As the federal and state governments, in conjunction with scrupulous schools' managements across the country, conclude the plans to place their irresponsibility in properly funding education on the students and their poor parents, Nigerian students, individually and collectively, must be ready to resist this obnoxious policy. This is the only way of making governments reverse their decisions and commit pubic resources to public education. Already, the current education minister, Sam Egwu has been quoted more than twice reiterating government’s inordinate interest in handing over public education (which covers over 60 percent of Nigerian population) to the vagary of market forces i.e. commercialization and increase in fees. Also, just few weeks ago, the executive secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie was quoted in a public forum enjoining institution administrators to hike fees to N150, 000 per student in celebration of private universities, even when there are barage of criticism on the quality of education in the private universities. Recall that this man was a former vice chancellor of Obasanjo’s Bells University where students are paying over N500, 000 as fees; while his predecessor, Prof. Peter Okebukola is the current pro-chancellor of Osun State University where a student is paying nothing less than N300, 000 as fees. This goes to show the real interests of education administrators in Nigeria - towards sale of education at market prices even when their textbooks define education as a social service.
It is not accidental that while these privately-oriented public officers were championing the idea of education commercialization as a way of funding education, the lecturers under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had to embark on a two-week working strike (and possibly following it, total shutdown of schools) as a response to govt’s insensitivity and hypocrisy to their longstanding demands including proper funding of education by at least 26 percent, better pay for lecturers and education workers, improvement in studying conditions and democratization of decision making in the education sector. These demands also echo those of Education Rights Campaign (ERC) - a pan-Nigerian radical student organization. The campaign for education commercialization by public officers when they have already entered agreement with ASUU on education funding, shows that they are only speaking with both sides of the mouth. This places an enormous task on education workers and students to start a massive movement against government’s insincerity about public education by building a joint struggle to salvage education.
For the past few years of civilian rule, especially the last three years, across the country, fees are being hiked astronomically. In University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, since 2005, a ridiculous fee tagged "Acceptance fee" has been increased from N2, 000 to N10, 000. In AuchiPoly, fees have been hiked between N25, 000 and N35, 000. In other federal government owned institutions like UNILAG, UI, UNIABUJA, etc, cut-throat fees are also being charged students while feelers are showing that that fee hike is imminent in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The school is still battling with issue of reinstatement of victimized union leaders who thwarted previous attempt at fee hike. In Imo State University, students are still protesting latest obnoxious hike of their fees by hundreds of percentage.
Already state governments have been trailing the blaze in this evil agenda. From Osun State where fees in the just established Osun State University were hiked to between N160, 000 to N300, 000 to Ogun State where students of Mashood Abiola polytechnic (MAPOLY) and Ogun State University (OOU) were forced to pay between N50, 000 and N300, 000 respectively while students of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) are already paying over N50, 000 as fees. Also in Oyo State, students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) - a university jointly owned by Osun and Oyo States - are asked to pay over N40, 000 as fees while Lagos State government that claimed to be governing under the principle of Awoism has hiked fees in the state owned tertiary institutions as students of Lagos Polytechnic and LASU are paying between N25, 000 and N60, 000 as fees. As fees are being charged, students' unions that can serve as structures of resistance are being castrated by various managements - UI, UNILAG, ABU and OAU as case studies. To add insult upon injury, the more the students' pay, the worse the living and studying conditions.
The general argument of school authorities is that the schools are under-funded, thus students and their poor parents have to pay for this. As correct as the claim of underfunding is, the various schools management are only using it to cover their mismanagement of the meager resources at their disposal as most of them could not account for millions collected from government and extorted from students. Take for instance, while there are stories that management of the OAU are being probed by anti-graft agencies, UNIBEN management was accused of spending over N60 million on convocation ceremony; ditto for UI management. If under funding is the problem, then school managements should turn to government and not the poor students. But these are politically appointees who dare not look the face of their benefactors.
In a country where over 70 percent are living in penury; where the minimum wage is less than N6, 000 monthly and where hundreds of thousands workers are retrenched with pensions not paid, such hike in fees is to say the least inhuman and anti-poor. The plan is to under fund education so as lay the basis for its commercialization and privatization thus taking education out of the reach of the poor working class families but the exclusive preserve of the rich few. Despite billions of dollars that had accrued to the country’s coffer since 1999 coupled with over $45 billion in Nigeria's foreign account, the government could still not fund education properly and provide free, qualitative and functional education at all levels. This is glaringly manifesting in the meager 7.1 percent budgeted for education in the proposed 2009 budget, yet UNESCO recommends a minimum of 26 percent of budget for education for developing economies like Nigeria. Even the much-hated Obasanjo government budgeted 8.6 percent to education in 2006. The argument that government cannot spend huge amount on education because of other pressing need is unfounded as governments at all levels spend over 40 percent of their budgets (running to over N1 trillion) yearly on salaries of just 17, 747 public officers while public education that should cover over 80 million youth is given less than 7.5 percent (just N225 billion) of the federal budget! Moreover, the meager resources being budgeted for education are being siphoned through back doors especially by state governments.
If this policy is allowed to see the light of the day, it will worsen the already low enrolment in our tertiary institutions which is already estimated at less than 10 percent of the university-aged youth as poor children will not be able to attend these supposed public schools. With poor funding of education, the already overstretched facilities - laboratories, libraries, classrooms, hostel, etc will collapse a students’ fees could hardly cover their maintance. Also, there will be staff retrenchment and closure/merging of some departments. Already, hundreds of students eligible for this year's Law School programme could not make it as a result of the increase in fees to N230, 000 as against N120, 000 being paid before.
Therefore, this policy must be resisted if poor Nigerian students want to have functional and affordable education. Government in 1978 did not go this far to incur the wrath of Nigerian students in the "Ali Must Go" struggle, while the Lanre Arogundade-led NANS in 1985 successfully combated the Buhari regime's fee policy. Therefore, the current generation of Nigerian students must defend their rights to free, functional education. Though, virtually all the structures of current NANS have collapsed, yet Nigerian students, genuine students' activists, organizations and unions must come together and form a radical pan-Nigerian students’ movement that will resist the anti-poor neo-liberal policies of the government of the day. This is why the June 16, 2009 "Days of Action" against low education budget for 2009, declared by the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) must be supported by all genuinely progressive-minded students, education workers and their unions.
We call for the joint struggles between students and education workers - ASUU, SSANU, NASU, ASUTON, NUT, ANCOPSS, CHOPSON, etc, as their interests are similar. This should lead to the convocation of National Summit on Education Rejuvenation by these unions as a basis of building a collective platform to combat government’s hypocrisy on public education. The current capitalist, anti-poor governments at all levels, if left alone will destroy lives. This is calling on genuine students' activists, unions and organizations to join this campaign to halt this onslaught on the educational rights of the poor students and families. Governments at all levels can fund free and qualitative education at all levels if the resources are democratically and judiciously spent. We must demand: end to regime of fees; free, qualitative education at all levels coupled with bursary; massive funding of education by at least 26 percent and expansion of teaching and learning facilities in schools coupled with democratic involvement of education workers' and students' unions in all decision-making in the education sector; independent unionism and end to attack on workers' and students' rights; adequate wages and better working conditions for education workers and workers in general; provision of adequate and secure job for all youth after schooling; public ownership of the economy, among others.
Kola Ibrahim
(08059399178, [email protected])
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria
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