With the tributes that have been pouring in across all strata of the society locally and internationally, there is no doubt that the academic world in particular and Nigeria in general has lost one of its most distinguished academicians, authors, foremost humanist and unionist with the death of Professor Festus Iyayi in the unfortunate accident involving the convoy of Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada, last Tuesday.
For obvious reasons, the most pained about the untimely death was the immediate constituency of the late Professor of University of Benin, the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The late Professor of Business Administration was not just a very distinguished former President of ASUU, he was actively involved in the struggles of the university teachers for enhanced welfare and improvements of the teaching and learning environment in the tertiary institutions till his death.
Indeed, Professor Iyayi died in the struggle! He was on the way to Kano in the company of a couple of other members of the Union to attend the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of ASUU. The meeting was called to consider a fresh offer made to the university lecturers by a Federal Government team led by President Goodluck Jonathan to call off their nationwide strike that has grounded academic activities at all public universities since July 1, 2013.
Of course, it is no longer news that ASUU did not waste time in calling off the NEC meeting last Wednesday. Dr. Nasir Fagge, the President of ASUU, told anxious journalists that the meeting has been suspended indefinitely in honour of the late Professor.
In a way, this was expected and will be in tune with time honoured tradition of respect for the dead. What many Nigerians did not, however, expect was the indefinite nature of the suspension, with even more troubling speculations that the NEC meeting may not hold until mid January, 2014.
One can only hope that the speculations about the January date are not true. But if it is true, it may well rank as perhaps, the greatest disservice done to university education in Nigeria in the past 10 years.
The implication is that at the end of the strike, academic and socio-economic activities, which are largely driven by presence of students on our various campuses, would have been grounded for seven months. For generality of university students and their parents, this will also mean undue elongation of already delayed dreams, hopes and aspirations. And it will also not be strange if it emerges that some of the students had out of boredom taken to some unsavoury activities in tune with the popular adage that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop.
The agony to the students and their parents aside, there is also the long term effect on the nation as the human capital needed for critical national development are kept in school in seeming perpetuity.
President Jonathan very well realised the negative consequences when he decided to personally lead the last all-night negotiation with ASUU. This, I also believe, was also why the Federal Government bent backwards in its bid to meet the demands of the university teachers in spite of the competing demands from other critical sectors of national life.
The government’s offer of an annual investments of N220 billion in university infrastructure over the next five years will in the end amount to just slightly below what ASUU is demanding for in the contentious 2009 Agreement.
As has been widely reported, it was also agreed that the funds will be domiciled at the Central Bank of Nigeria to be released on a quarterly basis to the higher institutions as a further assurance that government will keep to its side of the bargain. Details of the deal in the public domain also indicated that the local chapters of ASUU will also be involved in deciding which projects the funds will be invested on. The contentious issue of earned allowance has also been taken care of.
The few areas of the 2009 agreement that are yet to be fully ironed out related to issues of pensions, the lecturers’ bid to take over assets of Federal Government which are presently lying idle and one or two other items. Government has argued rightly that some of the issues will require setting up institutional structures for their actualisation. ASUU will need to set up an asset management company in its bid to take over assets of the Federal Government.
Analysts have contended that the President Jonathan administration offers to ASUU are the best that have been put before the union by any administration since it began its agitations. Indeed, a top official of the Nigeria Labour Congress who was part of the negotiation has been quoted to have described the offers as “okay and acceptable” in a leading national newspaper.
Reports also indicated that most of the local chapters of ASUU had at their congresses voted in support of suspension of the long drawn strike before the news of the death of Professor Iyayi who was also part of the ASUU negotiation team. The expectation was that but for the sad event, the NEC of ASUU would have called off the strike based on this overwhelming demand of its members.
But should the death of this distinguished academic be the reason to keep university students at home for over two more months as it is being speculated?
Even as we shared in the agony of ASUU over the death of its foremost member, not many Nigerians will think so. For one, keeping the universities shut for the next 100 years will not bring Professor Iyayi back to life. This aside, it is doubtful if Professor Iyayi himself will agree that his death should be the reason for the deferment of hopes and aspirations of millions of university students by keeping them out of school, especially when their privileged counterparts in private universities have not missed a day of school. Therefore, the best honour that can be done to the memory of Professor Iyayi as many Nigerians have noted since last week is to allow public university students to return to their classrooms. And ASUU should do this by calling off the national strike without any further delay.
*Abubakar, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Kaduna.
