ASUU STRIKE AND WIKE'S POLITICS.

The Nigerian establishment does not seem to have regard for qualitative education of its citizens. If it did, both President and the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquyyatu Rufa’i, would not... be as tepid on the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities. Nigeria is in a meltdown and if there is any fear that should keep Nigerians wide-awake in the night, it is not that 400,000 barrels of crude oil are being stolen daily; that this theft summed up to a hefty $10.9bn between 2009-2011 or, that a shortage of gunboats and fast-assault crafts were partly responsible for increased oil theft. It is because our future as a people is in a free fall with the decline in the quality of public education. No country can make anything of itself with a retrogressive education system. Whenever lecturers go on endless countless strike actions, the government of the day hesitates to negotiate with them. It forgets that the strike is as a result of its failure to implement past agreements. The government signed an agreement with ASUU in 2009 and till date, only two of the nine demands have been met. In the midst of the latest pretext of finding a lasting solution to ASUU strikes, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, dampened the ardour of everyone by stating on Tuesday that ASUU’s demands amount to N92bn and the Federal Government cannot meet it. Okonjo-Iweala’s excuse is that they need to streamline public expenditure. In 2011, Rufa’i claimed ASUU’s demands would cost N106bn and that they could not source the amount. Rather than trim a wasteful executive and a bloated legislature, they want to downsize education. Their negotiating start-offs are crooked since sincerity has never been the strong point of this government. Education seems an after-thought and that is why Nigeria is badly served. In the midst of this commotion is the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who is the opposite of Rufa’i. He is boiling hot, but not out of passion for education. Rather, he has found a larger calling in his home politics. The Rivers State crisis, by the way, has become a soap opera of sorts. While President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife have been consistent in their exemplary Underworld Bosses roles, the governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has successfully played multiple parts. Amaechi has acted the victim, warrior, villain and currently, a victim all over again. Mrs. Patience Jonathan, with maternal condescension referred to Amaechi as her “son.” The son-governor, like a schoolboy before his school ma’am, asked mediators to plead with his “mother” to restore his security detail. Their tussle has resulted in the desecration of the legislature. It is quite nauseating to note their drama is more about self-aggrandisement than ideals. Wike’s role in this drama is to play Jonathan’s Man Friday. In one of his narratives, Wike stated his annoyance with Amaechi was his disrespect for Jonathan; to welcome Jonathan to Rivers once, Amaechi brought only four commissioners to the airport. To the pageantry-minded Wike, it was to humiliate Jonathan and make him suffer. Pray, who thinks and talks like this in 2013? Precisely, why can’t Jonathan be welcomed with four commissioners? Is he suffering any form of handicap that he requires the entire state cabinet members as human crutches to find his way out of the airport? It is a cultural practice to stage elaborate welcomes but quite wasteful one. When people are consumed by their own VIP status, they need a village to drum their importance to them. It partly explains why African societies fail to progress. Unfortunately, men like Wike, who take umbrage when their egos are not sufficiently wound, propagate the culture. The other question for Wike is, how does the number of people who meet –or, failed to meet — Jonathan at the airport affect education in Nigeria? How does his persistent fight against Amaechi on behalf of Jonathan do anything for the ASUU strike? How does it help the sorry state of primary and secondary education in Nigeria? What is his agenda for northern education now that Boko Haram has burnt down an estimated 800 schools in Borno State? How does his politics improve funding to Nigerian universities on a regular basis? When is he going to talk about the 2009 government agreement with ASUU and how soon they will resolve the deadlock? Did he read Prof. Daniel Saror’s interview on the state of universities in Nigeria? What is his response to the critique of the university system as have been persistently enunciated by intellectuals like Prof. Niyi Osundare? Does it occur to him that when older academics throw up their hands in frustration that the universe has dropped out of Nigerian universities, younger academics and intellectuals need reassurance so that the system can continue? How does Nigeria plan to recruit from universities all over the world to boost universities back home? Do these things bother him at all or he is more concerned about doing the dirty laundry of the Jonathans-at-the-top? If I asked Wike what Nigeria’s 25-year plan for education is, would he have an answer at the tip of his fingers? Or, he is in Abuja just to get paid and build his career by making notice-me-monkey-jumps in front of Jonathan? Let me at this point reiterate that I have no problems with Wike’s politics. It is his constitutional right to take whatever sides suit him. I have posited on this page before that I understand that times are hard and certain folk will have to play some bend-bend game to survive. I therefore do not begrudge Wike’s survivalist politics. Who knows, it might turn out to be his greatest contribution to democracy. It is a man’s prerogative to chase rats even when his house is burning. But when such a man is entrusted with public office, and a sensitive one such as education, his ears need to be pulled. In one of his interviews, Wike said he was ready to resign because after two years, he has overstayed the life expectancy of his job. It is a statement that is uncomplimentary of his boss, President Jonathan, but I agree with him. In fact, he overstayed from his first day in that office. He should resign, go back to Rivers State and devote more time to measuring his manhood against that of Amaechi.