To Connect Town And Gown, Academia And Industry, Nigeria Must Address The Perennial Reasons For ASUU’s Strikes
The Oasis Reporters
August 16, 2017
ASUU has once again gone on another indefinite strike. Twelve years ago, I became a lecturer (and member of ASUU) for two reasons:
A desire to introduce student-driven teaching strategies so as to simplify and demystify the teaching of biochemistry, and to exploit the position for personal and professional growth.
I was able to achieve part of my first goal after I returned from England, where I had gone for further training on a SELF-SOURCED Commonwealth Scholarship. With the support of my head of department, I was given unfettered access to the department’s projector, which I used for my lectures. Prior to my classes, I ensured that my students had free access to my lecture notes/PowerPoint slides. I also gave my students the opportunity to anonymously evaluate my teaching.
In fact, the poor mid-term assessment I received made me restart an entire lecture. I had to improvise because there were neither structures in place to facilitate proper teaching and learning nor mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness of the limited education we were offering.
I’m proud to say that I never deprived my students of marks that they deservedly earned. This is the case with many lecturers in my department, and the class of degree I graduated with is enough proof. In fact, I know more lecturers with unblemished integrity than the shameless lot who have no business in academia. I recall how furious an old conservative professor in my department was when he found out that 80% of my students passed a course that had a traditional failure rate of 80%. I also creditably discharged my duties as an Assistant Faculty Examination Officer. In that position, I vetted students’ GPAs without fear or favour: no one who deserved a 1st Class was maliciously ‘given’ a sharp 21, neither was anyone who deserved a Pass or 3rd Class dubiously awarded a 22 or 21.
My point is: as we enter the season of bashing lecturers, instead of addressing the perennial reasons for ASUU’s indefinite strikes, we should be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Relentless excoriation will only serve to push away lecturers with a genuine passion to effect positive change.
Already, many of us have decided that the time has come to step aside so that those who have been pontificating about the rot in the system will have the chance to make the tragic reoccurrence go away with their magic wands.
We have decided to leave lecturing and will be joining many of you in North America and Europe so that we can all wail about the situation from a safe distance.
I don’t really need to convince anyone that I have experienced firsthand the utter putrefaction in our university system, first as a student, then as a lecturer. As much as I agree that the rot is real and crippling, I can boldly say that we, members of ASUU, are just a minute fraction of the problem. The shocking lack of a coherent policy direction for education in Nigeria is the major culprit.
In other words, Nigeria doesn’t know why she has universities. Hence, there’s a gaping disconnect between town and gown, and between academia and industry.
If Nigeria knew the reasons universities exist, she would create the environment for universities to be financially and administratively autonomous to conduct quality research and train students to acquire diverse advanced skills that would enable them contribute meaningfully to society. Isn’t it ridiculous that the government sets the conditions for student admission into universities?
Isn’t it ludicrous that ASUU members are expected to fund ground-breaking research with their $250—$1,250 monthly salaries?
Our professors are also expected to use their salaries to equip their laboratories.
The few incentives like TetFund for further training of lecturers are internally administered on the basis of ethnicity and nepotism.
As long as the Nigerian state continues to shy away from correcting its position in our universities, ASUU will continue to go on indefinite strikes. The Nigerian state must strive to clarify and monitor the effectiveness of its policies, as well as redefine its obligations to universities to be in line with conventional standards in sane societies.
Written by Ogheneochukome Lolodi.
Dr. Ogheneochukome Lolodi is a Research Scientist in Memphis, Tennessee. He started his career as a lecturer at the University of Benin, Edo State.
He has an M. Sc in Applied Biomolecular Technology from the University of Nottingham, and a Ph.D in Life Sciences from Kyoto University in Japan. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee where he currently resides .
