NIGERIA, LET'S DO IT! (Part 2)

I don't know why, but blogger (my blog provider) suddenly decided to strip their blogs of formatting (a temporary error I guess), so please forgive the plain format... This is also another long read, but it is worth it, so please stay at it. Comments will be appreciated. This continues the earlier post...



I contend that Nigerians are not the most happy people on earth, listen, we are simply the most complacent people on earth. The man on the street that rides motorcycles to make a living is not exactly happy with his quality of life, it is that he has accepted that as the best that can happen – and is not particularly concerned with the concept of a better standard of life. The average Nigerian does not take personal interest in an issue that does not concern himself or his immediate family; thank God change has come!

Let’s look at education. I would love to look at it right from primary education up until tertiary education, but I have neither the money for petrol nor the credit to drive my research. As much as I hate to write this post from home (I would rather write this from school, particularly in JPH), I am in total support of ASUU’s strike action. I agree with ASUU that the task of repositioning the Nigerian university system is one that can no longer be delayed if Nigeria is to become one of the leading economically and culturally advanced countries in the world by the year 2020. Vision 2020 calls for a development of quality indigenous manpower, if we are serious about its actualization; ASUU is simply pushing that fact in our face.

We do not expect universities to develop better manpower without better funding. While 26% allocation to education might be an unrealistic figure for now, 2.2% is alarmingly small. Such a small percentage is a pointer to the low importance that the present Government places on Education.

ASUU claims to have spent over 2 years in dialogue with the government to create an agreement which the government is now trying not to sign. I cannot understand why the government no longer wants to sign an agreement it was party to. Even though some of the demands of the Union may be unrealistic in the present context of the Nigerian economy, at least the government can provide the ones it can, and demonstrate a commitment to achieving the remaining ones in the near future.
Actually, it is quite puzzling that this unnecessary impasse is being allowed to continue at a time that we have former university lecturers, Dr. Sam Egwu, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and Umaru Yar'Adua as education minister, Vice President and President, respectively.

Yar’Adua, when will I graduate? One option I have (just like many other bright Nigerian students) is to travel out the instant I am through with NYSC, and never come back. However, if we all do that, then who will make Nigeria into the great country that we WILL be? I understand that the brain drain is one of the many ills that ASUU is trying to slow down and eventually reverse. Yar’Adua, all my professors have gone abroad, and the rest are awaiting visas!

I plan to do my masters abroad, because I intend to be relevant academically and be able to hold my own amongst my more privileged friends who got admitted to MIT and Stanford when I got admitted to OAU. Yar’Adua, what is there to guarantee that I (like many others before and after me) will come back? (Not to worry anyway, I will, because I have a part to play in the making of Nigeria).

I know Yar’Adua will not provide me with answers anyway. What am I to expect from a president who made less public outings in 2 years than Barak Obama made in 100 days? What answers am I to expect from a president that the average WESCOS undergraduate will conveniently outtalk and outdebate? What answers am I to expect from a president that did not know that ASUU was on warning strike for 2 weeks until after the strike had ended?

ASUU, as much as I hate to be at home, I support you. All I ask is that you be considerate, and know when to end this logjam. As fathers yourself, you sure don’t want to know how many lives our bad and pot-hole ridden roads have claimed while they were going back home due to school closure as a result of ASUU strike as a result of FG’s high-handedness as a result of... (The list could go on till... and then end with Yar’Adua). (I have been personally touched in this regard).

Enough talk on education, I will be back quite soon with gist on another sector, but till then – can someone please proffer an answer to my question. Mr. President, when will I graduate?
Time out!

(I have quoted directly or indirectly from quite a lot of sources – some of which are direct statements from Yar’Adua, Dr. Ademola Aremu, Dr. Akin Ademuyiwa, (both of whom are ASUU executives), Salisu Suleiman, Jack Welch etc etc).