University workers expect real change in 2016

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Many university workers look forward to better conditions in 2016, CHARLES ABAH writes

The ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities seems to be the climax of the unfinished business in the education sector in 2015. While many had expected the outgoing year to be devoid of a national strike, the action of the SSANU appears to have ruined their expectations.

According to the union, the strike is to prevent the planned dismissal of its members by the Federal Government.

Although SSANU’s sister organisations, such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, did not embark on any industrial action at the national level, there were pockets of protests at the local chapter levels. For example, there was agitation at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State; the University of Lagos and the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin, Lagos, among others.

The former NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Peter Okebukola, acknowledges that 2015 has been a year of mixed blessings for all workers in Nigerian universities, including academic and non-academic staff.

Okebukola says, “We won with regard to academic stability. We won with NUC’s improvement in its quality assurance operations. We won in the increase in the number of universities (public and private). We won in improved access through the slight increase in the number of candidates admitted to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

“On the debit side, we lost on the quality of graduates from our higher education institutions. While there are spurts of exemplary graduates, overall, quality is still severely compromised. If education has a rating agency such as Fitch for the economy, we would be downgraded a notch above junk.”

The inauguration of probe committees on universities and polytechnics is another major unfinished business that gained the attention of many stakeholders in the outgoing year. According to them, the investigation of the alleged fraud and abuse of office levelled against some vice-chancellors and rectors of polytechnics has long been overdue. While they hail the new Education Minister, Mallam Adamu Adamu, for initiating the move, another school of thought advises him to ensure that the reports of the committees do not end up in the trash bins.

The institutions that the committees visited are the Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Kastina State; Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State; University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom and the Federal University, Kashere in Gombe State.

Others are the University of Abuja; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Calabar; Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State; Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State and the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State.

For instance, a former Bursar of YABATECH, Mr. Olu Ibirogba, on behalf of YABATECH 8, had accused the Rector, Dr. Margaret Ladipo, among others, of spending N5m monthly as security vote.

Ibirogba and co, in a petition dated June 10, 2015, entitled ‘Large scale stealing and victimisation by YABATECH authorities: Appeal for intervention so that we are not silenced’, had urged the Presidency, as well as the anti-fraud agencies, to examine the accounts of the polytechnic.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities also urged the Federal Government to investigate the activities of the outgoing MOUA VC, Prof. Hilary Edeoga, alleging that he engaged in an arbitrary recruitment and promotion of members of staff.

The review also cannot be complete without a mention of the challenges surrounding admission to the nation’s universities. The recurring admission palaver still reared its head in the period under review. Like previous years, hundreds of youths failed to secure admission to the over 140 universities in the country.

Complaints about the poor state of infrastructure in the campuses ignited protests by students in many tertiary institutions across the country. From the University of Lagos to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the University of Calabar and the Obafemi Awolwo University, Ile-Ife, among others, the tempo of students’ protest was on the increase.

In 2015, new vice-chancellors were appointed, thousands of workers were owed salaries and the global rating of Nigerian universities dropped significantly. In fact, stakeholders note that it was a bleak Yuletide for workers in many of the federal universities, polytechnics, as well as state tertiary institutions, who were not paid December salaries.

Little wonder, the University of Ibadan ASUU Chairman, Prof. Olusegun Ajiboye, has appealed to the Federal Government to give priority to workers and students’ welfare in the coming year.

The unionist posits, “Looking at education generally in 2015, one can say that though the sector has not fared badly, there is a lot of room for improvement. It is our expectation that if this government makes education its top priority, all other things will fall in place. We hope the government will do everything to improve on the welfare of the staff and students, especially with regard to prompt payment of workers’ salaries.”

Projecting into 2016

With education receiving the highest allocation in the 2016 budget, the argument by many analysts that the nation spends more on defence and security than it disburses to the sector, may not come to the front burner in the ongoing review.

In the budget presented last Tuesday to members of the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari rolled out an N6.08tn budget for the fiscal year 2016. While the President presented N396bn for education, the health and defence sectors received N296bn and N294bn, respectively.

A breakdown of past budget statistics showed that while the sector in 2011 received N306.3bn, defence got the highest share of N311,692bn. The Senate approved N4.971tn for that year’s appropriation.

Out of the N4.749tn, representing about six per cent increase over the 2011 budget, education in 2012 received N400.15bn or 8.43 per cent of the financial plan. Out of this, N345.091 (82 per cent) was for recurrent expenditure, whereas N55.056bn (18 per cent) was for capital expenditure. In 2012, security and defence received N921.91bn, the highest that year, while health got N282.77bn.

In 2013, the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration appropriated N426.53bn of the N4.92tn budget to education, just as in 2014, the sector received N493bn, representing 10.7 per cent of the N4.6tn national budget proposal.

Before leaving office this year, the Jonathan administration had proposed N492, 034bn for education, comprising N472, 034bn for recurrent expenditure and N20bn for capital expenditure.

For the ASUP President, Mr. Usman Dutse, the priority given to education in the 2016 financial plan is a welcome development. He, nonetheless, hopes that the improved funding will result in the provision of better welfare for workers and infrastructure in schools.

He notes, “We are full of hope that the conditions of things will improve in the sector; more funding should translate into better infrastructure, state of the art equipment and facilities for teaching, learning and practicals. We are expecting that the authorities will capture all outstanding issues between workers and the Federal Government, such as arrears of salaries and allowances in the budget. We also look forward to a judicious and equitable implementation of the budget, so that none of the sub-sectors will complain of marginalisation.”

Okebukola also describes the move as the “right foot forward” in the march to ensuring a positive change in the education sector. With proper implementation, he notes, the gesture will help boost the production of quality science, technology and vocational education teachers in the country.

The funding, he adds, will help to alter the face of many universities, which are no better than glorified secondary schools in terms of infrastructure.

The former NUC boss, who calls for caution in the celebration of the allocation, however, notes that budgetary provision is different from the actual release of approved funds.

He declares, “Over the last eight years, the performance of the capital component of the budget for education has averaged 20 per cent. This means that about 80 per cent of the monies, which we celebrated when the budget was passed, were not released by year’s end, especially for capital development. Yes, salaries were paid, but nothing else happened. This has kept the decay in the educations sector to persist like a festering sore. Since this is the season of change, we are hopeful that the budget will be passed early and the performance will be at least 80 per cent.”

But Ajiboye has his reservations about the allocation. According to him, considering that the Federal Government did not release the 2014/2015 NEEDS Intervention Fund totally about N400bn, there is not much excitement in the air.

He argues, “If you consider the agreement signed between the FGN and ASUU in 2011, the government agreed to invest N220bn annually in public universities. Nigerians will be amazed to learn that the sum of N200bn, which was released in 2013, has been the only fund released so far. Nothing was released in 2014 and 2015 as NEEDS Intervention Fund. If you factor this into the 2016 budget, you will discover that it is just like a drop in the ocean. Nigerians expect the government to move up to a minimum of 26 per cent of the budget as recommended by the UNESCO for developing countries.”