ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

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Ikhide

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Sep 21, 2013, 11:49:57 AM9/21/13
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria. ASUU. ASUU is on strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, they are always on strike, nobody seems to know why, except that it involves being paid a boatload of money by their counterparts, those thieves euphemistically called the Nigerian government. ASUU. My contempt for that body of narcissistic thugs knows no bounds. There is really not much one needs to say about how these rogues in academic robes have colluded with any government in power (AGIP) to defraud and rob generations of beautiful children what is their right – a good education. To say ASUU is on strike is to state the obvious, they are nearly always on strike, even when they are at work, they are on strike. Their members want to have sex with every child that walks into their pretend classrooms, when they have satisfied themselves, they pimp their helpless wards, yes, they do, to their friends, constipated generals and pot-bellied rogue-politicians who have too much money in their thieving pockets.
If you don’t believe me, Farooq Kperogi has a disturbing piece here on the sexual harassment epidemic in Nigerian universities. You read that piece, and when you have stopped shuddering, you understand why fully less than 10 percent of Nigerian university dons have children living in that mess called Nigeria, let alone inside the filthy chicken coops that pass for classrooms from preschool to the tertiary level. In those criminal hovels, children of the poor and dispossessed are trapped and mis-educated by those whose children are being nurtured in the West. Their children will come back home from North America and Europe on holidays to the pretend suburbs of Abuja and Lagos island, wave a Cold Stone ice cream cone at the wreck built by their thieving parents and berate Nigerians for being wretched Nigerians. They often travel First Class. Ten percent? I made it up of course. I am a Nigerian intellectual. We are lazy like that. It could be less even.

Follow me, let’s go to the silly website of ASUU right here. Let us visit their officers, all of them mean looking men, except for one harried looking token lady who has the cringe-worthy patronizing title of “welfare secretary.” I am sure she does important things for the #OgasAtTheTop of ASUU. Maybe she is responsible for making pounded yam and bringing water so the men could wash their filthy hands. SMH. Yes, Nigeria is the patriarchy from hell, in Nigeria, misogyny reigns even in the 21st century and even among the men of the ivory tower. Hiss. Here’s ASUU’s list of  men “leaders” and one token woman: Dr, Nasir Isa Fagge, president, Bayero University, Kano, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, Vice president, OOU Ago-Iwoye, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, immediate past president, IMSU, Owerri, Professor Victor Osodoke, financial secretary, MOUA Umudike, Dr. Ademola Aremu, treasurer, University of Ibadan, Professor. Daniel Gungula, internal auditor, MAUTech, Yola, Dr. Ralph Ofukwu, investment secretary, FUAM, Makurdi,  Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Iloh, welfare secretary, University of Benin, and Professor Israel Wurogji, legal advisor, University of Calabar. All the men and one woman have horrid looking pictures of themselves on the website, except for Professor Wurogii, ASUU’s “legal advisor” who either is too lazy or too busy to provide one. He is perhaps genuinely afraid for his life – not from the SSS but from irate abused students who have spent the past decade trying to get an education from these thugs.

- Ikhide
 
Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide


Femi Segun

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Sep 21, 2013, 4:31:24 PM9/21/13
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Ikhide, it is good that you see your writings as mere rants. While
one concede to you the right to your reservations about ASUU and its
method of getting attention from an irresponsible state your choice of
word is certainly crude. It portrays you as an indecent and
uncivilised interlocutor. Hurling insults at people who are probably
old to be your dad is not a sign of exposure but of babarism. It seems
you are patently impervious to correction. It is better to offer
solution not abuses
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IKHIDE

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Sep 21, 2013, 8:38:42 PM9/21/13
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I don't know who you are, but from your writing and cave man attitude, I sincerely hope you are not a "university don." If you are, then Nigeria's public education is indeed enduring a crisis. And you are obnoxious and rude to boot. If any of these thugs is old enough to be my father, he should be in a retirement home enjoying puréed goat meat. Nonsense.

- Ikhide

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 22, 2013, 8:19:13 AM9/22/13
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Ikhide's essay is best understood as entertainment, laced with unsubstantiable fiction mixed with fact. 

I'm not bothering to read the full essay.

I doubt if it will have much of value.

It becomes a form of entertainment  in his characterisation of the visual  images  of the ASUU leadership.

I really enjoyed the sheer fun of that. 

It becomes a mean kind of imagined reality when he starts  invoking First Class tickets abroad and schooling abroad as the norm for wards for children of Nigerian academics.

Where would they get the money from?

How much are they paid?

The fees in England, at least, for foreign students are more than double  those for home students.

For a postgraduate course you are looking at £9 a year and above.

I know one Nigerian academic who has a child doing a postgraduate course in England after completing her first degree in Nigeria, but this person lives both on their salary  and on a consistent  stream of fellowships from the West. 

Is it the claim that they are studying in countries where it is cheaper?

I know one academic whose child is is studying in an African country after studying in Nigeria but also know another who did all his studies in Nigeria.

What is the percentage of Nigerian academics whose children study outside Nigeria?

Is any research on the subject being referenced by the writer?

Why should he?

It is fashionable to broadcast one's moral authority by spitting on Nigeria, using its inadequacies as basis for absolute condemnation. 

Living in a country built on some of the worst brutalities  in history, as you enjoy the spoils  of such  blood wealth makes it easier to cast the stream of spittle in a forceful  arc so it will land more readily on the struggling place from where you escaped to civilisation, arriving at a time when the bulk of the founding horrors have been distilled for their value and the booty shared in a way that you too can benefit from.

A sense of proportion is unhelpful in such a necessity of  self righteousness. . 

The essay becomes fact when it references genuine claims about the need for  ASUU to police its members, such as the Farouk essay.

The essay becomes farce in stretching the Farouk essay into a parody of itself.

I used to get excited about such ultimately funny ways of addressing the challenges of Nigerian education but why bother about the untuned squeaking  of birds trying to comment on what is beyond their will to grasp?

For serious discussions of this subject, anyone who is interested could go to the 

Nigerian Biomedical and Life Sciences Yahoo group, in particular, where various sides of the subject have been dedicatedly trashed, 

and Yanarewa and Raariga Yahoo  groups.

thanks

toyin 



On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 11:48 PM, <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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    Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> Sep 21 02:02PM -0700  

    Up-dated


     
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    The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria. ASUU. ASUU is on
    strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, they are always on strike,


    Ikhide, it is good that you see your writings as mere rants. While
    one concede to you the right to your reservations about ASUU and its
    MsJo...@aol.com Sep 21 11:58AM -0400  

    Dear People in the Community:


    It is cheery Saturday. Good morning, afternoon or evening and to Mayor
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    Innocent Chukwuma <chukwu...@gmail.com> Sep 21 06:36AM -0400  

    "That young boy that said it, he had leanings with the opposition. He
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    blargeo...@gmail.com Sep 21 12:55PM  

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Segun Ogungbemi

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Sep 22, 2013, 8:04:32 AM9/22/13
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Ikhide,
I don't know if you ever went to university in Nigeria. If you did, I want to know when and where? 
I went to University of Ibadan in the early 70s and my Hall was Independence. I left Nigeria on Scholarship to SMU Dallas in 1978.
After my Ph.D at The University of Texas at Dallas in 1984, I returned to Nigeria to fulfill my part of agreement as a Federal government scholar to serve my country. 
Ikhide, when I came back in July 1985, the first place I went to visit was my Alma Mater and of course my former Hall,  Great Independence. I first went to the toilet room. I ran out because of the poor state that I found it. I went to one of the wings of Hall, it was a nightmare. I held my breath and asked if I were actually at UI. I got into my car and wept. 
When I got to Ogun State University Ago-Iwoye now Olabisi Onabajo University to resume there in September 1985, the newly established university attracted me not because of its infrastructure but a place of challenge for me to develop the students and younger academic staff. 
The poor salary of academic staff turned my wife away from our institution called Ivory Tower. She went back to the US but I remained because of the agreement I signed as a Federal scholar that I would return to serve my country after the completion of my programme at UT-D. 
In those days many of our lecturers were poor and that could explain the kind of low esteem they received from their students and society in general. The military regimes contributed to the mess the university system has found itself. The poor state of infrastructure on campuses and the unwillingness on the part of governments to fund public Universities made it compelling for ASUU to take the governments to task. 
The Federal government willfully entered an agreement with ASUU and reneged on its fulfillment.  
It is ASUU struggles that have saved the University system from a complete collapse. 
There is more to write about the state of Nigerian public Universities. Today no university in Nigeria is ranked among the 10 top Universities in Africa.  It is sad. 
Ikhide, let me ask you, if you are concerned about the current state of our public universities, what would you do to make the governments fund the institutions so that the lecturers do not go on incessant strike? 
Now that you see in a nutshell the state of ruin the university system is experiencing, would you be willing to come to your fatherland to make your contributions like some of us? 
No society is perfect and I see your criticism as out of place most especially your language. Nobody can be persuaded that you have a knowledge of what the condition of Nigerian tertiary institutions look like. 
Please avoid making provocative statements on ASUU. 
Thanks. 
Segun Ogungbemi. 
Sent from my iPhone

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 22, 2013, 8:59:44 AM9/22/13
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Thanks for that summation, Segun.

Beyond polemics, I would like to understand that toilet problem as an inroad into what went wrong.

Why should the toilets become so bad?

Was there no water to flush them?

Were the students using them roughly?

If there was no water or inadequate water supply, what happened to the old water supply?

Did it become inadequate as the student population and that of the city grew?

If so, why was that not addressed through expansion of the existing system?

Why was that possibility not anticipated by the town planners and engineers  in relation to  the building of the university?

Why was the same problem very visible at the university of Benin when I was there in the 80s?

Does Nigeria generally and even its intelligentsia,  those people who built her universities, have a culture of such conveniences as fundamental  to human dignity?

I suspect that our understanding of the modern civilisation into which were thrust is deeply inadequate. 

That might account for  why strange things happen even with those who are described as formally educated.

thanks
toyin 



On Sun, Sep 22, 2013 at 1:30 PM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <tovad...@gmail.com> wrote:
Please forgive the resending of this post 

EDITED 

Ikhide's essay is best understood as entertainment, laced with unsubstantiable fiction mixed with fact. 

I'm not bothering to read the full essay.

I doubt if it will have much of value.

It becomes a form of entertainment  in his characterisation of the visual  images  of the ASUU leadership.

I really enjoyed the sheer fun of that. 

It becomes a mean kind of imagined reality when he starts  invoking First Class tickets abroad and schooling abroad as the norm for wards for children of Nigerian academics.

Where would they get the money from?

How much are they paid?

The fees in England, at least, for foreign students are more than double  those for home students.

For a postgraduate course you are looking at £9 a year and above.

I know one Nigerian academic who has a child doing a postgraduate course in England after completing her first degree in Nigeria, but this person lives both on their salary  and on a consistent  stream of fellowships from the West. 

Is it the claim that they are studying in countries where it is cheaper?

I know one academic whose child is is studying in an African country after studying in Nigeria but also know another who did all his studies in Nigeria.

What is the percentage of Nigerian academics whose children study outside Nigeria?

Is any research on the subject being referenced by the writer?

Why should he?

It is fashionable to broadcast one's moral authority by spitting on Nigeria, using its inadequacies as basis for absolute condemnation. 

Living in a country built on some of the worst brutalities  in history, as you enjoy the spoils  of such  blood wealth makes it easier to cast the stream of spittle in a forceful  arc so it will land more readily on the struggling place from where you escaped to civilisation, arriving at a time when the bulk of the founding horrors have been distilled for their value and the booty shared in a way that you too can benefit from.

A sense of proportion is unhelpful in such a necessity of  self righteousness. . 

The essay becomes fact when it references genuine claims about the need for  ASUU to police its members, such as the Farouk essay.

The essay becomes farce in stretching the Farouk essay into a parody of itself.

I used to get excited about such ultimately funny ways of addressing the challenges of Nigerian education but why bother about the untuned squeaking  of birds trying to comment on what is beyond their will to grasp?

For serious discussions of this subject, anyone who is interested could go to the 

Nigerian Biomedical and Life Sciences Yahoo group, in particular, where various sides of the subject have been dedicatedly thrashed, 

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 22, 2013, 8:30:21 AM9/22/13
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Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 22, 2013, 8:29:29 AM9/22/13
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Adoyi Onoja

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Sep 22, 2013, 11:12:04 AM9/22/13
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The president is about to appoint new ministers. Ikhide has the credential for the education portfolio. He should send his papers for consideration- including his gutter expletive on the ASUU. 
 
With him in that ministry, he can commence the process of nailing ASUU and building the university system of his dream. That much is the wish of Aja Nwachukwu.
 
adoyi

Chika Onyeani

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Sep 22, 2013, 3:39:10 PM9/22/13
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Segun Ogungbemi

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Sep 22, 2013, 3:27:14 PM9/22/13
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Toyin, 
You have raised fundamental questions which I believe will require a number of pages of response. 
The simple answer is poor planning, lack of maintenance, and poor funding of the institution. 
In 2011, we had a conference at UI and at lunch time we used the former cafeteria of Sultan Bello. Guess what, as I looked at the balcony of the Hall, there were plastic rubbers used to fetch water and  some hurricane lanterns. I drew the attention of one of our senior colleagues to what I perceived to be a retrogression in a Premier University. 
What aesthetic values do you think the students will learn in such an institution? 
I could not believe that since the horror of shame I experienced at Great Independence Hall in 1985, nothing really changed in 2011 at UI. What a shame! 
In summary, I find it difficult to recommend our colleagues overseas to come for research and Lectures in our public universities in Nigeria. 
It is ASUU struggles that have saved the situation in Nigerian public universities. 
That is why I found it totally unacceptable the characterization of our devoted colleagues by Ikhide. It appears Ikhide is not in tune with what happens in Nigerian universities. 
In my view he needs to apologize to our colleagues and ASUU leadership. 
Segun Ogungbemi. 

Sent from my iPhone

orunmi...@yahoo.co.uk

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Sep 22, 2013, 6:39:12 PM9/22/13
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Prof Ogungbemi and Toyin

For me, I've since decided to ignore Ikhide since he does nothing than to put all the blame for the failure of the Nigerian state at the doorstep of ASUU's. What sort of thinking, one wonders, for instance, produced a statement that places state the of a website of an institution on ASUU? What sort of reason accepts that Nigerian academics are doing research and teaching in "pretend classrooms and laboratories" yet uses uncouth language on those who are protesting that the "pretend classrooms and laboratories" must be equipped to meet international standards and thereby stop them from being "pretend scholars" producing "pretend graduate"? What man would hide in a country built with the sweat and blood of other people and call his own place of birth a cursed country? If he is protected from the rot in his fatherland, are all the members of his immediate and extended family enjoying the same borrowed protection? How does he feel when he hurls insults at those who helped to shape his future? Did he take anything away, intellectually, from Nigeria? If yes, has he purged himself of the "little" that he took away and begin on a clean slate when he got to America? What has he contributed to affecting change in his fatherland? The last time that he was in Nigeria, what impressions did our roads, hospitals, power supply make on him? Are all these decay and neglect caused by ASUU? How many times have doctors and other workers gone on strike due to the insensitivity of the Nigerian ruling class?
Ikhide reminds me of Dr Val Ojo who never had any constructive criticism to make towards waking the Nigerian ruling class to the reality that Nigerians are fed up with their perennial determination to run the country aground while they feed fat. In fact, what led Ikhide to seek greener pastures in a foreign land ? Does he believe that all Nigerian academics should run away as he did to countries built ny men/women like him?
We have had enough of the epidemic called brain drain. Nigeria has to stop the shameful practice of sending her children to lesser endowed countries to get quality education! Does Ikhide know how much Nigerians pay as tuition to study in countries like Ghana, Benin Republic, Gabon, Togo etc?
I'm yet to understand Ikhide's paranoid disdain for ASUU and the Nigerian nation. If an Ikhide calls eminent scholars like Emeitus Profs. Eskor Toyo, Okonjo who still sit at ASUU meetings and other nationally and international acclaimed scholars thugs who are parading as scholars, I advise that he be ignored to continue his ranting. if, however, he decides, like the scholar that one expects him to be- after spending so many years in a "civilised" society- to offer suggestions that will take the Nigerian educational sector and others out of this current mess, let him offer them. If he has an alternative to the strike option, let him offer it. If not, he should "siddon look".
I truly appreciate the way our Diasporian colleagues handled the last two UNILAG cases of Journal of Political Science and the pseudo-scientific claims of a misguided Postgraduate. Students. These are test cases to show that the Diaspora has a lot to do to shape the future of the country.
Anyone who thinks that all of us should become visa lottery seekers in the face of the present challenge should remember the Yoruba saying that "ajo ko le da bii ile"- exile cannot be compared to one's home". If this is understood, criticisms would not only be constructive but action would also be taken to right any wrong.
I advise on this matter, that Ikhide should no longer be humoured with responses except he takes a deeper look at the suggestions made by Toyin that he become factual and not be blind by anger whose source he alone can tell.

TA

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
From: Segun Ogungbemi <segun...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 20:27:14 +0100
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 22, 2013, 5:26:49 PM9/22/13
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Thanks, Segun.

We also need to accept the  blame that is due to academics.

The problem with Ikhide's approach is exaggeration.

I also suspect that one may understand the system better from higher management level positions.

We need to hear from heads of department, deans, committee heads and vice-chancellors speaking from within their insider knowledge of the mechanics of the system.

Why should the highest ranking management staff of a university, the older members of whom  studied in some of the best conditions in Nigeria and abroad not be able to build hostels with adequate plumbing, for example?

Is funding the issue there?

Could it be inadequate water supply from a central system?

What progress are we making in  developing  a vigorous book publication policy to feed our students with our own home generated academic culture, building  on advancements  globally but making this available to students and staff at affordable prices?

A writer made a similar point here not too long ago on the overly external focus of  academic publication platforms in Nigeria.

It is important to continue explore these issues with those in the system in Nigeria.

thanks

toyin 






Femi Segun

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Sep 23, 2013, 6:01:24 AM9/23/13
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Dear Ikhide,

I don’t know how old you are. However, apart from the that  fact age does not automatically correspond to wisdom,  I know that you are not  older than veteran ASUU leaders such as Professors Okonjo, Eskor Toyo and Olurode among others  who have dedicated their entire  lives to the struggle for a better public university education in Nigeria. These are the people you egregiously referred to as ASUU thugs! I can see that you have a fixated mind to consistently denigrate, insult and verbally assault ASUU. I can recall that well-meaning Nigerians in Diaspora like Professors Michael Afolayan and Okey Iheduru among others have at different times narrated their experiences with Nigerian universities on this forum. They have stated the good; the bad and the ugly and offered advice on what they think should be the best way to handle the intractable crisis. I would have ignored your ranting and tirade. However, it is better to answer people like you so as to deflate your bloated ego, at least a bit.  

As for my identity, I’m a Nigerian academic who is currently outside the country on academic fellowship. This is not because of the strike but inspite of it.  It may interest you to know that I have also held academic fellowships in what in your coloniality constrained mind and mentality will call top notch or Ivy League universities out there in the United States.  

I have to say this because people like you erroneously think that no good thing can come of the academic system in Nigeria. But I must tell you that despite the rot and the crisis, we still have colleagues who are winning competitive academic fellowships and grants from reputable institutions within and outside the country to conduct research. While I’m not  the Public Relations Officer of  ASUU, it is important to repeat for the umpteen time that the current strike is to force the hands of Government to commit itself more to funding university education in Nigeria so that if 10 academics are currently making giant strides in the global academic community, this number  can increase.  No one is saying that ASUU is a perfect organization. Hardly can you find a perfect one on this side of eternity.

 No doubt, ASUU has its weaknesses and failings. However, using foul languages on members of this body and making unsubstantiated claims such as your insinuation that all ASUU members chase female students on campus, cast a shadow of credibility on your vaunted academic credentials and moral sanctity. For the avoidance of doubt, I have been teaching in a Federal University in Nigeria  for the past seven years and no student can allege that I have abused my position as a Lecturer either in form of having immoral relationship or asking for money.  There are many other people like me.  

Making generalized assumptions without evidence or exceptions is a typical characteristic of an Agbero. Somehow, I can fix you in the mould of the colonialists who in their attempt to carry out their evil deeds, had to denigrate and paint the colonies as hearts of darkness. They engaged in what Achebe in ‘The Image of Africa’ calls cheap mystifications. By your continuous assault, umbrage and tirade on ASUU and the educational system in Nigeria, you seem to me to be carrying forward the work of the narrator in John Conrad’s ‘The Heart of Darkness’. Pray, what do you think you can achieve by your style? Is it by running down the system and  denigrating those who are spending their entire lives to train future leaders and develop manpower for the country  that it will get improved?

While I don’t believe in what I call relativisation of evil (It’s bad elsewhere, so it’s okay to be bad here) mentality, I can say to you that hardly can you see anywhere across the world, where there is no concern about the dwindling quality of educational standard.  Not too long ago, I read Thomas Friedman’s article in the New York Times, where he was lamenting about the falling standard of education in United States of America. The difference between him and you is the data that he provided to substantiate his claims. He did not use gutter languages as you have the penchant for doing on the teachers, professors or their professional bodies. He also offered solutions on how the government can  correct the situation.  

You also seem to think the use of strike as a means of getting attention of government is not tenable in our circumstances. This is far from the truth. Bad as it may be, it seems to be  the only potent instrument of engagement when dealing with politicians who has no idea of what they are in office to do. I have just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s ‘Long Walk to Freedom’. Strikes, sit ins, boycotts and similar instruments were used against the apartheid regime in South Africa before it was finally dismantled. As an old man, you must have known or possibly witnessed the General Strike  organized by the  Railway Transport Workers in 1945. That strike had a paralyzing effect on the colonial government of the time. The post-colonial state is not remarkably different from the colonial state and as Amilcar Cabra of blessed memory presciently submitted, not until the artificial/enemy state is destroyed, the realization of the goal of development will be a mirage.  

As for your 4000 student followers, I adopt Molefe  Asante centric approach to let you know that some of these students are not fit to be in the University at all. Many of them cheated their ways from primary through secondary school to the University. (In your own warped estimation, ASUU should also be blamed for exam cheats from primary school).  Gone are the days when we put our feet inside water to avoid sleeping off while reading. Such practices are rare among these ones. They are  distracted by iPod, iPad, iCloud and i everything. Since they have a sympathizer in you, they must continue to follow you in running down their teachers.

While I leave you to continue  your meaningless rants for now, I advise you, don’t be the mouthpiece of a state, which is anti-people and anti-development. If you are seeking for popularity as Prof. Gloria Emeagwali observed recently  in connection with your unidirectional and unbalanced approach to issues, you can seek for that through other means.

 

Femi.

 

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 23, 2013, 7:33:14 AM9/23/13
to cc: USAAfrica Dialogue
Ikhide don enter trouble!

olugbenga Ojo

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Sep 23, 2013, 9:20:29 AM9/23/13
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
No be small trouble!!! I saw it coming because yes there may be bad elements(which you will find in all systems worldwide) there are also many good ones. In Nigeria as pointed out above we ave brains. Be expecting more because you actually looked for it...

shina7...@yahoo.com

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Sep 23, 2013, 8:26:10 AM9/23/13
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, xok...@yahoo.com
"ASUU is on strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, they are always on strike, nobody seems to know why, except that it involves being paid a boatload of money by their counterparts, those thieves euphemistically called the Nigerian government. ASUU. My contempt for that body of narcissistic thugs knows no bounds.". Ikhide

Oga Ikhide,
I salute you!
I suspect you must be having a wonderful time with the ruckus that your ASUU post is raking up all over the net. It seems to me that you go to this length sometime to shore up your reputation as an 'irreverent' critic-of African literature and African intellectuals. However, it seem that, even for me, this ASUU summation is irreverence gone too far and too off.

Two issues on my mind: first is your fallacious summation of ASUU membership as a body of thugs, and second is your reduction of the ASUU industrial action to a mere struggle for money.

FIRST:

1. I am an ASUU member. And I subscribe to this industrial action in the hope that some concessions, however meagre, can be seized and deployed towards the rehabilitation of the Nigerian educational system. Just like your vaunted claim of being part of a sterling educational system in the US, we are also here, right in the trenches of a degenerating system, making gigantic efforts to scrape the best we can from it. There are people here who love this system, who are giving it their effort and attentio; those who have fought and those still fighting. For us, teaching is a ministry, a spiritual mandate, that will not allow us to take advantage of those entrusted into our care. I confront young minds everyday in the line of duty, and I am daily afraid-as to what they'll turn out to become within the constraint of hopelessness and institutional decay. Isn't this enough to fight for? I suspect you hold your own duty to that kind of sacred standard that would make me want to entrust my child to your care. There are people here too, in their hundreds, who take their duty with solemnity-they won't sleep with students, exhort money from them, refuse to attend and teach classes, sell handouts, or commit other nefarious acts. I won't grudge you your responsibilities over there; yet I wonder what is responsible for this often unsavoury remarks about 'African intellectuals' and their abdication of their duty? As if nothing is ever happening? As if all 'African intellectuals' have sold their souls to Western imperialism and colonisation?

2. Having made that point, let me also say my membership of ASUU does not blind me to its follies and weaknesses. I rage and fume regularly. And, again, I am not alone here. Several people are in agony over the internal anomalies that are daily eroding ASUU's moral capital in a country bereft of a civil society vanguard that could speak truth to power. However, speaking truth to power ought to commence with speaking truth to oneself. I have often wondered why the ASUU-NEC is not wise to the need to make ASUU a national conscience that agitates for transformations within and without, rather than being satisfied with the perception of the body as being solely concerned with strikes and salaries (the mistake you've apparently also fallen into; and, it would seem, due to no entire fault of yours). There are rampant incidences of rogue lecturers, discrepancies in teaching schedule of individual teachers, scandals involving grades and ladies, low quality teaching, digital illiteracy, etc. Yet ASUU-NEC is content with the body's status as a government nemesis which lacks the moral weight of a Nemesis. If we eventually succeed in forcing the government to engage its responsibilities, will our gains not be frittered away through the black hole of our internal contradictions?

3. Yet, I am still an ASUU member, and would not do a wholesale demonisation of the entire ASUU body. This is why that summation appals me. By 'that body of narcissistic thugs', what do you really intend? I suspect you reference the entire ASUU membership present. But, since ASUU is a union body with legal continuity (and since your grouse didn't begin today), does your atrocious summation not also capture ASUU members past-Jeyifo, Osundare, Eskor Toyo and other intellectual worthies who have bemoaned and fought for what they believe the Nigerian educational system can achieve within the development dynamics in Nigeria? Or, maybe you intend just the leadership of ASUU? Even that would excuse your irreverent reductionism. By what stretch of the imagination can a body of thousands of intellectuals be called narcissists or thugs? That summation is irreverence gone too far and too bad. We may bear your literary criticism; this present summation flies in the face of logic and the empirical.

4. It is a logical and empirical fact that there ought to be more to a body than what you read about or perceive in its modus operandi(since you aren't part of the system you critique so trenchantly). Yet, you neglect that logical point and conveniently wrapped yourself up in a composition fallacy which fails to disambiguate the faults of the few from the attributes of the whole.

5. It should be an interesting research to ransack the deep recesses of your personal and intellectual history in search of that juncture where you picked your disillusionment with the 'African intellectuals'. I wonder how you'll describe yourself-an American intellectual? Does that save you from your own wholesale mudslinging?

Second:

I feel so depressed that you only perceive the industrial action as only a struggle to be 'paid a boatload of money' in a case of thieves paying thugs who both neglect the consequence of their brigandage on the future of innocent children.

Pardon my moral ignorance, but is there something inherently wrong with requesting for money you have earned? The earned allowances framework is a consequence of an agreement government signed. What would you have done in a similar situation Sir?

Being a good soul, I suspect you would have mobilised the entire ASUU team to let government be, think of the 'future' of the innocent students and return to work-in dystopian laboratories where kerosene stoves replace Bunsen burners, where 'libraries' lack recent books and journals, where classrooms haven't been updated with multimedia facilities, where personal pockets fund researches.

When I read Prof. Aluko's pragmatic suggestions for ending the strike, I wondered how two friends could be so far apart in intellectual temperament. I wonder also whether Jonathan shouldn't have seen the worth of the Prof as the next Education Minister rather than a VC. Well, not all eyes observe.

Permit me to rest my case while I await the spell check and grammar lesson. I tremble at the inevitable, stentorian and dismissive 'nonsense' that is certain to come. I won't also mind the booming silence.


Adeshina Afolayan

*can't afford to cycle away since my six-year old bicycle is worn out for lack of repair. So I'm grounded as it were*



Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 08:49:57 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

blargeo...@gmail.com

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Sep 23, 2013, 10:16:12 AM9/23/13
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
My dear Sirs,
The toilet situation is symbolic of all that is wrong with our universities and other higher institutions of learning.

I was lucky to have stayed off campus but each time I had cause to visit the hostel, the stench from the toilet provokes a most violent nausea.

The bowls are filled to the brim and some students are forced to do the act on newspaper pages on the floors of the toilet, after which they wrap up the stuff like gift to the cleaners.

I still pity the helplessness that makes a student expel his stinking dissidents on other people's expelled and already fetid dissidents in an ambience of rot and filth.

What does this prison like interface with the toilet make a student. A hardy, patriotic citizen that can thrive under the most dire of conditions or a warped human being inured to the worst abuse from authorities?

Such was (and most likely still is) the beastly existence in the toilet, that most students wake early to join the queue of those elite few that can use the toilet immediately after the cleaners have done a shoddy job of sanitising the toilet. 20 minutes after the cleaners, the toilets are a bedlam of olfactory and visual nightmares.

I wonder why the hostel rooms are not en suite? That at least will cut the cost of cleaning by 50% or more since students will be responsible for cleaning their own toilets.

Finally, most of these toilets are still standing firm, taking shit from various bull shitters, just like the schools themselves sincethe dawn of the jack boots.

Bolaji!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <tovad...@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 22:26:49 +0100
To: cc: USAAfrica Dialogue<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

Ikhide

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Sep 23, 2013, 2:59:18 PM9/23/13
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, shina7...@yahoo.com
Prof,
 
You have said it and you have said it well, I took your write-up before my great spell-check and you excelled yourself sef, I even forgive you all the digs and yabis at my dignity, now wahala. Know this, Ikhide and all those who rail against ASUU are not mad people, there is something really wrong somewhere. And the time for polite talk is long past. I ignore calls for analysis, prattle, prattle, prattle, and simply say it like I am feeling it. Just so you know, I am a consumer of whatever product ASUU dishes out. I have paid a lot of money for the education of relatives. I can assure you that I am not happy with the results, far from it.
 
I have responded to your thoughts earlier, but I wanted to say to you, ASUU's leadership could use your literary skills and temperament, THAT is one of my points. ASUU's communication has been wholly inarticulate. I am not the only one that feels that way. As for that professor that has eloped to Goodluck Jonathan's village, I shall be seeing him soon and we will have a belly laugh or two over your characterization of his temperament!
 
Be well, man! 
 
- Ikhide
 
Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide



From: "shina7...@yahoo.com" <shina7...@yahoo.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com; xok...@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH
"ASUU is on strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, they are always on strike, nobody seems to know why, except that it involves being paid a boatload of money by their counterparts, those thieves euphemistically called the Nigerian government. ASUU. My contempt for that body of narcissistic thugs knows no bounds.". Ikhide

Oga Ikhide,
I salute you!
I suspect you must be having a wonderful time with the ruckus that your ASUU post is raking up all over the net. It seems to me that you go to this length sometime to shore up your reputation as an 'irreverent' critic-of African literature and African intellectuals. However, it seem that, even for me, this ASUU summation is irreverence gone too far and too off.

Two issues on my mind: first is your fallacious summation of ASUU membership as a body of thugs, and second is your reduction of the ASUU industrial action to a mere struggle for money.

FIRST:

1. I am an ASUU member. And I subscribe to this industrial action in the hope that some concessions, however meagre, can be seized and deployed towards the rehabilitation of the Nigerian educational system. Just like your vaunted claim of being part of a sterling educational system in the US, we are also here, right in the trenches of a degenerating system, making gigantic efforts to scrape the best we can from it. There are people here who love this system, who are giving it their effort and attentio; those who have fought and those still fighting. For us, teaching is a ministry, a spiritual mandate, that will not allow us to take advantage of those entrusted into our care. I confront young minds everyday in the line of duty, and I am daily afraid-as to what they'll turn out to become within the constraint of hopelessness and institutional decay. Isn't this enough to fight for? I suspect you hold your own duty to that kind of sacred standard that would make me want to entrust my child to your care. There are people here too, in their hundreds, who take their duty with solemnity-they won't sleep with students, exhort money from them, refuse to attend and teach classes, sell handouts, or commit other nefarious acts. I won't grudge you your responsibilities over there; yet I wonder what is responsible for this often unsavoury remarks about 'African intellectuals' and their abdication of their duty? As if nothing is ever happening? As if all 'African intellectuals' have sold their souls to Western imperialism and colonisation?

2. Having made that point, let me also say my membership of ASUU does not blind me to its follies and weaknesses. I rage and fume regularly. And, again, I am not alone here. Several people are in agony over the internal anomalies that are daily eroding ASUU's moral capital in a country bereft of a civil society vanguard that could speak truth to power. However, speaking truth to power ought to commence with speaking truth to oneself. I have often wondered why the ASUU-NEC is not wise to the need to make ASUU a national conscience that agitates for transformations within and without, rather than being satisfied with the perception of the body as being solely concerned with strikes and salaries (the mistake you've apparently also fallen into; and, it would seem, due to no entire fault of yours). There are rampant incidences of rogue lecturers, discrepancies in teaching schedule of individual teachers, scandals involving grades and ladies, low quality teaching, digital illiteracy, etc. Yet ASUU-NEC is content with the body's status as a government nemesis which lacks the moral weight of a Nemesis. If we eventually succeed in forcing the government to engage its responsibilities, will our gains not be frittered away through the black hole of our internal contradictions?

3. Yet, I am still an ASUU member, and would not do a wholesale demonisation of the entire ASUU body. This is why that summation appals me. By 'that body of narcissistic thugs', what do you really intend? I suspect you reference the entire ASUU membership present. But, since ASUU is a union body with legal continuity (and since your grouse didn't begin today), does your atrocious summation not also capture ASUU members past-Jeyifo, Osundare, Eskor Toyo and other intellectual worthies who have bemoaned and fought for what they believe the Nigerian educational system can achieve within the development dynamics in Nigeria? Or, maybe you intend just the leadership of ASUU? Even that would excuse your irreverent reductionism. By what stretch of the imagination can a body of thousands of intellectuals be called narcissists or thugs? That summation is irreverence gone too far and too bad. We may bear your literary criticism; this present summation flies in the face of logic and the empirical.

4. It is a logical and empirical fact that there ought to be more to a body than what you read about or perceive in its modus operandi(since you aren't part of the system you critique so trenchantly). Yet, you neglect that logical point and conveniently wrapped yourself up in a composition fallacy which fails to disambiguate the faults of the few from the attributes of the whole.

5. It should be an interesting research to ransack the deep recesses of your personal and intellectual history in search of that juncture where you picked your disillusionment with the 'African intellectuals'. I wonder how you'll describe yourself-an American intellectual? Does that save you from your own wholesale mudslinging?

Second:

I feel so depressed that you only perceive the industrial action as only a struggle to be 'paid a boatload of money' in a case of thieves paying thugs who both neglect the consequence of their brigandage on the future of innocent children.

Pardon my moral ignorance, but is there something inherently wrong with requesting for money you have earned? The earned allowances framework is a consequence of an agreement government signed. What would you have done in a similar situation Sir?

Being a good soul, I suspect you would have mobilised the entire ASUU team to let government be, think of the 'future' of the innocent students and return to work-in dystopian laboratories where kerosene stoves replace Bunsen burners, where 'libraries' lack recent books and journals, where classrooms haven't been updated with multimedia facilities, where personal pockets fund researches.

When I read Prof. Aluko's pragmatic suggestions for ending the strike, I wondered how two friends could be so far apart in intellectual temperament. I wonder also whether Jonathan shouldn't have seen the worth of the Prof as the next Education Minister rather than a VC. Well, not all eyes observe.

Permit me to rest my case while I await the spell check and grammar lesson. I tremble at the inevitable, stentorian and dismissive 'nonsense' that is certain to come. I won't also mind the booming silence.


Adeshina Afolayan

*can't afford to cycle away since my six-year old bicycle is worn out for lack of repair. So I'm grounded as it were*



Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 08:49:57 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH


The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria. ASUU. ASUU is on strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, they are always on strike, nobody seems to know why, except that it involves being paid a boatload of money by their counterparts, those thieves euphemistically called the Nigerian government. ASUU. My contempt for that body of narcissistic thugs knows no bounds. There is really not much one needs to say about how these rogues in academic robes have colluded with any government in power (AGIP) to defraud and rob generations of beautiful children what is their right – a good education. To say ASUU is on strike is to state the obvious, they are nearly always on strike, even when they are at work, they are on strike. Their members want to have sex with every child that walks into their pretend classrooms, when they have satisfied themselves, they pimp their helpless wards, yes, they do, to their friends, constipated generals and pot-bellied rogue-politicians who have too much money in their thieving pockets.
If you don’t believe me, Farooq Kperogi has a disturbing piece here on the sexual harassment epidemic in Nigerian universities. You read that piece, and when you have stopped shuddering, you understand why fully less than 10 percent of Nigerian university dons have children living in that mess called Nigeria, let alone inside the filthy chicken coops that pass for classrooms from preschool to the tertiary level. In those criminal hovels, children of the poor and dispossessed are trapped and mis-educated by those whose children are being nurtured in the West. Their children will come back home from North America and Europe on holidays to the pretend suburbs of Abuja and Lagos island, wave a Cold Stone ice cream cone at the wreck built by their thieving parents and berate Nigerians for being wretched Nigerians. They often travel First Class. Ten percent? I made it up of course. I am a Nigerian intellectual. We are lazy like that. It could be less even.

Follow me, let’s go to the silly website of ASUU right here. Let us visit their officers, all of them mean looking men, except for one harried looking token lady who has the cringe-worthy patronizing title of “welfare secretary.” I am sure she does important things for the #OgasAtTheTop of ASUU. Maybe she is responsible for making pounded yam and bringing water so the men could wash their filthy hands. SMH. Yes, Nigeria is the patriarchy from hell, in Nigeria, misogyny reigns even in the 21st century and even among the men of the ivory tower. Hiss. Here’s ASUU’s list of  men “leaders” and one token woman: Dr, Nasir Isa Fagge, president, Bayero University, Kano, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, Vice president, OOU Ago-Iwoye, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, immediate past president, IMSU, Owerri, Professor Victor Osodoke, financial secretary, MOUA Umudike, Dr. Ademola Aremu, treasurer, University of Ibadan, Professor. Daniel Gungula, internal auditor, MAUTech, Yola, Dr. Ralph Ofukwu, investment secretary, FUAM, Makurdi,  Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Iloh, welfare secretary, University of Benin, and Professor Israel Wurogji, legal advisor, University of Calabar. All the men and one woman have horrid looking pictures of themselves on the website, except for Professor Wurogii, ASUU’s “legal advisor” who either is too lazy or too busy to provide one. He is perhaps genuinely afraid for his life – not from the SSS but from irate abused students who have spent the past decade trying to get an education from these thugs.

- Ikhide
 
Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide


Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Sep 23, 2013, 2:37:46 PM9/23/13
to USAAfricaDialogue
"As for your 4000 student followers, I adopt Molefe  Asante centric approach to let you know that some of these students are not fit to be in the University at all. Many of them cheated their ways from primary through secondary school to the University. (In your own warped estimation, ASUU should also be blamed for exam cheats from primary school).  Gone are the days when we put our feet inside water to avoid sleeping off while reading. Such practices are rare among these ones. They are  distracted by iPod, iPad, iCloud and i everything. Since they have a sympathizer in you, they must continue to follow you in running down their teachers."

---Femi Segun



Still no willingness to accept responsibility. I can see that ASUU's rigid outmodedness mirrors the imperviousness of many of its members. We're talking about very poor lecturers who would not be bordered about improving their crafts for the sake of the students they claim to love so much--lecturers who would veto any measures that would compel them to justify their perks to their employers and submit to the perfunctory evaluation of their students; we're talking about lecturers who have not updated their lecture notes since the 1980s; we're talking about lecturers who simply come to class to dictate notes--no questions and no discussions; we're talking about lecturers lacking in basic IT literacy; were talking about lecturers who come to class ONCE a semester and yet administer exams at the end of the term; we are talking about lecturers who are more interested in transacting with students than teaching or nurturing them; we're talking about lecturers unfit (yes, unfit) to teach in a secondary school lecturing in universities. We are talking about all this resulting predictably in graduates who are poor and clueless and all you can do by way of a defense is to blame the students' primary and secondary school instruction, their cheating ways, and their addiction to ipads, ipods, and other gadgets? Blame everyone but the lecturer; that's an excellent replication of the ASUU motif.

This is the kind of BS that passes as response to valid, compelling critiques of ASUU nowadays. And we wonder why the union is incapable of rethinking its tactics or displaying any creativity in its struggle. 


There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.


---Mohandas Gandhi

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Sep 23, 2013, 11:42:24 AM9/23/13
to USAAfricaDialogue
"Having made that point, let me also say my membership of ASUU does not blind me to its follies and weaknesses. I rage and fume regularly. And, again, I am not alone here. Several people are in agony over the internal anomalies that are daily eroding ASUU's moral capital in a country bereft of a civil society vanguard that could speak truth to power. However, speaking truth to power ought to commence with speaking truth to oneself. I have often wondered why the ASUU-NEC is not wise to the need to make ASUU a national conscience that agitates for transformations within and without, rather than being satisfied with the perception of the body as being solely concerned with strikes and salaries (the mistake you've apparently also fallen into; and, it would seem, due to no entire fault of yours). There are rampant incidences of rogue lecturers, discrepancies in teaching schedule of individual teachers, scandals involving grades and ladies, low quality teaching, digital illiteracy, etc. Yet ASUU-NEC is content with the body's status as a government nemesis which lacks the moral weight of a Nemesis. If we eventually succeed in forcing the government to engage its responsibilities, will our gains not be frittered away through the black hole of our internal contradictions? "

---Adeshina,



How is this different from some of the points Ikhide has repeatedly made? Is the difference not merely one of style and rhetoric? Ikhide finds the scholar's restraint and fidelity to empirical facts (some call it crude empiricism) burdensome. I have no problem with that. He has always disavowed the label of scholar or academic, so why hold him to the (sometimes) cumbersome standards of a scholar's analysis? For goodness sake, even for scholars, the idea that one must provide citation for everything, even the obvious, is ridiculous and is often the subject of tussles between authors and reviewers. Ikhide uses strategic hyperbole, literary flourish, strategic generalizations, and other tools in his literary toolkit to offer his take on the crises of higher education in Nigeria and on ASUU's strategy of struggle. That's his style. I believe it is called literary/poetic license. Get over the style and discuss the substance of his post. If we're as intelligent as we claim we are, we'd know by now that Ikhide has a robustly provocative style, whether he is discussing Meja Nwangi's novel or ASUU. It is not for everyone, but some of us like it, as it is a delightful exercise in punchy, polemical brilliance, and a welcome relief and break from the boring, stifling strictures and protocols of scholarly writing and analysis. If you don't like his style, invent yours and use it to discuss ASUU. This game of latching on to atmospherics to avoid dealing with valid substantive critiques of ASUU's failings is almost worn out. It has become predictable and sterile. The other day it was Okey Iheduru who was the target of some uncouth defensiveness laced with some combative jibes. Why is our first instinct, when confronted with critiques of ASUU, to attack the messenger and repeat familiar and tired attacks on government and politicians? Where is our capacity for self-critique?

As many Nigeria-based colleagues will tell you in PRIVATE, the ASUU model of struggle may have outlived its effectiveness. Is it the loss of moral capital? Is it the law of diminishing returns setting in without a corresponding willingness to rethink tactics and strategies? Is it the acute perception problem plaguing ASUU? Is it its focus on the nebulous issue of "funding" to mask a more pecuniary (nothing wrong with pecuniary, just be honest about it) agenda? Is it the inattentiveness to the problems that the excerpt from Shina's post captures brilliantly? Is it the fact that ASUU's rhetorical arsenal is stuck in the 1990s when in fact any honest observer would testify to significant improvements in remunerative and infrastructural conditions? Is it the failure of ASUU to recognize that it needs to EARN the trust and support of a public weary of strikes that result in new allowances and income improvements which threaten to create an academic aristocracy (Fanon calls it "labor aristocracy") and further the distance between gown and town? Again, nothing wrong with this, but it comes at a cost, which is that, economically you're getting closer and closer to the politicians and bureaucrats you critique and further and further away from the mass of Nigerians. This must be recognized and mitigated by appropriate rhetorical and organizational measures, which ASUU has failed to do. ASUU takes the Nigerian public for granted and fails to see how angry folks are with its antics. The other day, the national president of NANS was interviewed on Saharareporters and said clearly that while Nigerian students support ASUU's demands for infrastructures that ease student life, they DO NOT support ASUU's demands for more allowances and improved perks. This sentiment is widespread on social media among students. This is a problem for ASUU. Clearly it has lost Nigerian students because it has failed to incorporate their interests into its strategies. 

What is ASUU doing about poor instruction in our universities, which students routinely complain about and which produces poor graduates? A lecturer may be forgiven for dictating notes, not taking questions, and not engaging in a discussion, in a class of 300 students, but in a class of 30 or 20? Don't ask for evidence; I experienced this firsthand. How about the failure to make learning audio-visual? Are these all the fault of government, of greedy politicians? How about poor research that substitute opinions and newspaper reportorial protocols for rigorous scholarly analysis? Is that also government's fault? Is that the result of "poor funding"? A Nigeria-based scholar can be excused for not citing dated material and for not engaging with the latest literature of her/his field because of lapsed or non-existent journal subscriptions, etc, but can they be excused from conducting basic original research? What's the excuse for simply going over familiar territory, for reinventing the wheel or replicating an existing work? What's the excuse for not even attempting to contribute something new conceptually or empirically, for not providing a new insight or a new perspective? I know several serious Nigeria-based colleagues whose work I read with excitement, so the practice of blaming funding and the government for rampant academic laziness ought to stop.

The more I comment on this issue, the more I am reminded of James Scott's idea of hidden and public scripts. Serious Nigeria-based colleagues have exactly the same concerns about the Nigerian higher education system as some of us do. For obvious reasons they will not go public with these concerns and critiques. If I were them, I'd do the same. And even those who defend, parry, and rationalize ASUU's failings and other institutional problems on this forum may be more candid and self-critical in private. One of the most profound things I've heard in private from insiders--colleagues in Nigeria--is that perhaps up to seventy percent of those in the Nigerian academy have no business being there. The brain drain of the 1980s and '90s created vacuums that were apparently filled by accidental academics. In their quest to analyze where and how the rain began to beat us (apologies to master wordsmith Achebe), several colleagues have traced the deepening rot to this seminal moment of regression. Another Nigeria-based colleague told me that the problem has worsened of late, since VCs have been foisting ill-qualified job candidates on departments and programs with little or no deliberative input from those programs. I agree that this may indeed be the root of the problem, but isn't this clearly within ASUU's portfolio of struggle? What hiring best practices has it advocated and pushed through the system? Is ASUU willing to support a thorough intellectual/academic audit of its members--of those responsible for educating our young ones, whose future the Union claims it is fighting for? How about empowering these critical stakeholders through a system of anonymous student evaluations? Is ASUU willing to go along with that?

So, bottom line: ASUU has put itself above the scrutiny and accountability that it advocates for politicians and bureaucrats, and that is sad. A union cannot claim to be fighting for the restoration/reclamation of a battered higher education system and then allow itself to be held captive to an outmoded template of struggle, or continue to uphold positions and loyalties that perpetuate the rot in the system. If most of ASUU's membership will not acquiesce to reforms and innovations that hold them accountable, improve research and instruction, and make them earn their perks and the respect of the public and their students, then it is time to question their commitment to a vibrant academic culture and to the consumers of their products--students. These are the contradictions that Shina writes about in the excerpt above, which is also the take-away from Ikhide's rant.

Felix Kayman

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Sep 23, 2013, 5:46:49 PM9/23/13
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Beyond the language of polemics in Pa Ikihde's article, there is need to seriously rethink the status of the Nigerian university system. There is need for serious soul-searching not just about whether Nigerian academics are doing a lot, rather we should ask if they are doing enough? Yes, are Nigerian academics/intellectuals/scholars really doing enough despite the situation in the country? It is a fact that the Nigerian government has failed woefully in its management of the education system. However, there are areas of responsibilities where academics and their leaders have also failed to demonstrate accountability and creativity in addressing the wider issues in the university system. This suggests that there are saints and sinners on both sides of this debate. But what can we take away from it?

As I read through the threads in this discussion, a number of issues seem to stand out repeatedly in different contributions and I thought they are worth summarising - as I see them - and, hopefully some ASUU Executives and university leaders in the group can take them up for further action. It has been suggested that ASUU needs to:

 

1.         Re-evaluate industrial strike action as a strategy for addressing the demands of the union and the needs of Universities in Nigeria;

2.         Develop mechanisms to evaluate the competence, and academic contributions of members within and across institutions;

3.         Design means of disciplining members that are identified as morally deficient – rather than shield them from institutional disciplinary procedures;

4.         Ensure that former (and active) members who assume leadership roles in universities live up to those ideals that they consistently tout in their active union days;

5.         Redefine the intervention of ASUU on national issues beyond the current pre-occupation with pecuniary benefits and institutional autonomy;

6.         Submit ASUU members to tests of quality assurance beyond institutional ‘home-grown strategies’ or regular checks provided by the National Universities Commission;

7.         Pursue an agenda that would ultimately make an association like ASUU ‘unnecessary and irrelevant’ in a 21st century Nigeria; and,

8.         Generally ensure that ASUU is more accountable to the Nigerian society at large.

 

I do realise that I may have ignored one or two that may be important and I can only ask that we continue to add them. Thanks

Ikhide

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Sep 23, 2013, 6:03:15 PM9/23/13
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Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/

Akurang-Parry, Kwabena

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Sep 23, 2013, 5:32:34 PM9/23/13
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So all members of ASUU are "thugs"! Haba! Let us stop this demonization or "Ikhidization" of higher education in Nigeria! The quotation below, a summation of Ikhide's chronic conclusions, speaks to higher education across the globe. It happens in Ghana, Britain, USA, China, Brazil, etc. etc. Citizens of every country want the best for their students and go to great lengths, devoid of "Ikihidizing," to ensure that attainment. We should be able to separate good actors and actions from bad ones! Of course, someone is squirming and fuming. indeed ready to foam-scream you leave us alone: we are talking about degrees of such unholy incidences in Nigeria! Holla me, define your comparative lens on degrees, depths, numbers, latitudes, etc. that un/compromise higher education elsewhere. My point is very simple indeed! I have always maintained that we can critique our countries without deploying demonizing clouds of mediocrity that are carried all over the globe via the Internet. The negative perspectives that people around the world have on Nigeria/ns come from how some Nigerian intellectuals, with demonizing validations and renaming, construct Nigeria on websites. Then again, I like matter oh! I for talk Ghana matter and leave Nigeria for Nigerians. Me na meko no oh!

 

"There are rampant incidences of rogue lecturers, discrepancies in teaching schedule of individual teachers, scandals involving grades and ladies, low quality teaching, digital illiteracy, etc. Yet ASUU-NEC is content with the body's status as a government nemesis which lacks the moral weight of a Nemesis."

Kwabena

 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [usaafric...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Ikhide [xok...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013 2:59 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Cc: shina7...@yahoo.com

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Sep 23, 2013, 5:31:08 PM9/23/13
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"As for your 4000 student followers, I adopt Molefe  Asante centric approach to let you know that some of these students are not fit to be in the University at all. Many of them cheated their ways from primary through secondary school to the University. (In your own warped estimation, ASUU should also be blamed for exam cheats from primary school).  Gone are the days when we put our feet inside water to avoid sleeping off while reading. Such practices are rare among these ones. They are  distracted by iPod, iPad, iCloud and i everything. Since they have a sympathizer in you, they must continue to follow you in running down their teachers."

---Femi Segun

(CORRECTED)

Still no willingness to accept responsibility. I can see that ASUU's rigid outmodedness mirrors the imperviousness of many of its members. We're talking about very poor lecturers who would not be bothered about improving their crafts for the sake of the students they claim to love so much--lecturers who would veto any measures that would compel them to justify their perks to their employers and submit to the perfunctory evaluation of their students; we're talking about lecturers who have not updated their lecture notes since the 1980s; we're talking about lecturers who simply come to class to dictate notes--no questions and no discussions; we're talking about lecturers lacking in basic IT literacy; we're talking about lecturers who come to class ONCE a semester and yet administer exams at the end of the term; we are talking about lecturers who are more interested in transacting with students than in teaching or nurturing them; we're talking about lecturers unfit (yes, unfit) to teach in a secondary school lecturing in universities. We are talking about all this resulting predictably in graduates who are poor and clueless and all you can do by way of a defense is to blame the students' primary and secondary school instruction, their cheating ways, and their addiction to ipads, ipods, and other gadgets? Blame everyone but the lecturer; that's an excellent replication of the ASUU motif.

This is the kind of BS that passes as response to valid, compelling critiques of ASUU nowadays. And we wonder why the union is incapable of rethinking its tactics or displaying any creativity in its struggle. And when Ikhide calls this type of escapism out by its proper name, using his language of choice, he is attacked for being combative. This type of narrative tests one's patience. 

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Sep 23, 2013, 4:55:49 PM9/23/13
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Moses,

You dont need to to demonstrate the

 'scholar's restraint and fidelity to empirical facts ...   the label of scholar or academic...the (sometimes) cumbersome standards of a scholar's analysis... the idea that one must provide citation for everything, even the obvious'

to write responsibly.

You dont need to tell lies that you have not investigated, such as-

'Their children will come back home from North America and Europe on holidays to the pretend suburbs of Abuja and Lagos island, wave a Cold Stone ice cream cone at the wreck built by their thieving parents and berate Nigerians for being wretched Nigerians. They often travel First Class.'


You dont need to descend to the level of such sexist drivel as -

'Let us visit their officers, all of them mean looking men, except for one harried looking token lady who has the cringe-worthy patronizing title of “welfare secretary.” I am sure she does important things for the #OgasAtTheTop of ASUU. Maybe she is responsible for making pounded yam and bringing water so the men could wash their filthy hands.' 

You dont need to engage in ridiculous  hyperbole-

'Their members want to have sex with every child that walks into their pretend classrooms, when they have satisfied themselves, they pimp their helpless wards, yes, they do, to their friends, constipated generals and pot-bellied rogue-politicians who have too much money in their thieving pockets.'


You dont need to make meaningless insults your trademark or you become the thug you claim others are-

'ASUU is on strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, ... My contempt for that body of narcissistic thugs knows no bounds.'

You need to educate yourself on the issues and the history of ASUU and not celebrate your refusal to be informed, making claims without any effort at justification-

'The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria. ASUU. ASUU is on strike again. Who cares?...they are always on strike, nobody seems to know why, except that it involves being paid a boatload of money by their counterparts, those thieves euphemistically called the Nigerian government.'

The Ikhide self delusive 'I Am  a Social Critic Critic'  stance can be so ridiculous.

My experience of his attempts at social criticism is rehashing what is known without depth of engagement with the issues and with a vitriol that is not justified  by an effort at informing himself. 

I am not able to see Ikhide as making a  contribution of  worth on  this subject. 

If you want to read serious meaningful critiques, one should  read the Farouk  critique  and other reasoned statements.

The fact that a person insists on shouting in a market of ideas, mixing sounds he has picked up from other people as he distorts those sounds,  does not mean the sheer act of shouting should be appreciated as a contribution. 

His rant has motivated debate, but he would do better to write responsibly.


thanks

toyin 


shina7...@yahoo.com

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Sep 24, 2013, 6:53:15 AM9/24/13
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"Is ASUU willing to support a thorough intellectual/academic audit of its members--of those responsible for educating our young ones, whose future the Union claims it is fighting for?"
MEO

As I see it, this question is the crux of the ASUU predicament. And it is a serious one that demands debate and analysis, contrary to Oga Ikhide's rejection of 'analysis, prattle prattle prattle' because it is essential to reclaiming the standard we lost a long time ago. ASUU stands as a critical factor in that redemption of higher education in Nigeria. Yet, there is a price to pay, and that price would be severe..


ASUU as a union is confronted with the classic trade union dilemma: How to assess its members while still needing their monthly dues for sustenance. The main objective of any union is to protect and further the interests of its membership. The union exists by their membership. An academic/intellectual audit will eventually lead to certain marching order for many. And-wait for it-it is bound to be read as a sell out by those affected. 'After all, we are paying our dues and ASUU owe us responsibility to protect our interests. We are loyal union members!'

So, how should ASUU handle this dilemma? How does it transcend its inflexibility? How does a trade union like ASUU modernise its industrial arsenal?



Adeshina Afolayan





Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 10:42:24 -0500
To: USAAfricaDialogue<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

Mobolaji Aluko

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Sep 24, 2013, 8:48:59 AM9/24/13
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My People:

Much as a SWOT analysis of ASUU  - or any such impactful organization in our society  - is in order, I fear that doing so now in the heat of a national strike beyond the immediacy of getting the vast majority of the universities running again is counter-productive.  Some words will be spoken or written that will make people to pull punches, and set negotiations or re-negotiations, or re-start of talks - whatever language is acceptable - back.

I do not believe that EVERY SINGLE ASUU ACTIVIST wants the current strike to continue, despite the current position of the ASUU Execo.  I do not believe that EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT HIGH OFFICIAL wants the government to DIG IN and not offer more on the table, despite what even the SGF, Finance Minister, or some others are stating publicly.  So what is important is to have PEOPLE OF GOODWILL outside the officialdom of the contending parties to SUMMON COURAGE to talk to their leadership, and see how we can get each of our CONSTITUENCIES in the Nigerian University System moving again.

When we have achieved that, then a SWOT analysis of the past, present and future roles of the various players can be put on the table.  I have my own views of what ASUU should look like, particularly what NUC (as a regulating body) should look like, how the FME and SMEs (Federal and state Ministries of Education)  should relate to universities, etc.,   Each of these bodies got to where they were based on some historical trajectories, but one that may need serious modifications - but after this strike is over, please!

Let me remind us all that the three major issues/demands on the table:


  1.  assurance/action toward increase in federal budget for education from present (say) 9% to (say) 26% in some years definite. (A good start might be this 2014 budget, for example.)

  2.  increase in the present N100 billion offer for 2013 to N500 billion  for addressing the NEEDS report, (Ancillary to this is the need for greater university autonomy in determining its expenditure and assurance that normal TeTFUND intervention is not sacrificed.)

  3.  increase in the N30 billion offer for 2013 to N92 billion for addressing Earned Allowances arrears. (Ancillary to this is how state universities will pay for this, and how/whether/which of these allowances will be paid GOING FORWARD.  Remember that we are still talking only about ARREARS for now.)

I have given my own views on these matters elsewhere, eg

    

A good start in building confidences in the above three areas is for example what shows up in the 2014 Federal Budget under consideration.

All in all,  we need MORE views and ACTION of different people to their VARIOUS CONSTITUENCIES - without hectoring.

And there you have it.



Bolaji Aluko

Ikhide

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Sep 24, 2013, 10:55:00 AM9/24/13
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"As I see it, this question is the crux of the ASUU predicament. And it is a serious one that demands debate and analysis, contrary to Oga Ikhide's rejection of 'analysis, prattle prattle prattle' because it is essential to reclaiming the standard we lost a long time ago. ASUU stands as a critical factor in that redemption of higher education in Nigeria. Yet, there is a price to pay, and that price would be severe."
 
- Adeshina Afolayan
 
Prof,
 
1. There is a time and place for "analysis" but what I see is that "analysis" is fast becoming the preferred mode of ensuring paralysis. There is no shortage of analysis about this problem, what we are short of is action, the right kind of action. Ikhide is not saying take precipitate action to solve this crisis, Ikhide is saying, enough of the bullcrap, do what must be done.
 
2. ASUU has grown to be a monstrosity that is hurting its members, our children, and quite honestly our nation. I cannot believe people are defending a status quo that makes it easy for one organization to shut down the lives of every university student in the nation. This one-size fits all approach has created a blackmailing monster in the ASUU. This monster needs to be slain, its back broken for once and forever. A simple fix would be to ban ASUU, but that would be a short-term solution. I am a staunch supporter of employee unions, I think that there ought to be a structural adjustment that makes a national ASUU irrelevant. All union activism should be at the local level. Again, the federal government can only accomplish this if it commits to a massive infusion of operating and capital funds to satisfy ASUU's demands IN RETURN for ASUU disbanding itself at the national level, and the local and state governments accepting responsibility for the federal institutions. The federal government should get out of the business of running schools. They should be in oversight mode. Which reminds me, what does the NUC do? Go find out on its website here. It is not a serious body. SMH.
 
3. Anything short of decentralization is a mistake. ASUU does not listen, we have been complaining about its culture of entitlement and privilege for ages, all to no avail. ASUU has itself to blame in the predicament that it finds itself. A dose of humility would also go a long way. When the vast majority of your customers hold you in contempt, revile you, then it is time to look at yourself in the mirror and make the necessary adjustments. After all, the customer is always right. 
 
Be well, my fine prof. I am headed back to the saltmines to mine money for my kids' chicken nuggets, this ariwo does not pay my bill. *cycles away slowly*
 
Your favorite rascal,
 
- Ikhide
 
Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide



Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 6:53 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH
"Is ASUU willing to support a thorough intellectual/academic audit of its members--of those responsible for educating our young ones, whose future the Union claims it is fighting for?"
MEO

As I see it, this question is the crux of the ASUU predicament. And it is a serious one that demands debate and analysis, contrary to Oga Ikhide's rejection of 'analysis, prattle prattle prattle' because it is essential to reclaiming the standard we lost a long time ago. ASUU stands as a critical factor in that redemption of higher education in Nigeria. Yet, there is a price to pay, and that price would be severe..


ASUU as a union is confronted with the classic trade union dilemma: How to assess its members while still needing their monthly dues for sustenance. The main objective of any union is to protect and further the interests of its membership. The union exists by their membership. An academic/intellectual audit will eventually lead to certain marching order for many. And-wait for it-it is bound to be read as a sell out by those affected. 'After all, we are paying our dues and ASUU owe us responsibility to protect our interests. We are loyal union members!'

So, how should ASUU handle this dilemma? How does it transcend its inflexibility? How does a trade union like ASUU modernise its industrial arsenal?



Adeshina Afolayan




Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 08:49:57 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

The Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria. ASUU. ASUU is on strike again. Who cares? They are thugs, they are always on strike, nobody seems to know why, except that it involves being paid a boatload of money by their counterparts, those thieves euphemistically called the Nigerian government. ASUU. My contempt for that body of narcissistic thugs knows no bounds. There is really not much one needs to say about how these rogues in academic robes have colluded with any government in power (AGIP) to defraud and rob generations of beautiful children what is their right – a good education. To say ASUU is on strike is to state the obvious, they are nearly always on strike, even when they are at work, they are on strike. Their members want to have sex with every child that walks into their pretend classrooms, when they have satisfied themselves, they pimp their helpless wards, yes, they do, to their friends, constipated generals and pot-bellied rogue-politicians who have too much money in their thieving pockets.
If you don’t believe me, Farooq Kperogi has a disturbing piece here on the sexual harassment epidemic in Nigerian universities. You read that piece, and when you have stopped shuddering, you understand why fully less than 10 percent of Nigerian university dons have children living in that mess called Nigeria, let alone inside the filthy chicken coops that pass for classrooms from preschool to the tertiary level. In those criminal hovels, children of the poor and dispossessed are trapped and mis-educated by those whose children are being nurtured in the West. Their children will come back home from North America and Europe on holidays to the pretend suburbs of Abuja and Lagos island, wave a Cold Stone ice cream cone at the wreck built by their thieving parents and berate Nigerians for being wretched Nigerians. They often travel First Class. Ten percent? I made it up of course. I am a Nigerian intellectual. We are lazy like that. It could be less even.

Follow me, let’s go to the silly website of ASUU right here. Let us visit their officers, all of them mean looking men, except for one harried looking token lady who has the cringe-worthy patronizing title of “welfare secretary.” I am sure she does important things for the #OgasAtTheTop of ASUU. Maybe she is responsible for making pounded yam and bringing water so the men could wash their filthy hands. SMH. Yes, Nigeria is the patriarchy from hell, in Nigeria, misogyny reigns even in the 21st century and even among the men of the ivory tower. Hiss. Here’s ASUU’s list of  men “leaders” and one token woman: Dr, Nasir Isa Fagge, president, Bayero University, Kano, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, Vice president, OOU Ago-Iwoye, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, immediate past president, IMSU, Owerri, Professor Victor Osodoke, financial secretary, MOUA Umudike, Dr. Ademola Aremu, treasurer, University of Ibadan, Professor. Daniel Gungula, internal auditor, MAUTech, Yola, Dr. Ralph Ofukwu, investment secretary, FUAM, Makurdi,  Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Iloh, welfare secretary, University of Benin, and Professor Israel Wurogji, legal advisor, University of Calabar. All the men and one woman have horrid looking pictures of themselves on the website, except for Professor Wurogii, ASUU’s “legal advisor” who either is too lazy or too busy to provide one. He is perhaps genuinely afraid for his life – not from the SSS but from irate abused students who have spent the past decade trying to get an education from these thugs.
- Ikhide
 
Stalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide


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Biko Agozino

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Sep 24, 2013, 10:50:38 AM9/24/13
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Ikhide complains a lot about the poor design of the websites of some Nigerian Universities and Pius complains about imperfect shower heads in Nigeria and Ghana. Here is job for the self-professed African Super Minds - Shakara Ikhide, cycling away while Africa is dumbed down, and the most superior Pope with a swagger:

Please visit the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, and 'enjoy' the welcome message from the Vice Chancellor, a certain professor Otio. If you think that the welcoming message could use some editing, wait until you visit the homepage of the Department of Sociology and Social Work: http://archive.knust.edu.gh/pages/index.php?siteid=sociology 

The university claims to have been founded in 1951 (older than almost all universities in Nigeria), it is named after one of the greatest sons of Africa, it actively advertises for students to apply for admission from Nigeria, it collaborates with top-notch institutions internationally, and it claims to be among Africa's best universities. Ikhide and Pius should please help them to edit the grammar on their website or help them rewrite everything in broken English if they prefer. Better still, they have job vacancies for lecturers and you should consider applying there so that you can show 'yeye' ASUU members in Nigeria how to be excellent intellectuals.

'Pope', I beg sit down and do some editing to earn your keep because you have just been hand-picked and appointed as a Diaspora Visiting Fellow to help develop African Universities but without any call for competitive fellowship proposals. When asked why a Nigerian was being posted to Ghana for your fellowship, the Nigerian director of the program at an international foundation claimed that his foundation already works with three Nigerian universities (two in the North and one in the West but none in the East which incidentally leads the country in the education industry, some meritocracy there). Oga moderator, I beg hold your hammer, this is not another Igbo-Yoruba wahala, I am just saying....

The first essay from our Diaspora Fellow for the exposure of lack of perfection in African Universities (as if there is perfection anywhere) was a comparison of hotel shower flows in Nigeria and Ghana where the burning desire of our Canada-based expert was to have a hot shower in Africa. No kidding. He said that he was only interested in perfection and so even if nine in ten shower heads were working in Nigeria and Nigeria (never counted shower head flows with my mediocre mind), he had the right to make a fuss and show the hotel staff who was a big man even if that risked a spit or a piss in his room service, he bragged. No kidding either. According to our effico expat, the Nigerian 'engineer' with whom he bonded through broken English could not understand his gra-gra about a shower that worked well-well while his Ghanaian counter-part understood this perfectly in Queen's English.

So Ghana must be superior to Nigeria in shower head maintenance and 'the most popular African public intellectual' must be superior enough to all African professors to be hand-picked without due process and transparency but I doubt that shower heads analysis is his main job description. I extend many congratulations to Ghana, to the  superior expert and to the international foundation for recognizing the need to reap some brain gain from our brain drain because, as one poem puts it: 'brain for drain no better pass brain drain'. All I am saying is that the year-long fellowship should, at the very least, be spent editing illiterate web messages on the websites of some African Universities rather than on navel-gazing at the perfection of shower heads for hot showers in the above 100 degrees temperatures of West Africa, important as that may be as a 'metaphor for perfection'. 

Biko

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Sep 24, 2013, 10:15:03 AM9/24/13
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Certainly, Bolaji, certainly. No ASUU SWOT now, of course. Let the strike be resolved first. We're only putting things on the table for those who have the ears of the ASUU exco to take to them. The union needs to do A LOT of soul searching post-strike. It is plagued by a few big contradictions that have to be resolved one way or the other. If it wants to be a traditional trade union, fine, but it has to behave like one and stop deploying vacuous rhetoric about wanting to do right by students and wanting to reclaim our higher education sector for the sake of our youth. If the union makes this choice, it should be prepared for backlash from a public that does not see ASUU as deserving special fiscal patronage or its members as as a special, entitled group of professionals, especially not when instructional standards--which are the public's only way of assessing lecturers' worth--have been falling. Especially when the federal government is an equal opportunity abuser and has arguably done more for lecturers, however reluctantly, than it has for any other group of professionals in and out of the education sector. If the union truly wants to be the agent of change and reform in the higher education system, then it has to embrace and boldly go along with reforms that may hurt many of its members. It has to embrace the menu of challenges that conduce to the production of mediocre graduates and not simply pass the blame. There is no fence-sitting. Continuing the way it is going is untenable; something has to give. If it does not reform or reinvent itself, it may become irrelevant and an object of scorn, a feared hostage taker. That's not a good image to cultivate. But yes, let's wait for the strike wahala to go away and hope that ASUU members, especially the senior and self-critical folks in the union's ranks, will reexamine its trajectory and overhaul its instruments of struggle. ASUU's crisis of identity needs a resolution.

Anunoby, Ogugua

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Sep 24, 2013, 12:54:59 PM9/24/13
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Self-serving leadership begets self-serving followership. What gets rewarded is what gets done.

Public service in Nigeria would seem to be characterized by greed, grudge, and impunity. Having seen the incomprehensible levels of pecuniary and other reward paid to a few for actively thinking wrong, acting wrong, not doing right, and getting away unscathed, the many ask themselves why think right, act right, do right, and be “unappreciated”.  Without intending to come across as tedious and repetitive, I dare to state that ASUU is one of the few labor associations that can stoutly challenge government in Nigeria and win.

Some ASUU member witness the rot including blatant mismanagement and theft of public funds that goes on every day in government and how little is done about it. The question that seems to arise in their minds is why be conscientious and work hard and proper, if good deeds tend to be “punished”? Taking (not receiving I stress)and not giving back works for them, it should work for us too. That seems to me to be the ASUU members’ general mindset. It is the mindset of many Nigerians too I might add. After all, what works is usually what gets done.

There should be little doubt that most informed Nigerians including ASUU members, are well aware that ASUU members can do better and much more for Higher education success in Nigeria. These Nigerians know that ASUU members are not the only ones who have failed the country. They know too That ASUU members are neither exclusively nor primarily responsible for the many failures in higher education In Nigeria.  They know for example also that a major challenge of higher education in Nigeria, is the non-investment of equity in the system, by the political and economic (governing) elite. It is not news anymore that the governing elite in Nigeria are lightly vested in the system. Their children and some other relatives study outside it (abroad) for the most part. They are loud and proud about this. This elite will claim that they so choose because of the quality and term uncertainties that characterize higher education students’ success because of frequent lockdowns and ASUU strikes. They never claim the snob appeal. A counter argument will be that a government that is up to the job and governs properly can ensure that things are different. It is not too long ago that Nigerians’ higher education overseas was mostly for graduate and advanced study. Then, undergraduate university education in Nigeria was as sound and competitive as one could have anywhere else in the world. This is not an nostalgic assertion. What happened and why one may ask?

Is it possible for a meeting of minds to happen with government and ASUU members? Yes of course. There have been many, such consonance of interest in the past but all have been short lived. Let peace be made now so that institutions may reopen to enable teaching and learning to continue. Soon after, a root and branch review of government’s education policies, posture, actions, and failures, and also why ASUU industrial action is cyclical, and her posture combative and predictably recusant and uncompromising even as it seems to fail students, must take place in good faith. This can and should happen.

At the macro level, public governance must be seen by the majority of citizens to be more responsible as should be the conduct of public service leaders, if citizens’ conscience is to increasingly prevail over their opportunism and redaction. There seems to be a directionless and lawless scramble for Nigeria’s pie. Although I am not privy to ASUU members thought, they seem to asking why any public servants or indeed Nigerians, for less and unproductive work, should get a bigger piece of the pie than they do? They get away with it, why should I not mentality increasingly rules in Nigeria.  It does not have to be so. It should not be so. It was not always so. Then again it is the case is it not, that a calf learns to chew cud from watching its mother? Leaders should always lead by example. Again, self-serving leadership begets self-serving followership. The upside is that selfless leadership overtime begets selfless followership.

 

oa

RKRC

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Sep 24, 2013, 2:45:00 PM9/24/13
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"Malvolio" is all I keep thinking of; not quite sure why ...

Kayode




--

Akurang-Parry, Kwabena

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Sep 24, 2013, 10:43:48 PM9/24/13
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Oga Biko! I am with you on your tongue in cheek take: websites and shower-heads as signifiers of under/development! Yes, I am a proud product of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). I went to KNUST to study architecture but found the mathematics that accompanied it too cumbersome. As a result, I ended up in the Faculty of Social Science that catered to History, Sociology, English, African Studies, and Political Science. I am sure that the  new Department of Sociology and Social Work is an offshoot of the then Faculty of Social Science, and that makes it a work in progress. For one thing, this is not to say that the grammatical infelicities of the website should be caressed and championed. For another, it means in so many ways that sometimes, we overstep the boundaries of comparative lens: websites and shower heads in the West and those in Africa. Let me add that in the bygone era, KNUST did not have websites, but produced excellent students! My Bachelor's thesis, defined by sociology and history, was 149 pages long, excluding bibliography. It entailed field work and archival searches.  And it prepared me very well for what I do today. Here in the Western world, there are universities, including withering diploma mills, with neon-rich and well-groomed websites that cannot match the excellence of some of our website-challenged universities! Let us stop the Africanization of poverty and mediocrity! Africa will come into its own.

 

Kwabena 

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [usaafric...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Biko Agozino [biko...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 10:50 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Biko Agozino

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Sep 25, 2013, 10:26:50 AM9/25/13
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Bro Kwabena,

We are all proud of your achievements which go to show that something good can come from Nazareth. They call it the normal curve in social statistics - there will always be outliers in any distribution. Even a village school is capable of producing over-achievers while Ivy-Leagues can turn out itiboribo too. As a Freshman in Sociology, some Sophomores tried to scare me with the prospect of having to take Mathematics for Social Science and Social Statistics but I looked them in the eyes and said, bring it on, and went on to ace them both (no bragging).

I agree with you that the instant publishing technology of the internet is error-prone but one good thing about it is that once identified, errors are easily corrected and the publication quickly updated especially when those websites were built by well-paid consultants. Given that the league tables for universities may rely only on the websites for information on our institutions, each of us may need to go and review the websites of our Alma Mata and make suggestions for improvement when necessary.

I also agree with you that the availability of hot shower should not be the basis for the comparison of academic excellence in African and foreign universities especially because the rigorous research methods training in institutions without web sites count for more than multiple-choice based assessments that predominate in North America due to the large class sizes that are increasingly the norm back home now too. Our undergraduate theses were pretty rigorous and included the oral defense before an external examiner but it is not rare to find even Masters degrees by coursework (no thesis) in excellent universities abroad with the result that for some doctoral students, the dissertation is the first time they are attempting an original research project and they consequently struggle for years as ABD. Those who are given the opportunity to serve as research fellows or visiting professors back home should therefore be attentive to identify things they can learn from Africa instead of assuming that the exchange of knowledge is a one-way traffic.

Biko


From: "Akurang-Parry, Kwabena" <KAP...@ship.edu>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 24 September 2013, 22:43
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ikhide and Pope, I Beg Help Us?

Okwy Okeke

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Sep 25, 2013, 9:52:48 AM9/25/13
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Oga AO,

I disagree with you. ASUU is the problem not one of the problems. I would itemize -
  1. I was a student in a Nigerian university in the 90s when the politicians you refer to in your early paragraphs did not exist, rather ASUU members dominated federal and state excos (Anambra state for starters had about an all-ASUU exco under Col. Akonobi's regime, IBB was not far behind). ASUU (its members) did not get corrupted by politician, rather they corrupted the students and society and are actually a sizable percentage of the politicians you speak of starting from the president
  2. Not a single student in my time believed that HODs and Deans and Provosts, and VCs were honest workers in the vineyard. In the minimum, the abuse of office privilege - official cars (plural) that were deployed to wives and children, - some children actually lived in University guest houses permanently and drove FG number plate cars, etc were enough pointers, we also witnessed sudden flight to wealth after a short administrative position appointment.
  3. I am referring to the time line when bank MD children sat in the same classroom with the university gateman's. I am referring to the time several military governors' kids were in school with NCO soldiers looking to better their lot, etc. It is a lazy, futile and mis-leading argument to dredge up what is not, though often repeated and present as facts.
ASUU lost its moral compass a long time ago, then we lack the courage to look it squarely in the face and call it as is. Ikhide, anxious to keep his place in the liberal team talks of disbanding ASUU nationally while leaving it to function at the local level, what nonsense. Unionism in anachronistic in a democracy, at least forceful unionism as ASUU presently is. Many lecturers in my department back in the 90s were anti-ASUU, actually most in the university were if my department was a fair sample. I recall Dr. Nwobi quitting straight from a lecture because "democratic" ASUU activists disrupted his lecture and actually man-handled him for daring to teach what he was paid to teach.

My experience tallies with you assertion that ASUU is as decadent as the larger society, however we disagree on which is the head of the rotten fish. ASUU and the Army are probably the too biggest culprit of the rot that is Nigeria presently. Have you bothered with running a correlation test for the degree of a society decadence (TI's list) and global university rankings (country by country) to understand the simple positive and significant correlation between the two? That a society is led by her universities and by extension university teacher is clearly lost on Nigerian lecturers.

Prof. Aluko can speak of SWOT analysis or any of the other dog food consultants sell (I am one, so I know) which are neither here or there, but all some of us ask for is a start with a simple student evaluation and honestly administered whistle-blower program in the university and see how many Nigerian lecturers come out clean. 

It make no sense to keep referring to the salary of other professions in Nigeria as a reason to go on strike. Did First Bank, ACB, NNB and other government owned banks' staff go on strike when the "new generation" banks emerged about 25 years ago with better pay packages for their staff for doing the same work? To better understand the difference, an entry-level new generation banker back then earned more than a senior manager in the government owned banks, jobs that came with about 20 years difference in experience. Did Nigerian pilots go on strike when suddenly bankers and telco workers that hitherto earned less than them jumped over their wage level in the 90s and a decade ago respectively? If we have voted to live under democratic capitalism, we must be bold enough to outlaw unionism and embrace the market, we can't have it both ways.

If ASUU's issues were not resolved under the military, and an ASUU-led government, when would it ever be?

ASUU should be banned, any lecturer that feels under-paid should leave. Many did already, and many good and honest ones remain, but the noise and disruption continues to come from the losers, the sex-predators, those that profiteer from Dean, HOD, VC's list for admission racketeering, the marks-for-money merchants, the patrons of the cults that terrorize the universities, the quota and catchment-area professors that see the universities as an avenue to steal and share "the national cake."

Disband ASUU and you take away the platform for those gangsters seeking national attention and appointment, and sooner they would leave our university system, and that is the way out of this annual nonsense called university closure that we discuss under the guise of ASUU strike.


Cheers,...Okwy
 
------------------------------------------
We face forward,...we face neither East or West: we face forward.......Kwame Nkrumah

From: "Anunoby, Ogugua" <Anun...@lincolnu.edu>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 24 September 2013, 17:54
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - ASUU is on strike again! Who cares? SMH

Chika Onyeani

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Sep 25, 2013, 1:25:07 PM9/25/13
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Recent Articles

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

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Sep 29, 2013, 12:29:58 PM9/29/13
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ASUU, ASUU, ASUU - how many times did I call you?

I do not want to be drawn into the debate of whether Ikhide has used the right language or not in his ASUU expose – it is his prerogative. I would not use the same language but it only proves that we are all different people rather than one is right or wrong, good or bad. But I digress.

There is much culpability one can apportion to the Nigerian government and the irresponsible ruling elite on how the Nigerian educational system, nay Universities, arrived at this point - absolute decadence and incomparable impenitence. I have ‘cracked’ my brain on how best to capture and translate the following proverb or is it a popular Yoruba adage “ti omode ba nse bi omode, agba a si se bi agba” but I failed simply because I think in my mother tongue, but I’ll give it a go literarily. “If a child is behaves in an immature manner, the elderly do not join in”. I suppose I will get help with the translation in the forum from people who can do it better. But again, I digress.

What ASUU has in a way achieved using the strike weapon since the 1980s they have since thrown away because of its refusal as a body in do a sincere and thorough introspection. I suppose if you use a weapon continuously and you do not get the result you want you should change strategy but ASUU has not. Like an insensitive drummer who keeps inviting people to a performance in the market centre every day until people are tired of his drumming, one day ASUU will look behind and will find no one – in this case not even the original core member. It is time for a rethink of style.

Part of the problem is that some of the hard core “supporters” of ASUU and its failed strategy are too sensitive and defensive. They cannot take a punch, they will not allow the others side of the argument, not even a devils’ advocate to enhance the quality of ASUU’s deliberation. If they are honest with themselves they should at least in private (if they do not want to do it in public) tell the leadership of ASUU enough is enough. Historically, there was a time ASUU lost membership of Universities of Lagos and Ilorin branches briefly due to the strategic approach in achieving ASUU’s objectives. Let ASUU not be deceived that they have students and parents support because they do not. Let ASUU not even think they have the support of the entire academic staff, I am aware they do not and if I take a guess not even the majority.

The danger of the ongoing impasse for the future credibility of ASUU is for them to lose this fight to the politicians they blame for all the woes of the nation and indirectly for the large menace university education has become. There are options open to our legislators re ASUU. I hope they will not take it because the consequences are dire but I am more inclined to think they will not take it because there will be no big “money bags” to be shared. From the stories we have read in the Newspapers since 1999 the Nigeria legislators seems more excited when there is a financial inducement from the executive arm in the enactment of any legal statute.

·         Nigeria operates an opting out system for union membership. This means you are automatically a member of ASUU as an academic staff unless you opt out by informing your employer in writing. Most ASUU members do not know they have this right so they do not use it.

·         The unions, including ASUU, also benefit from an automatic check-off system which allows universities to collect union dues on behalf of ASUU from members (staff) salaries and remit to ASUU. In most other countries since you opt in rather than out, union membership is voluntary and as an academic staff you will join the union and remit dues directly to your union. It is not the business of the universities.

·         Unions, including ASUU, do necessarily have to vote before calling strikes. In Nigeria, the national executive committee often do the voting on behalf of members even if majority of members do not necessarily support the strike. In many countries, there will be a ballot that will be publicly known and clear advance notice for the strike. To be fair ASUU gives notice too.

·         Finally, for everyday of strike there is no pay. The Nigerian labour laws, like most other countries, stipulate this. Members are thus clearly aware of the consequence of a strike but are happy to support it for the greater good, albeit for a short period. Consequently, in many countries strikes are for a few days at the most – not several months. How does one survive for several months with bills and mortgage to pay in many countries? But lucky ASUU, they can eat their cake and have it – strike but still get paid. This is where I have my greatest grievance with ASUU – the duration of strikes, the seeming irreversibility of it.

Let consider the alternative scenario which is what operates in most other countries including many African countries, where – ASUU members are not automatic members of ASUU but will voluntarily register with ASUU from say tomorrow to join; send monthly cheques or bank standing orders to pay dues; vote before every strike; and be aware that if they do not work for 3 or 4 months (the length of current strike) – then they will not be paid. How many ASUU members will be left standing? Stand up and let’s take a count please?

There is no country that I know where citizens and residents are entirely satisfied with the university educational system and all it portends. There is always a struggle for improvement but they know when to pull the plug, ASUU does not. I have struggled to find a country where universities are closed for upward of 6 months in nearly every 2-3 years and I cannot find anyone in recent memory. ASUU has easily done several 3, 4, 6 and more months of strike at a go. When the strike is ongoing as it is now in Nigeria public universities, do colleagues report exceptional research outputs to justify the salary collected for the several months when teaching did not take place? I do not think so.

I should not be misunderstood as anti-ASUU but the game has changed, ASUU should be told if they lose this fight because politicians opt for the scenario I have just enacted above it would be a shame that in a chess game of the brain and not the brawl ASUU lost and politicians won. Trust me, one day as our people say “monkey go go market e no go return” – a word is enough for the wise.

 

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

Bournemouth, UK

Chika Onyeani

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Sep 30, 2013, 1:03:20 AM9/30/13
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September 30, 2013 By conyeani Leave a Comment

The Empowerment Guru Juggernaut, Chika Onyeani, Meets with the Immovable Force, Toyin Falola

September 30, 2013 By conyeani Leave a Comment
It is always an honor to meet an African intellectual and elite, who is not one of those I have always criticized as parasitic and do-nothing to advance the cause of Africa’s economic growth.  So, it was that yesterday, Saturday September 28, that I came face to face with the immovable force called Toyin Falola, founder and moderator of this listserv.  I had never met him in person, I believe.  So I was pleasantly surprised and thanked him profusely for the great job he is doing in providing a forum for African intellectuals, those genuine and not-so genuine, to articulate cogent issues or vent grandiloquent verbosity.

Okay, this is what happened.  The African Writers Endowment, based in New Jersey founded by Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji, as well as his Sungair Book Publishing Co, was honoring the Governor of Rivers State in Nigeria Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and the Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly  Ms. Sheila Oliver at the Lafayette Yard Hotel in Trenton, NJ.  I had been invited by the Speaker’s office to be one of their guests;(Continue reading)

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

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Sep 30, 2013, 2:41:43 AM9/30/13
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ASUU, ASUU, ASUU - how many times did I call you?

I do not want to be drawn into the debate of whether Ikhide has used the right language or not in his ASUU expose – it is his prerogative. I would not use the same language but it only proves that we are all different people rather than one is right or wrong, good or bad. But I digress.

There is much culpability one can apportion to the Nigerian government and the irresponsible ruling elite on how the Nigerian educational system, nay Universities, arrived at this point - absolute decadence and incomparable impenitence. I have ‘cracked’ my brain on how best to capture and translate the following proverb or is it a popular Yoruba adage “ti omode ba nse bi omode, agba a si se bi agba” but I failed simply because I think in my mother tongue, but I’ll give it a go literarily. “If a child is behaves in an immature manner, the elderly do not join in”. I suppose I will get help with the translation in the forum from people who can do it better. But again, I digress.

What ASUU has in a way achieved using the strike weapon since the 1980s they have since thrown away because of its refusal as a body in do a sincere and thorough introspection. I suppose if you use a weapon continuously and you do not get the result you want you should change strategy but ASUU has not. Like an insensitive drummer who keeps inviting people to a performance in the market centre every day until people are tired of his drumming, one day ASUU will look behind and will find no one – in this case not even the original core member. It is time for a rethink of style.

Part of the problem is that some of the hard core “supporters” of ASUU and its failed strategy are too sensitive and defensive. They cannot take a punch, they will not allow the others side of the argument, not even a devils’ advocate to enhance the quality of ASUU’s deliberation. If they are honest with themselves they should at least in private (if they do not want to do it in public) tell the leadership of ASUU enough is enough. Historically, there was a time ASUU lost membership of Universities of Lagos and Ilorin branches briefly due to the strategic approach in achieving ASUU’s objectives. Let ASUU not be deceived that they have students and parents support because they do not. Let ASUU not even think they have the support of the entire academic staff, I am aware they do not and if I take a guess not even the majority.

The danger of the ongoing impasse for the future credibility of ASUU is for them to lose this fight to the politicians they blame for all the woes of the nation and indirectly for the large menace university education has become. There are options open to our legislators re ASUU. I hope they will not take it because the consequences are dire but I am more inclined to think they will not take it because there will be no big “money bags” to be shared. From the stories we have read in the Newspapers since 1999 the Nigeria legislators seems more excited when there is a financial inducement from the executive arm in the enactment of any legal statute.

·         Nigeria operates an opting out system for union membership. This means you are automatically a member of ASUU as an academic staff unless you opt out by informing your employer in writing. Most ASUU members do not know they have this right so they do not use it.

·         The unions, including ASUU, also benefit from an automatic check-off system which allows universities to collect union dues on behalf of ASUU from members (staff) salaries and remit to ASUU. In most other countries since you opt in rather than out, union membership is voluntary and as an academic staff you will join the union and remit dues directly to your union. It is not the business of the universities.

·         Unions, including ASUU, do necessarily have to vote before calling strikes. In Nigeria, the national executive committee often do the voting on behalf of members even if majority of members do not necessarily support the strike. In many countries, there will be a ballot that will be publicly known and clear advance notice for the strike. To be fair ASUU gives notice too.

·         Finally, for everyday of strike there is no pay. The Nigerian labour laws, like most other countries, stipulate this. Members are thus clearly aware of the consequence of a strike but are happy to support it for the greater good, albeit for a short period. Consequently, in many countries strikes are for a few days at the most – not several months. How does one survive for several months with bills and mortgage to pay in many countries? But lucky ASUU, they can eat their cake and have it – strike but still get paid. This is where I have my greatest grievance with ASUU – the duration of strikes, the seeming irreversibility of it.

Let consider the alternative scenario which is what operates in most other countries including many African countries, where – ASUU members are not automatic members of ASUU but will voluntarily register with ASUU from say tomorrow to join; send monthly cheques or bank standing orders to pay dues; vote before every strike; and be aware that if they do not work for 3 or 4 months (the length of current strike) – then they will not be paid. How many ASUU members will be left standing? Stand up and let’s take a count please?

There is no country that I know where citizens and residents are entirely satisfied with the university educational system and all it portends. There is always a struggle for improvement but they know when to pull the plug, ASUU does not. I have struggled to find a country where universities are closed for upward of 6 months in nearly every 2-3 years and I cannot find anyone in recent memory. ASUU has easily done several 3, 4, 6 and more months of strike at a go. When the strike is ongoing as it is now in Nigeria public universities, do colleagues report exceptional research outputs to justify the salary collected for the several months when teaching did not take place? I do not think so.

I should not be misunderstood as anti-ASUU but the game has changed, ASUU should be told if they lose this fight because politicians opt for the scenario I have just enacted above it would be a shame that in a chess game of the brain and not the brawl ASUU lost and politicians won. Trust me, one day as our people say “monkey go go market e no go return” – a word is enough for the wise.

 

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

Bournemouth, UK

On 23 September 2013 19:59, Ikhide <xok...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Sep 30, 2013, 9:52:38 AM9/30/13
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Gbolahan,

You have spoken well. I may quibble with one or two things, but you have spoken well. The cyclical dance of strike-concessions-new/old demands-strike-concessions cannot be sustained. Something has to give. Perhaps it will take ASUU being ignored and even heckled by the Nigerian public for the union to get the message that episodic, fairly predictable striking is a tired template of struggle. More fundamentally, the idea of a national union bargaining and winning perks and concessions on behalf of ALL Nigerian university lecturers regardless of their geographical location, their institutional affiliations, the economic and existential peculiarities of their location, and their individual performance and accomplishments (or lack thereof) in the core areas of teaching and research is totally passe. I know of no other country where this outmoded, tyrannical model is at play. It is a system that unjustly applies the same reward system to every academic without regard to competence/incompetence, excellence/mediocrity, ethical laxity/ethical discipline, and other metrics of evaluation. It offers no incentive or reward to the lecturer who is productive, committed, and is constantly improving his/her teaching and research crafts. And it cajoles and protects the incompetent, unproductive lecturer or accidental academic with no commitment to their work. It neither punishes nor discourages unprofessional behavior and laziness; instead it says to the lazy, incompetent, and unethical lecturer, "you'll get to keep your job and benefit EQUALLY from any windfall ASUU wins for its members as long as you remain a dues paying member." ASUU has transitioned from being a principled intercessor in the crisis of higher education to being a refuge for folks who absolutely have no business being in the academy, folks so lacking in the temperament and core skills required for academic business that their universities would lose nothing if they were fired.

Yesterday, I posted a compellingly argued blog post of a young, recent Nigerian graduate discussing the ASUU problem. The usual suspects who waffle and deflect when it comes to ASUU have not challenged the blogger's carefully argued points. I have discussed my own experiences and observations as an undergraduate in Nigeria in the mid to late 1990s, a modified version of which I am reposting below. There has been no substantive retort, only empty bluster. 





"Today, it is perhaps only in some of our private institutions that lecturers and teachers are required to submit elaborate courseware replete with week by week iteration of lecture topics, recommended textbooks, sample tutorial questions to guide the students; and a clear mapping of the disciplinary terrain to be traversed. A society is reinforced in the values it promotes."

----Ayo Olukotun


A great summation of the absence of quality instruction in our universities. However, this does not even go far enough to capture the tragedy of poor instruction in our universities. You talk of preparation, planning, and meticulous and up-to-date lecture notes. What if I tell you that when I was an undergrad in Nigeria in the mid nineties, most of the lecturers didn't have a syllabus that outlined the topical scope, readings, and assignments rubrics of the class. Why? Simple: they were not required to have one and knew that they could get away with not designing a syllabus and teaching on the fly if they taught at all. Their incomepetence, along with their job, was protected by ASUU. They did not have to justify their earnings, their performance was of no consequence to their continued employment, and, thanks to their ASUU membership they could not be fired for poor performance. Also, several of our lecturers came to class ONCE or TWICE a semester and simply passed around handouts that we had to buy, and then, at the end of the semester, they showed up to administer exams. Often the handouts were simply photocopies of book chapters or sections, but God help you if you didn't buy the handout on account of possessing the book from which it was drawn. Some of the lecturers even delegated the administration of the exams, making them absentee lecturers par excellence. Studing for some exams was a wild guessing game since, in the absence of coherent and comprehensive syllabi, one was not sure what materials the exams were going to be based on. It was terrible. Not only that, they routinely lost students' exam scripts, causing many students to repeat classes they shouldn't have had to, and in some cases delaying students' graduation. About half of my Faculty class who took some electives had an extra semester tacked on to their education because some incompetent, disorganized lecturers did not submit their result in time for them to join the rest of us for NYSC. Others had cases of missing exam scripts and missing results in their final years, delaying their graduation for a whole year! None of the lecturers or exam officers involved in these colossal acts of dereliction was ever reprimanded, and it's been business as usual. If they lose your exam scripts, records of your continuous assessments, or fail to submit your grade in time for NYSC, tough luck. You go and sit at home, make the occasional trips to campus to plead with the stuck-up lecturers involved to have have mercy on you and try to locate your missing document. Thanks to ASUU and its equal opportunity protection of incompetence, laziness, and ethical violations, nothing gets done about this even as the offending lecturers are assured of partaking in the next largesse along with their serious, committed, ethically sound, and productive colleagues. How does this ASUU-enabled system serve the interests of our students?

Tragically, we now describe that period as something of a pre-crisis phase in Nigerian higher education since by all indications the situation has worsened since the 1990s.

And yet, we see nothing, zilch, nada, about performance and instructional accountability in ASUU's menu of issues.


Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Oct 1, 2013, 4:59:28 AM10/1/13
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I have a question here.

The need for ASUU to change her strategy  is constantly  reiterated.

Could suggestions by made about this change in strategy?

A description of its character and how it can be achieved?

Can this new method be explained in terms of why it is better than the old one?

Thanks

toyin 


Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Oct 1, 2013, 6:19:17 AM10/1/13
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Moses,

Could you please give the title of this blog post or a link?

'Yesterday, I posted a compellingly argued blog post of a young, recent Nigerian graduate discussing the ASUU problem.'

thanks

toyin 


On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 2:52 PM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Oct 1, 2013, 8:49:18 AM10/1/13
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This your question has K leg. Whenever Toyin Adepoju starts asking redundant questions, asking for more evidence, for links, for this and that, I know that he's grasping. I could be wrong but I have noticed that pattern with you, Toyin. That said, let me ask you a "return" question: did you not see Femi Kolapo's itemized suggestions about exactly what ASUU should do and how it should do it? It was posted just yesterday--where have you been? I know you saw Ikhide's suggestions/recommendations. You basically dismissed them with a wave of the hand/pen. Feel free to deride, dismiss, critique, and disagree with suggestions that have been made, but please don't insult people's intelligence with these tendentious demands and questions. My own contributions and analyses on this matter have been laced with several implicit suggestions. These suggestions can be extracted by a discerning mind like yours. Even ASUU members/insiders like Shina have implicitly made suggestions on the way forward for ASUU. Gbolahan Gbadamosi posted a detailed four-point analysis of the ASUU problem yesterday, complete with explicit and implicit suggestions. A smart bloke like yourself who has no problem reading text for their implicit and transparent properties and is savvy at mining analysis for their undeclared essences and actionable nuggets suddenly wants everything spelt out in bullet points or power points. I'm familiar with this game, just so you know. Please engage the suggestions that have been made beyond the dismissive attitude you took toward Ikhide's suggestions. We're trying to think outside the well worn proverbial box of ASUU, instead of getting stuck in a rhetorical and organizational bromide that has clearly failed our students and higher educational system, not to mention our country. And please don't bore me with another epistle on the government's failures and faults; you'd be preaching to the choir. I don't waste my time going over familiar issues; the government has enough bashers and critics. I'm only interested in breaking new grounds, exploring new ways of understanding our higher educational malaise, and challenging orthodoxies and received wisdoms in these conversations.

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Oct 1, 2013, 8:29:03 AM10/1/13
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Toyin,

Please use the archive of the forum. You're acting like some of my students who want everything spoon fed to them (na joke o abeg). Anyway, here's the article below. If you want to read it in the original, along with the many comments it generated, see the link Ikhide posted, or simply google the blog. Enjoy.


We Have An ASUU Problem

For I while now, I have been making the wild/provocative/unfounded/incendiary/baseless claim that 90% of lecturers in Nigerian Universities are pretty much useless or not fit for purpose. Sadly no one has taken me up on this to ask me to prove how I came about this number.

So I’m going to have to raise the stakes. I am by no means a rich man but if I beg, borrow and steal, I am sure I can raise N1m. This is the deal – if any Nigerian University faculty will agree to a simple performance test of all the teaching staff there, I will donate the N1m to a charity or cause of their choice, provided more than 10% of them pass the test. The tests wont be designed to save me N1m so 40% of the questions will be questions the lecturers themselves have recently set for their students. The pass mark will also be 40%. So if they can answer their own questions satisfactorily, they will just about make the grade. The rest of the questions will focus on checking how much personal development they have undertaken since they themselves qualified as lecturers and general knowledge on education and academics.

I am confident that I will win simply because it is almost impossible for me to lose.

But that’s not the point of this blog post. We are currently in the middle of another strike which has an ending more predictable than a Nollywood movie. Government will cave in and agree to meet most of ASUU’s demands (usually sometime in the future) and ASUU will go back to work. Once we have a change in government (could be the same government but with a new election mandate) or even change in minister, the new guys in charge will then proceed to completely ignore this agreement and express surprise that it even exists at all. Then ASUU will strike again. Ad infinitum. World without end.

Having been a victim of a Nigerian University with at least 3 ASUU strikes as part of my ‘educational experience package’, I can confirm that the quality of teaching from these lecturers does not improve one bit whenever they return to campus after such strikes. If anything, some of them can’t even remember where they were before they responded to the cries of aux barricades and dropped their handouts.

In normal circumstances, it is useful to ask why teaching doesn’t seem to improve after government meets ASUU’s demands even if temporarily. I am also certain that the problem is not really funding per se. Nigeria is really a poor country, so any solution we come up with, no matter how well-intentioned, will have to operate within the constraints of lack of funding. President Goodluck Jonathan has at least increased funding of education to a priority. You can quibble with the amounts dedicated to education but he has at least shown his priorities by allocating the highest budgetary amount to education – N433bn or 8.7% of the total budget. The reliable guys at Budgit also tell me that of this amount, N219bn is for Universities

You can of course quickly see the problem – whatever budgetary increase that goes to University education is likely to be ‘captured’ by ASUU because…well because they can. There is an emotional aspect to any ASUU strike – it is ‘our children’ who end up suffering and of course no one wants to see this happen. So in these ASUU vs FG fights, ASUU’s victory is always guaranteed…it is always only a matter of time.

As I said earlier, I have been a victim of a Nigerian University so let me randomly address some points below. Apologies if my thoughts are all over the place, such is the nature of tirades.

1. Unilag is not the Nigerian University system. Due to its location, it is difficult for lecturers to get away with some of the abominable stuff their colleagues get away with once you cross the Berger bridge and exit Lagos.

2. “Nigerian universities have produced some brilliant minds in the past” – this is one of the greatest myths out there. No such thing has happened. The evidence is in the lack of consistency in this production. Let me roughly describe what happens i.e. what is mistaken for ‘production’.

Students arrive from their various secondary schools into Nigerian universities. Note that private universities that can be selective i.e. cream off the smartest kids are a fairly recent phenomenon. Previously, even if you went to a secondary school that cost N100m per term with the best teachers, your choice was a Federal or State university or going abroad. In short, the very best Nigerian students from everywhere end up in the same universities (remember also that only a minority of students pass JAMB making the process even more selective). You will get some very brilliant students (who already know how to apply themselves) and some really bad ones (totally not ready for prime time) in this mix. There is no production going on, there is co-opting. You will see this reflected in the next 10 to 20 years when the gap between those educated at private and government universities starts to widen to the point of being alarming. If we start getting scholarships institutionalized in Nigeria, this process will happen much quicker.

The idea that Nigerian universities ‘produce’ brilliant minds is also laid to waste by the lack of a minimum standard to their products. There is no limit as to how bad a graduate of a Nigerian university can be. Many waltz through for years, receive lectures and come out ‘unscathed’. It is therefore bizarre to use a (pre-packaged) minority as evidence of ‘production’ or anything for that matter.

What I found in my experience is that usually in 1st semester of 100 Level, some students quickly distinguish themselves sometimes with a perfect 5.0 GPA. The lecturers then use this to identify such students and the co-opting process begins. By the time the student reaches 300 Level, it becomes impossible to maintain the performance they started with without the lecturers ‘approving’ it. By the time this student is approaching graduation he/she has been so embedded in the culture of the faculty and been used like a graduate assistant that upon graduation they end up being ‘retained’ and themselves become lecturers…the system offers them ‘security’ so they don’t have to go and start looking for work when they graduate. As I said, Unilag is different because the smartest kids cant be blackmailed into this kind of system.

You might wonder what the problem is with this kind of system – but think about it, what if Harvard ‘retained’ its brightest students as lecturers every year? Would this be better than the current system where there is a Harvard alumni at the top of every major organization across the world? Any university should be eager to send its students out in the real world because it is the greatest recruiting tool it will ever have.

3. A friend tells me that Unilag’s law faculty currently has 3 Harvard trained lawyers as lecturers there. They are earning 5% of what their contemporaries around the world are earning but they remain there either out of patriotism or love of teaching or both. I don’t doubt that they choose to remain there (when they can go elsewhere) for altruistic reasons. Indeed I have seen this before and I blogged about how I was once treated by Dr Martin Aghaji at UNN teaching Hospital. Dr. Aghaji chose to remain behind at the height of the brain drain when lesser doctors were in Saudi Arabia earning a fortune (he was also making decent money from a monopoly on x-ray services but nothing compared to what he could earn abroad). I am convinced that he remained behind partly if not mostly because he wanted to train Nigerian doctors.

Back to our Harvard trained lawyers – even if we all agree that their motives are entirely altruistic, do you think anyone of them will reject the chance to be paid more in their current jobs? Certainly not. They are evidently currently underpaid. So let’s conduct a small simple experiment.

Say there are 100 lecturers in total and the total budget for their pay is N1m so each lecturer gets paid N10,000. If you sack the bottom 10% of lecturers for non-performance and redistribute their pay, each lecturer gets an 11% pay rise. This is a simplistic zero sum argument with the assumption that resources are finite but it describes to an extent what is going on with ASUU.

The really good lecturers will never be paid anything near what they are worth because the system carries so much dross and deadweight. It works well for a cabal that protects its members but it is a wasted system on university lecturers which heavily penalizes the really good guys. The ASUU collective bargaining system treats lecturers like they are all the same. This is a complete joke. Lecturers are skilled people (or at least they should be) in the way that the top footballers are skilled people – it is in very rare circumstances that a footballer who cant trap a bag of cement will become the highest paid player in the league because the feedback is almost always instant.

Currently there is no system of weeding out the truly useless lecturers as they can simply hide under the ASUU umbrella and get a pay rise when everyone else gets it. But like any other job that requires skill, talented people are always rare so it is perfectly normal for them to earn as much as is possible. To get this to happen, you will need to break up the ASUU system.

I recently completed an MBA and I had the good fortune to be taught by some really good lecturers. These guys are almost always on freelance contracts that allows them to maximize their earnings in the most efficient way possible. So for example the guy who taught me International Business Strategy spends around 9 months of the year traveling the world teaching and consulting. Is he the only one who can teach Business Strategy in the world? Certainly not. But the more he teaches, the better he gets and the more skill and experience he accumulates so it is to the university’s benefit to ‘sign’ him on given that the only way it can get students to pay fees is to promise them they will be taught by the best lecturers. Besides teaching, he also does all kinds of consulting work in places as far away as Papua New Guinea (where they eat human beings).  Have you ever seen a Nigerian university advertise a course on the strength of its lecturing team?

Those 3 Harvard guys at Unilag’s law faculty should be teaching across Nigeria and being paid for it. Other schools should be adjusting their timetables to fit into their schedules – the ultimate aim always ought to be that students get the best possible teaching while they are in the University. Again, the private universities are starting to understand this. Recall that some years ago, Professor Ben Carson was a visiting lecturer at Babcock’s medical school. If you’ve read any of his books, you’d understand how much of a coup this was by Babcock.

When I was writing my MBA dissertation, I was allocated a supervisor from an American University who lived in Canada and North Carolina. We had to schedule our Skype calls to fit his schedule due to time difference. Was he the only person who could supervise my project? Certainly not. But having interacted with him and the speed with which he got into the meat of the matter, I knew he had been doing it for a very long time.

These are random examples but they are almost impossible in the current system where a lecturer who is enjoying his teaching has to drop his chalk in solidarity with his union just so everyone can get a pay rise. Many of the really atrocious lecturers wont be able to command the kind of salary they currently do if they were to step into the real world and find their own lunch. This system greatly favours them.

This point is worth repeating – the current system seriously penalizes the lecturers who are actually very good and reduces their ‘discoverability’ to nothing more than word of mouth.

4. The Nigerian university system can function with half the number of lecturers it currently has. I am being generous here given that I continue to insist that 90% of them are not fit for purpose. But in all the debate about education in Nigeria and ASUU strikes, I have never heard ASUU mention anything about a performance based system. The reason for this is simple – as Thomas Sowell once said, ‘people who enjoy meetings should not be put in charge of anything’. More often than not, those in charge of ASUU are the least productive lecturers when it comes to the actual business of lecturing. Such people will hardly ever be in favour of a system that is meritocratic – for them procedures and ‘agreements’ are everything, outcomes are nothing.

It is almost comical how some really good lecturers line up behind these characters as their union leaders. But then this is human behaviour. Even if for only 5 minutes, you can sometimes be best friends with your worst enemy if interests are aligned. The purpose of ASUU is thus to make us continue to believe that without them, the sky would fall and no student will get taught anything ever again.

5. Perhaps the greatest indictment against ASUU is how there is absolutely no incentive for lecturers to improve themselves continuously. Why should they? Pay is not linked to performance in any way so as long as you are a union member, you will get a pay rise the next time a fight breaks out between ASUU and government. This is a very serious problem and I speak as someone who was given extracts from Soviet Russian ‘economics’ textbooks in the name of studying economics. And no, I didn’t go to university in the 70s when these ideas perhaps still carried some weight.

It is depressing how the ‘debate’ about education always comes back to how much we pay our university lecturers. But Nigeria is not a rich country so almost by definition, it will always be possible for our best brains to get better opportunities outside our shores. Alas, education is one of the things (at least in part) that will help us break free of poverty so this ‘debate’ is an endless merry ground really.

I am certain that ASUU’s end is nigh. The day when they will go on strike and no one will pay them any mind is coming sooner rather than later. Usually, unions who specialize in holding everyone else to ransom are the last to figure out when they have become totally irrelevant. Last year, an American baker called Hostess filed for bankruptcy. Hostess used to make a popular and storied brand of cake called Twinkies. Its workers were also heavily unionised of the sort that just didn’t know when to stop. Hostess also used to make a bread known as Wonder Bread. To guarantee themselves work, the unions, on pain of strikes, got the management to give them contracts that said Twinkies and Wonder Bread could not be delivered to stores in the same trucks. Truck drivers were also not allowed to do the loading of the Twinkies or Wonder Bread. Also, if you were a Twinkie loader, you could not also be a Wonder Bread loader. This sounds funny but it’s not a joke. In the end, the company filed for bankruptcy which enabled it to fire as many workers as it could and start life afresh a few months ago.

There is no evidence that there was a scarcity of cake or bread in America while the company was in bankruptcy.

The day ASUU becomes irrelevant, many people will be amazed that teaching will not stop taking place in Nigerian universities. Indeed, you’d be shocked at how teaching quality will go up when there’s no longer anyone to fight for the dross.

FF

* I deliberately left out the Nigerian government from this post because I wanted to talk ASUU. The government is not of course blameless in all this – certainly the stupidity with which they sign agreements and then try to back out of them is worthy of flogging on its own. The FG also lacks the moral standing to do what is right as it never initiates the conversation about higher education in Nigeria. It is always backed into a corner by ASUU.

Perhaps this even proves my point – ASUU is unable to teach the government a lesson it shouldn’t forget because…its members don’t know how to teach :)

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Oct 1, 2013, 2:57:58 PM10/1/13
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Moses,

I had thought you were setting me a serious challenge.

Before asking that question, I had made sure I looked quickly through the entire thread.

Since you seemed so sure of yourself, after reading your response, I did a mail check using the names you so proudly invoked, Gbolahan, Kolapo, Shina, including Ikhide and yourself.

Not a single person has made a suggestion of what to replace strikes with as a  negotiating strategy.

If I am wrong, I would be pleased to be pointed to where such concrete suggestions were made.

I have also tried reading between the lines as you suggest and the best I have got is an interesting but vague idea of including other stakeholders in the process. 

Ikhide has some important ideas but he has  mixed it with too much that is problematic for his approach to be motivational, in my view. Even then, one can integrate one or two of his ideas into a serious, sustained program of ASUU-Govt relations.

We  need practical suggestions that recognises the character of the Nigerian political terrain.

A contributor sums up a central problem here- govs sign agreements and later renege or drag their feet.

Trying to motivate such a reluctant gov leads to strike actions as a last resort.

The ultimate solution is a different attitude to governance among Nigerian politicians.

An attitude that recognises the need for continuity in policy in spite of the government in power.

Since that would imply a level of development that is not anticipatable  now, one might need to ask-what can ASUU do to motivate the govt to honour its agreements?

Perhaps what we need is an ASUU-Gov laison office that would work as a lobbying unit, the way that various interest groups are described as permanently  lobbying in Washington.

Do I have anything better to add right now?  I doubt it.

The issues discussed, here, as some have observed, fall into two units-how to relate between the gov and academic staff and improvement of quality of services lecturers provide.


Some  of what I read here is non-factual and others more emotive and local in perspective than national in scope.

Someone wrote  that there is  no incentive for lecturers  to improve themselves.

The promotion criteria represent a yardstick for consistent improvement, without which you dont get promoted, from my experience at the University of Benin, a framework I expect applies nationally. 

Okwy Okeke, if I remember correctly,  posted about a hellish experience he  had at university.

That is sad, but mine was not hellish.  My BA is foundational to my scholarly strengths and growth.

Problems emerged in the postgraduate  program and in working as an academic staff on account of a  negative ethos that stifled growth. 

Much of what Okwy wrote is not within the experience of myself and many, yet  were were at Nigerian universities.

Why do I mention this?

I think its because I am wary of uncritical generalisations.

My focus here, though, is-what do we do if we dont have strikes as a weapon?

I suggest continuous lobbying might be a good idea.

As Ikhide seems to be  suggesting, we could also make our case more transparent by having better public relations, a great website, regular use of social media like Facebook, among other platforms. 

In other words, run ASUU like a full time political organisation.

I would like to rest here and perhaps address  other points made  next time.

I really like this- '... reading text for their implicit and transparent properties and [being]  savvy at mining analysis for their undeclared essences and actionable nuggets'.

thanks

toyin




blargeo...@gmail.com

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Oct 1, 2013, 3:30:38 PM10/1/13
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Sir Toyin,

Let me add my 2 kobo. Let the ASUU gentlemen resign en masse, forfeiting their livelihoods in protest. They should seek employment elsewhere or migrate abroad. Australia, Estonia, Sweden, Malaysia and even Somolia are destinations that come to mind.

Like James Hardly Chase said " the Goverment will have another think comin" because they'll be " up shit creek without a paddle"

Thanks for the space.

BJ "ne ku"


Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <tovad...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 19:57:58 +0100
To: cc: USAAfrica Dialogue<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Oct 1, 2013, 4:13:33 PM10/1/13
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Na God go help us.

Nigerian Pidgin English expression when one is faced with a dilemma or a problem one does not know how to solve.

thanks
toyin

blargeo...@gmail.com

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Oct 1, 2013, 4:34:23 PM10/1/13
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Its a Catch 22 situation or Schrodinger's cat more like.

Intractable. Like my Yoruba elders said " oro yi bi omo so sini lenu, otun buyo si; iso ko se gbe min, iyo ko se tu danu" Lobatan.

MY InTErpRetatIoN:
The child farts in one's mouth and seasons it with salt. Fart is not admissible, salt is not expendable. Crisis point!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <tovad...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2013 21:13:33 +0100

FJKolapo

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Oct 1, 2013, 4:46:50 PM10/1/13
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Toyin, we have to start with the principle that STRIKE has become deleterious on many fronts - to ASUU, to the prospect of an immediate and healthy recovery for Nigeria's higher education. As strike become part of the problem or not, even a most important facet in any definition of the problem of education in Nigeria - a problem that ASUU posits it is trying to solve? For as long as one fetishizes STRIKE as the only option and consider it the STRATEGY rather than a tactic -- and it could be a tactic with more flexible and no less effective applications than has become the norm with ASUU -- looking for alternatives will be uninviting. I can tell you that there is no lack of very useful suggestions among fractions and dissident membership of ASUU itself over the years, even as far back as the late 80 and early 90s.  I doubt that it will be the argument of ASUU that the reason they are stuck with the STRIKE weapon is because they have seriously discussed and tried to apply other innovative suggestion that can work. As you also know, it is not only in Nigeria that university faculty unions have had major disputes over how aspects of their countries' education sector should be run or over new directions that goverments are pushing and I am sure you will agree with me that there are many examples out there of successful strategies and effective combination of tactics that can be drawn upon.

A suggestion is possible, but there is nothing like having suggested solutions come out of deliberations from within ASUU and possibly with other stake holders. However, I don't see how this can be done until there is agreement on te principle that the STRIKE as has been employed over the past two or three decades has turned out to be counter productive to ASUU and to the education sector.


 

From: "Oluwatoyin Adepoju" <tovad...@gmail.com>
To: "cc: USAAfrica Dialogue" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

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Oct 1, 2013, 5:18:42 PM10/1/13
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I think at this point we seem to have exhausted discussion on this matter and it is very interesting, if I am not naive, that we are all agreed strike is not working and ASUU has to change strategy.

With the "passion" of ASUU members to uplifting the current state of HE in Nigeria there is need for ASUU to call meetings at every branch for a strategic  interrogation of what had not worked and alternatives that may work going forward. I trust ASUU is not expecting solutions to come from outside of its membership. It is the one who wears the shoe that knows where it pinches - as the saying goes.

Hopefully, there would be light at the end of ASUU's tunnel.

Gbolahan Gbadamosi

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Oct 1, 2013, 5:29:50 PM10/1/13
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Three quick things in support of Kolapo and in response to Toyin:

1. The suggestions that have been made go further than merely searching for an alternative to striking. Several contributors have asked whether, given the regional and institutional economic and social peculiarities of individual universities or university clusters, it is even proper to have a national union that insists on a uniform set of benefits for all Nigerian university lecturers. Where else do you have this model, and how well is it working? There is also the problem that ASUU protects members who are essentially dead wood, and does not allow hard working, productive researchers and teachers to be rewarded for their accomplishments. Longevity of service, rather than quality seems to be the supreme metric for promotion and recognition. The new NUC regulations may have changed that a bit, but the NUC requirements do NOTHING about instructional accountability or quality. Is it fair for the guy who takes his teaching seriously and the guy who see teaching and students as unsavory distractions to be subjected to the same perks and conditions?

2. Clearly, striking has become part of, and has intensified, the higher educational decay that ASUU claims it wants to solve. It is time to retreat from a counterproductive tactic. If you won't do that, then transition into a proper, traditional trade union that simply fights to protect and enhance the interests of its members and stop spewing the rhetoric of educational reclamation.

3. You say promotion and its requirements are is incentives for the poor, uncommitted lecturer to improve his craft. Not true at all. Two points. One, what is ASUU doing to institute transparent hiring practices that will ensure that folks who lack the skill set, temperament, and commitment to be teachers don't get hired in the first place? Nada, nothing! Because ASUU will not make this an issue, many folks who have no pedagogical instinct or who themselves need instructional immersion end up in the system. Once they are in and become co-opted into ASUU as dues paying members, they are protected by ASUU no matter how poor their teaching is--even if they only come to class once a semester, teach without syllabus, dictate dated notes, and lose student scripts. The promotion guidelines you speak of are, a) fairly recent; and b) they prioritize quantity (how many classes taught, how many scripts marked, etc, and how many papers presented or published). They DO NOT prioritize quality. This is especially so for the teaching aspect of the guidelines, since there is no mechanism (and ASUU will not propose or acquiesce to one) for measuring the QUALITY (or lack thereof) of a lecturer's teaching, their commitment (of lack thereof), etc. One of the main issues that result in poor outcomes, meaning poor graduates, is poor instruction. If there is no mechanism for punishing poor instruction and rewarding good instruction, and both good and bad teachers get promoted after the perfunctory gesture of having "taught" a certain number of courses, then why should the poor, lazy, and ethically challenged lecturer improve their craft or look for something else to do?

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Oct 1, 2013, 6:43:08 PM10/1/13
to cc: USAAfrica Dialogue
Hmmmmm.....:

'For as long as one fetishizes STRIKE as the only option and consider it the STRATEGY rather than a tactic -- and it could be a tactic with more flexible and no less effective applications than has become the norm with ASUU -- looking for alternatives will be uninviting. I can tell you that there is no lack of very useful suggestions among fractions and dissident membership of ASUU itself over the years, even as far back as the late 80 and early 90s. '

It looks as if this would be wonderful:

 'With the "passion" of ASUU members to uplifting the current state of HE in Nigeria there is need for ASUU to call meetings at every branch for a strategic  interrogation of what had not worked and alternatives that may work going forward. I trust ASUU is not expecting solutions to come from outside of its membership. It is the one who wears the shoe that knows where it pinches - as the saying goes.'

May we get there. 

thanks

toyin 

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