Barely two weeks after the Court sent the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) back to school, ASUU has threatened to embark on yet another strike due to October ‘half salary’ paid by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Wahala, I have argued with a political analyst who insisted ASUU should not expect a full salary after working for merely 2 weeks. My question is, should ASUU also cancel those strike period and proceed automatically to next semester or next academic year?
As much as I do not support both ASUU and FG as I feel both of them appear insensitive to the plight of ordinary Nigerian students. I can attest to the fact that some lecturers are already working hard to cover for the 8 months missed so they deserve the full payment from FG. They have families and however they are ill-treated, it’s going to bounce back on the ordinary student, so they deserve every dime!
Wait a minute, why would FG not value the drivers of its educational systems until it’s time to read election results? Okay, let’s assume it is a ‘no work no pay’ thing, have you settled the previous ones that pushed ASUU to strike in the first place?
Please someone should help me understand this nonsense! We know ministers and public officials who have abdicated their roles but still get their full salaries. Bashir Ahmed, the Personal Assistant on New Media to the President was alleged to have been receiving salaries even after he resigned abi? Abi the no work no pay is just for the educational sector alone? How about the sleeping parliamentarians and the ones who only go to mark registers and never contribute to the plenary? How about those working in the moribund refineries, refining nothing for decades yet cashing out on a monthly basis?
Even the minister of education attested to his failure in discharging his duties effectively lately. Wetin court wan talk again? Force lecturers to collect anything they get, whether half or none.
Students were not part of their closed-door meetings o, you people just wake up and ask them to return to class. How they managed to raise money to replace burgled properties, pay rent, lost their temporal jobs just to return to class and now this news will place them on the edge again to forfeit their rents, and properties again and go back to the streets to look for another job.
If I had my way, I would summon every student to come out to protest and either boycott or stop the forthcoming elections so nobody would take us for granted again. But unfortunately, most of us no get sense. We are scattered on the streets collecting peanuts and campaigning for these same misfits who never mean well for us. The trees keep voting for the axe, sadly!
I just hope that soon, when we realise there is fire on the mountain and everybody is on the run, it won’t be too late.