrity and resist accountability in teaching, research, and ethics (the three areas with direct bearing on outcomes and standards in the system), why should reasonable people not dismiss and laugh at your antics and rhetoric as they're doing?


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Adeshina Afolayan

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Aug 31, 2020, 4:50:30 PM8/31/20
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Ọ̀gá OAA,
I am just attempting to point out the contradiction inherent in wanting a revitalized system without the will power to follow through to the logical conclusion. I trade union will usually not be willing to rein in its members even when they are sabotaging the same system they want revitalized. 

Ọ̀gá TF already brilliantly pointed out the democratic process which ought to ensure that local governments, civil society and the people themselves to agitate for an improved educational system. 

ASUU is too compromised in its present state to bring such a desired transformation to the Nigerian university system.


Adeshina 

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Aug 31, 2020, 5:00:04 PM8/31/20
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Ha haha ha...

Let me join the laughter.  This time at the expense of the position that it is possible to separate the role of ASUU as a trade union as well as the power house of the nation's intelligentsia and educational development.


OAA



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-------- Original message --------
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Date: 31/08/2020 21:49 (GMT+00:00)
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Striking ASUU

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Aug 31, 2020, 5:08:17 PM8/31/20
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That is why TF's main argument of a necessary mediated partnership between ASUU and these governmental agencies is germane and critical in the interests of all. To see that neither side is compromised or allows itself to be compromised   This will flag off a renewed commitment.

OAA



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.



-------- Original message --------
From: 'Adeshina Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: 31/08/2020 21:51 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Striking ASUU

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Ọ̀gá OAA,
I am just attempting to point out the contradiction inherent in wanting a revitalized system without the will power to follow through to the logical conclusion. I trade union will usually not be willing to rein in its members even when they are sabotaging the same system they want revitalized. 

Ọ̀gá TF already brilliantly pointed out the democratic process which ought to ensure that local governments, civil society and the people themselves to agitate for an improved educational system. 

ASUU is too compromised in its present state to bring such a desired transformation to the Nigerian university system.


Adeshina 


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On Monday, August 31, 2020, 8:47 PM, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Aug 31, 2020, 6:13:01 PM8/31/20
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ADDENDUM

For the avoidance of doubt I think what TF is hinting at is what is called the Ombudsman in the UK.

While the NUC cannot enforce sanctions on the govt that is its principal  the tertiary education Ombudsman can impose and enforce penalties and sanctions on both the government and ASUU that will be binding on both for reneging on agreements or agreed outcomes.

If ASUU feels shortchanged it goes straight to the Ombudsman rather than resort to strikes.  It will be the duty of the Ombudsman to engage the government directly and ensure it meets its part of  agreements on a timely manner.

Ideally members of such an Ombudsman will be a cross party affair.
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