By DSM Reporters,
As the opening event of this year's
National Committee (NC), the student/youth wing of the Democratic Socialist
Movement (DSM) met on Friday 11 April, 2014 to discuss the strategies to adopt
in fighting education attacks especially in this period of growing neo-liberal
capitalist attacks on public education sector. Seven (7) student branches were
present at the meeting
The meeting started with a lead-off
given by H.T Soweto (National Coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign) on
the topic "Fighting Education Attacks: the Roles of Socialist
Students". The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) is the platform formed by
the DSM to initiate campaigns against attacks on public education.
ATTACKS
ON PUBLIC EDUCATION
In his lead-off, Soweto highlighted the
state of decay across Nigeria's public education sector. According to the 11th
Education-For-All Global Monitoring Report by UNESCO "Nigeria's education
sector faces a bleak future as having failed to prioritize education over the
years means that it may not meet the Education-For-All Goals 1,2 and 4 in
2015".
Even though a capitalist institution,
UNESCO's verdict is damning. Nigeria currently has 10.5 million out-of-school children.
According to the report, Nigeria's out-of-school children not only grew the
most in absolute terms of any country in the world, by 3.4 million, but also
have the 4th highest growth rate. With four years of schooling in Nigeria, less
than one in ten children emerges a literate. Even after 5-6 years in school,
less than 30% will emerge able to read even a single sentence. Due to low
quality of education over the years, 40% of youth are illiterate. In Nigeria,
only 5% of the poorest young women are literate compared to 90% of the richest.
 |
| HT Soweto, ERC National Coordinator |
The neo-liberal attack on public
edication is not accidental. It is rooted in the profit-first orientation of
capitalism. For the capitalist ruling elite, we have to pay to get educated.
Contrariwise, socialists believe that public education is an investment in the
future workers who will help to take our society forward. It is therefore in
the interest of society to ensure that quality education is provided and that
no one is denied education. This is why socialists support the demand for free
and quality education at all levels.
In the midst of this gargantuan crisis
of public education, the National Assembly has passed the 2014 budget. The
working class and youths cannot have any hope that this budget will lead to any
improvement in the conditions of public education. Aside the fact that the
recurrent allocation to education slightly increased primarily due to
concessions on salaries and emoluments won by staff unions over the last one
year, overall allocation to education remain far below the 26% benchmark which
UNESCO proposed for developing Nations.
SOCIALIST
ALTERNATIVE
Aside from corruption, the fundamental
reason for Nigeria's backwardness in all aspects you can think of is the
profit-first system of capitalism. Capitalism is incapable of ensuring quality
mass public education for the people. The problem is compounded by Nigeria's
position in capitalist world relations which makes it a neo-colonial economy
dominated by imperialism. As a result of this position of dependence, members
of the Nigerian capitalist ruling are marionettes in the hands of international
finance capital and are therefore incapable of driving genuine national
development that can lead to improvement in public education and public
infrastructures. Only a successful revolution which leads to the working class
at the head of other oppressed strata taking political power and implementing
democratic socialist policies can end the crisis of public education and ensure
provision of free education at all levels.
Aside the work of socialist youths in
initiating campaigns against education attacks, we have to also endeavour to
arm the students and education workers with the perspectives of ending
capitalism and enthroning socialism. This is important to assist the growth of
the consciousness of the advanced layers as well as the broad masses who are
ready to struggle for "change" but are also getting increasingly
confused about what "change" really means.
This confusion is also partly being
aided by the unanimity of all political parties on the agenda to price
education out of the reach of ordinary working class people. As the fee hike
from N25,000 to between N193,750 to N350,000 at the Lagos State University
(LASU) shows, the All Progressive Congress (APC) which is the biggest
opposition political party is as anti-poor as the ruling Peoples’ Democratic
Party (PDP). Similarly in Ondo State, a Labour Party (LP) government is
attacking workers unions and criminalizing strikes at the Adekunle Ajasin
University Akungba Akoko (AAUA). Raising the banner of the Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) - a new political party which the DSM is building in
collaboration with other activists - is the best way to begin to clear this
confusion by showing that there is indeed a genuine alternative that can
protect the interest of the workers, youth and poor masses.
 |
| A cross section of comrades |
UNEMPLOYMENT
CRISIS
Soweto also spoke about the death of
about 20 unemployed youth at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) test on
March 15. The scale of youth unemployment is massive. It has been described by
many commentators as a time bomb. While this is true, it can also ignite a mass
movement as in Tunisia. Unfortunately, beyond press statements condemning the
deaths, the labour movement does not appear to have any program to campaign for
decent jobs and unemployment benefit. The Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
giving its predominant youth membership is in a position to take the lead in
launching a campaign against youth unemployment and for decent jobs, unemployment
benefit and a living wage.
ASUP
AND COEASU STRIKES
Adams Lateef in his lead-off on
"On-going ASUP and COEASU strikes: Matters Arising" clearly traced
the history of these strikes. At present some Polytechnics and Colleges of
Education are shut as a result of the agitation of the academic staff for
implementation of agreements, ending of discrimination against HND certificate
holders, funding and working conditions. The strike by the Academic Staff Union
of Polytechnics (ASUP) started way before the strike of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) in June last year. But due to a combination of the
Federal government's contempt for workers as well as weakness of the strike
itself, the ASUP strike has last this long while the ASUU strike ended in
December last year after winning some concessions.
 |
| Lateef Adams, Deputy National Coordinator, ERC |
While the ASUU strike was total with no
University (whether state-owned or federal) opting out, the strike of ASUP is
not total and there are cases of Polytechnics opting out. There are a lot of
reasons for this situation of disarray in the strike. For instance, the
academic staffs in state-owned polytechnics feel less motivated to join the
strike since they fear that whatever concession is gained will not be
implemented by state governments.
The ERC calls on the ASUP leadership and
activists not to take these obstacles as something insurmountable. The first
point that must be made to ASUP rank and file is that balance of force is the
determinant of what struggle can achieve. However ASUP leadership must also
recognise that the implementation of agreement with ASUU by the Federal
government has never been automatic. So also is the implementation by state
governments of concessions won by ASUU during a national strike. What has
always determined what ASUU is able to accomplish is mass struggle. ASUU
members irrespective of the ownership status have been able to struggle
together to win concessions and enforce the implementation in solidarity with
one another. This is currently missing
in the on-going strikes by ASUP and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff
Union (COEASU).
As the ERC has been arguing since last
year, a sit-at-home strike is not enough, there is the need for ASUP and COEASU
to separately and where possible jointly organise mass rallies, protests and
demonstrations. Our agitation is beginning to have some effect. A few rallies
have now been organised by ASUP in a few chapters but of course they are not
enough. Just last week, the ASUP leadership threatened to call for protest at
the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja. We urge the ASUP leadership not
to make this a mere threat but name a day for the protest and begin immediately
mobilisation of its ranks, students and parents.
Ultimately what will determine what ASUP
can win is the balance of force. ASUP leadership and activists must devise a
strategy that will require mobilising to all the chapters that are currently
not joining the strike with leaflets and other materials calling on these
workers to recognise that the on-going strike can win and that whatever is won
nationally will be a benchmark or reference point upon which the welfare of
polytechnic lecturers everywhere will be based upon. Winning that benchmark
nationally can provide a springboard for energetic campaign at all state
chapters for the improvement of working conditions. ASUP must energetically
state to its members that while winning the on-going strike may not mean
immediate improvement in the working conditions of all polytechnic lecturers,
losing it will most certainly lead to worsening of the conditions of all
polytechnic lecturers at Federal and State polytechnics.
As the meeting agreed, the ERC should
take the frontline position in mobilising for solidarity actions in support of
the ASUP and COEASU strikes while continuing the agitation with the leaderships
over methods and how to take the struggle to the next level.
LASU
STRUGGLE
An interesting development was the
presence at the meeting of an ERC contact Agoro Dolapo from the Lagos State
University (LASU) who gave a report of the struggle to reverse LASU hiked fees.
As a result of our role in the struggle that broke out in the University in
January, about 16 students have agreed to join the ERC. This is aside many
other potential members and supporters. But due to on-going examinations, only
one could attend the meeting. In his report, Agoro Dolapo traced the beginning
of the struggle in LASU which started in January this year as a result of the
inability of 1,292 to pay the fees.
 |
| Dolapo Agoro from LASU |
He also spoke about ERC's role in
initiating the building of the #SaveLASU Campaign Movement as a broad platform
bringing together the ERC, Students Union Exco-Elect, National Union of Lagos
State Students (NULASS) and radical groups. This arrangement became necessary
as a result of the refusal of the union leadership to lead the struggle on the
basis of the excuse that that they have not yet being inaugurated after
elections and as a result lack the authority to act. Through the broad platform
in which the ERC played a leading role, the struggle took off and succeeded in
changing the course of debate from the question of the riot and destruction of
University properties by angry students to planting the public focus on the
root cause of the crisis which is the anti-poor fee hike introduced in 2011 by
the State government. At its height the movement forced the State governor to
call for a meeting with students. At the meeting which held at the Governor's
office, the Governor said the following "... go and make your proposal. So
you do the Mathematics and come back to us with what is reasonable. If I can
meet you halfway then I will go back to council because i did not take the
decision alone. But whatever choices you make are going to come with
consequences".
Immediately after this debate, the
Students Union Exco-Elect asked not to be invited to the meeting of the broad
platform anymore. They also went on to organize a separate meeting where all
they discussed was how and what to reduce the fees to on behalf of government
without considering the dangers. Also there are rumours the Union wants to go
to submit a unilateral proposal to the government. This as far as the ERC is
concerned means the Students Union leaders have pulled out of the coalition.
This is not an accident. Right from day one, the Union Executives were the
weakest and least reliable partner in the coalition. Before they asked not to
be informed of meetings anymore, they had been absent at meetings and
especially the symposium organised on April 3rd. In addition, it appears that as
government is giving impression that it wants to grant concessions, it also
stepped up pressure to break the coalition knowing that the struggle was strong
only because of our involvement.
As the meeting agreed, the ERC must
continue to defend the rights of all students to affordable and quality
education which is only possible if the current astronomical level of fee of
LASU is reversed. However we must also demand that whether students will agree
to make a proposal or not to the government is a decision to be made by
students themselves and not on their behalf as the union is doing. Therefore
the ERC is also calling for a congress of students where students can determine
their own fate by themselves.
The meeting ended with the drawing up
programs and activities to further our campaigns and interest and commitment to
building the organisation renewed.
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