A sector’s unending crisis

 

                  Nigeria was 54 yesterday. Yet, there seems to be nothing to cheer about the country. Like Nigeria, education is moving round in circles. From strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, the sector has never had it this bad. The over 200 school girls abducted from Government Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, in April are yet to be released, 174 days after. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA reports.

Nigeria celebrated its 53rd anniversary last year in the heat of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) strike.

In the preceding month of September, President Goodluck Jonathan fired the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai and she returned to her constituency, ASUU, which strike she tried to break while in office. A professor of Education Curriculum, Prof Rufai’ returned to the Bayero University Kano (BUK) where she was teaching before joining the Jigawa State Executive Council in 2007, and later the Jonathan cabinet in 2011. Incidentally,  ASUU president Dr Isa Fagge is also from BUK

While ASUU called off its about six months strike early December, having ageed on certain resolutions with the Federal Government, ASUP stuck to its gun, leaving the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, as supervising minister to resolve the debacle.

During his tenure as Supervising Minister, Wike was unable to tackle the problem. Rather, he and ASUP engaged in a war of words. ASUP president Dr Chibuzor Asomugha accused Wike of politicising the crisis and incapable of handling it.

Stakeholders including the House Committee on Education, parents, National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the Education Right Campaign (ERC), among others, called on parties to sheathe their swords for the sake of students.  NAPS, NANS and ERC staged series of protest nationwide to no avail.

Shekarau steps in

 Things changed in July, when former Kano State Governor Ibrahim Shekarau became Minister of Education. While many saw Shekarau’s appointment as a mere political move by a desperate government, others  believed he would make a difference,  being an educationist.

A former National President of the All Confederation of Principals in Secondary Schools (ANCOPPS), Shekarau’s  achievements, particularly in education when he was governor, many believed, would be replicated at the national level.

ASUP suspends strike

Shekarau was barely two weeks in office when ASUP suspended its 11-month-old strike. How Shekarau was able to achieve this, no one knows. Sources, however, said on resumption, Shekarau invited ASUP leadership, pleading that they called off the strike so as to give him more time to appraise the issues.

Though Dr Asomugha announced that the strike was only “suspended” for three months, “to allow the new Education Minister study their demands and take appropriate action”, many knew that was the end of the crisis.

 “The decision to call off the strike is in consonance with the demand of the present Minister of Education, Alhaji Abrahim Shekarau to allow him study our demands,” explained Asomugha while urging his colleagues to return to the classroom without further delay.

 “All ASUP is asking for is that government makes commitment on when and how the issues will be resolved.’’

The EVD crisis

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) turned out his first baptism of fire. EVD which was imported into the country on July 20 by the late Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, took its toll on education.

To allay public fear, the Federal Government initially shifted schools’ resumption from September 13 to October 13.

Shekarau, who directed that schools close down with immediate effect, said the measure was to mobilise the education sector against EVD in schools nationwide. The decision jolted many private schools which by then had begun the summer coaching associated with long vacation.

 Shekarau promised that the government would offer free seminar to teachers on the EVD. He also said every primary and secondary school would be given blood pressure monitors, and that schools are expected to nominate two members of staff for the EVD training.

After a meeting between the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), a new date- September 21 was arrived at for resumption. But while many private schools have commenced academic activities nationwide, many state governments, except few such as Kwara State resumed Monday last week while others shifted resumption till Monday next week, after the Eid-El-Fitri celebrations.

Increase in

education budget

In January hopes were buoyed when the government raised the sector’s 2014 budget by 15 per cent over the previous year’s. Stakeholders described the action as a step in the right direction.

The N493 billion representing 10.7 per cent of the total national budget of N4.6 trillion still falls short of the 26 per cent recommendation for developing countries by the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Nonetheless, stakeholders are of the view that the hike would address some of the challenges crippling the sector. That expectation appeared to have been rubbished by the abduction of over 200 school girls by Boko Haram insurgents last April.

Chibok girls’ abduction

In the wee hours of April 14, some men in military uniform invaded the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, and abducted over 200 pupils.

Their abduction provoked global fury.

Boko Haram supposed leader Abubakar Shekau (whose the military claimed to have killed in Konduga, Borno State few weeks ago), had threatened to sell the girls, according to what he called instructions from Allah.

The country has also come under the butt of global embarrassment.

The Nigerian government has also come under fire for her ineptness to retrieve the girls, protect the population and end Boko Haram terrorist actions. Federal Government has launched series of search exercises with some international assistance to locate the girls, to no avail.

Following incessant cries especially by parents of the abducted girls, Non-Governmental Organi-sations and other concerned citizens, Federal Government eventually agreed to a swap deal, a condition earlier laid down by Shekau in which some of Boko Haram captured leaders would be exchanged for the kidnapped girls. Many experts in security matter have lent their voices on the issues. Some said the girls may not be found again. Those who believe otherwise argued that even if they are found, their psychological and emotional state can never remain the same as they have been subjected to lots of traumatic experiences during their abduction.

By 14th of this month, it will have been six months the girls have disappeared. As of 29 June, more than 200 students were still yet to be found. To further complicate matters, no one knows at what stage the negotiation deal has reached. Last week, one of the girls was found wandering in the bush. Government has since relocated the girl for proper rehabilitation.