BY BANYO TEMITAYO
IN view of the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, has asked the Federal Government to withdraw the 2021 Appropriation Bill and increase its allocation to education to at least 15 per cent from the current 5.6 per cent.
He said this was a necessary first step to signal the wider reforms that were necessary to reposition the country’s education system.
The former CBN deputy governor, who said this in a statement titled, “Prolonged ASUU Strike Infringes on the Right of Nigerian Youth to Education”, added that for Government to allow the strike to continue for so long without a solution amounted to a dereliction of its duty to the wellbeing of citizens.
The strike had inflicted mental torture on university students, he said, adding that whereas industrial actions “are legitimate, they become dysfunctional when they become protracted.”
Moghalu, who is also the Convener, To Build A Nation, said, “For eight months now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike. The prolonged strike constitutes a serious infringement on the right of Nigerians, especially the youth, to education. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, education is a fundamental human right for everyone.
“Nigeria has had too many ASUU strikes for any meaningful university education system. But the current strike has simply gone on for too long. Whereas industrial actions are legitimate, they become dysfunctional when they become protracted.
“That the government has allowed the current ASUU strike to continue for many months, by not reaching agreement with the lecturers, is very unfortunate. It amounts to a dereliction of the duty of the government to the wellbeing of the citizens. This strike has inflicted mental torture on university students, who are left to wonder when they will complete their programmes.”
He added, “Sadly, the ASUU strike falls into an established pattern. The government has not given due attention to education. The country has been underinvesting in education for years and is far behind its comparator developing countries and emerging economies in terms of public investment in education.
“For instance, the allocation to education as a percentage of Nigerian government’s total expenditures averaged just 7.7 per cent between 2015 and 2020. In comparison, South Africa’s budgetary allocation to education was consistently above 18 per cent in the same period, rising above 20 per cent in 2020, according to data by the World Bank.
“At a time that the government was negotiating with ASUU over pay – even if the payment platform has dominated the negotiation – it submitted the 2021 Appropriation Bill in which only 5.6 per cent of the total public expenditures was allocated to education. This indicates that the Government is not giving enough considerations to the major issue in its long history of dispute with ASUU.
“The main issue has been the funding of the tertiary institutions, of which the emoluments of the lecturers are just a part.”
Moghalu called for an immediate end to the ASUU strike, adding that to demonstrate commitment to adequate funding of education, the government needed to increase the education allocation in the budget to 15 per cent.
“It is not enough to throw money at problems. Education in Nigeria needs comprehensive reform,” he explained.
He listed such reforms to include: review of tertiary institution admission criteria and standards, balancing access to education with quality of education; curriculum review to ensure priority for science, technology, vocational skills and entrepreneurship; and review of educational pedagogy.
Others are massive investments in learning equipment and other educational infrastructure; fundamental improvement of teacher pay (part of the subject of the ASUU strike); fundamental overhaul and strengthening of the regulation and regulatory oversight of the education sector; as well as restoration of the culture of education as a priority value system for Nigeria.
