Strikes in the Education
Sector: Need for Unity of Education Workers and Students in Struggle
By Hassan Taiwo Soweto
ERC National Coordinator
Over the last three months, the education sector has been racked by one
disruption after the other. It is not even yet up to a week that Polytechnic staffs under the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Senior Staff of Association of Nigeria Polytechnic (SSANIP) suspended their almost three months strike over a promise from the government to address their demands. The
strike, which was suspended with a threat of resumption if after a month it is
not seen that government truly wants to meet their demands, rattled the
government. Not just because of the determination of the Polytechnic lecturers
but also because of the solidarity of polytechnic students.
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| ERC Joins SSANIP Protest Rally on June 4 at Yabatech Lagos |
Aside the efforts of groups like the ERC and the new group COSATEC, the
National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) despite the political
limitation of its leadership organised a number of protests which helped to ply
pressure on the government.
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| ERC with COSATEC on June 24 in Lagos |
Compared to this, NANS which is the umbrella body
of all students publicly opposed the strike of University lecturers. The
senseless arguments advanced by the rightwing NANS leaders for this
counterproductive strategy is not worthy of examination here. What should worry
ordinary students is that this attitude of the NANS leadership essentially
means capitulation to the government and its neo-liberal policies of education
underfunding. It means NANS is not only ready to fight neo-liberal education
policies, it would also try its best to weaken the efforts of those fighting.
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| ERC at May 22 NAPS Rally in Abuja |
The ERC believes the demands of ASUU if met would genuinely lead to
improvement in the education system and as such is worth supporting by students.
Students suffer the most from cuts in education funding, fee hike and decaying
facilities. Added to the woes of students is the phenomenon of unemployment
which in practice means that only a few hundreds of the tens of thousands
gruduating yearly can ever find a job.
NANS backing the government against a strike aimed at compelling the
government to use Nigeria's enormous wealth to fund education is therefore
essentially a betrayal of the interests of students. The best strategy that
would enormously favour students interest is for NANS to openly solidarise with
the University lecturers in their strike while also declaring nationwide mass
actions of students to put forward specific students' demands for improved
funding, reversal of hiked fees, repair of broken and decayed teaching and
hostel infrastructures, restoration of banned unions, recall of victimised
stidents activists etc. This kind of strategy which unifies students and
education workers in collective struggle would have succeeded in putting enormous
pressure on government such that the ultimate result would be that not only
University workers but also students would win concessions at the end of the
day
It is such a unity in struggle of students and education workers that
the ERC has been arguing for since the beginning of the strikes. Despite the
opposition of the rightwing leaders of students and the atrophy of the mass
organisations of students, we have managed over the last three months to launch
solidarity activities to support the strikes in polytechnics and universities
while also advancing students' specific demands. This consists of pasting of
posters and handing out leaflets to students and the public. Also public
meetings, symposium and rallies have been called.
At the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile ife, ERC members have not
allowed the fact the University is on break to discourage them. They have
pasted posters and circulated leaflets. They are equally playing important
roles in the on-going discussion among the "left" student groups on
campus to organise public mass actions to fully back the strike. At the
University of Ibadan (UI), the ERC was able to organise a successful public
meeting which brought students and University lecturers to discuss how to
jointly respond to the attacks on public education. Finally at the University
of Lagos (UNILAG), we were able to organise a protest rally whose modest
success is all the more surprising considering the over 10-year long absence of
a students’ union in the University and the conspiracy of the faculty
presidents and the University Management in scaring students from attending the
rally.
Below we present the fascinating reports of these activities at UNILAG
and UI which are just the first leg of the planned activities of the ERC to
campaign for a united struggle to win the strike and defeat government
anti-poor education policies.
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ERC
Holds Rally in UNILAG on Strikes in Universities and Polytechnics
By
Lateef Adams
ERC
Coordinator
Lagos
State
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) on Wednesday July 17 held a rally
at the University of Lagos as part of the activities of the organization to
mobilize mass support for the struggle of education workers in universities and
polytechnics in order to mount pressure on the government to implement the
agreements it has reached with the staff unions in education sector. The strike
actions by Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and Senior Staff
Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) shut down the polytechnic nationwide
for almost three months. These strikes
have been called off this week but there are no indications that the agreements
have been implemented.
 |
| On solidarity March |
The rally which started at the front of the main gate of the
university as early as 8 am with chanting of solidarity songs by members of the
ERC drew students from University of Lagos and Yaba College of Technology. However, before the rally started the police,
on the invitation of UNILAG management had stationed their men who came in
three vans to militarize the venue. We were not however intimidated by the
presence of the police. It was part of the desperate efforts of the management
to prevent the rally from being held.
n response to the mass
circulation of ERC flier and leaflet to mobilize for the rally, the university
management had sent mass text message sent to all the students warning against
attending rally. Earlier, a pro-management group called Council of Faculty
Presidents had issued flier to instill in students fears of dire consequence of
attending the rally. For instance, the flier warns that “any student who joins
any protest does so at his/her own risk”, and stresses that it is important for
students not to join the rally so that “hostels are not closed down and
students are not evicted from the hostels”.
It is atrocious and distasteful that the faculty presidents are only
interested in keeping students at the hostel even without academic activities
taking place and not in efforts to mount pressure on the government so that
academic activities can resume. It is
therefore significant that about 50 people most of whom the students of the
university attended the rally.
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| Biodun Aremu, Secretary JAF addressing the rally |
Almost all speakers invited were in attendance, representing the ASUU
was Dr. Babatunde Jegede, the union treasurer Unilag branch, who took time to
list out the agreement the union reached in 2009 that is still awaiting
implementation. After describing the deplorable state of the institution, he
warned that if actions are not taking to force the thieving ruling elite to
improve the sector in the country that soon public education will totally
collapse. Other speakers at the event
were Dr. Dele Ashiru member of the ASUU and former Students Union President in
UNILAG , c Biodun Aremu Secretary Joint Action Front (JAF), comrade Austin Okoh
(SSANIP Chairman YABATECH), AJ Dagga Tolar (NUT Chairman Ajeromi Ifelodun),
Rashidat Adesina (Assistant Secretary JAF) and Comrade Chinedu Bosah (Protem
Chairperson Socialist Party of Nigeria, Lagos State).
All speakers at the rally drew similar premises that the present
rulers are not interested in funding education as a result of neo-liberal
capitalist agenda and therefore neglect agreement reached with workers. The
same ruling elite who fail to improve budgetary allocations to education do not
fail to award themselves jumbo pay and allowances.
The rally was rounded off with a solidarity march through the main road on the campus to the ASUU secretariat where a meeting Ibadan Zone of the union was being held. The number of students as we were marching as some claimed that they would be victimized if seen by management at the ASUU Secretariat.
The ASUU members at the meeting came out to welcome the students and
pro-labour activists. In his solidarity speech, the ERC coordinator UNILAG
Lateef Adams raised the need for ASUU not to limit the strike to a stay-at-home
action but rather organise a series of mass activities including a day of
action that will witness mass protest of lecturers in the country. He
also called for a joint struggle of the education workers unions and students
to fight against underfunding and non implementation of agreement reached by
government. The experience of the commercialization of education in LASU where
the government, after huge drop in the number of students as a result of high
fees, is planning to start the rationalization of courses which will result in
sack of staffs (both academic and non academic) was cited.
AJ Dagga Tolar urged the union
as they meet to call on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to declare a 48
hour general strike on the education sector since the collapse of education
affect all sectors of the economy.
The ASUU members who addressed the gathering included Dr. Segun
Ajiboye, ASUU Chair University of Ibadan and Dr. Ademola Aremu ASUU National
Treasurer.
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University of Ibadan: ERC
HELD A PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM
PARTICIPANTS AGREED ON A
UNITED STRUGGLE FOR ADEQUATE FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION.
By Michael Ogundele
ERC Coordinator
Oyo State
As part of the effort to deepen the mobilization education workers and
students towards a struggle for the
proper funding of public education, members of the Education Right Campaign
(ERC), University of Ibadan branch, on Tuesday 16th July, 2013,
organized a public meeting of students and Academic Staff Union of University
(ASUU) to discuss the ongoing ASUU strike.
The meeting which actually started at about 12:30pm at the SRC Chamber
of the Students’ Union building University of Ibadan was attended by many
National and local officers of ASUU, socialist activists and students Leaders.
Notably among these were: Dr. `Demola Aremu, ASUU National Treasurer; Dr.
Tajudeen Akanji, Convener of ASUU committee on Students and labour related
matters; Dr. Segun Ajiboye, Chairman, ASUU-UI;
Dr. Gbenga Olajide, Chairman ASUU-UI strike monitoring committee; Comrade, Abbey Trotsky, Secretary, Oyo State Chapter of Democratic
Socialist Movement (DSM); Babatunde Badmus, President Student Union –UI and
Adeyemo Monsuru Coordinator of NANS zone D.
Holding this kind of public meeting at a critical period when the
Federal Government of Nigeria is using all forms of propaganda machineries at
its disposal to misinform the Nigeria public including students actually
provided an opportunity for the ASUU leadership to actually and clearly explain
to participants in the meeting who were largely students issues that are
involved in the ASUU/FGN agreement signed by both parties since 2009.
Dr Demola Aremu while leading
the discussion stated that the only demand of ASUU is that government should
honour the agreement it signed with the union 2009 after almost five years of
negotiation. Against the government propaganda that all that ASUU is fighting
for is earned allowance, Aremu emphasized that the main priority of the ASUU
demands is the improve funding of public education by the government to 26% of
annual budgetary allocation as recommended by UNESCO towards the revitalization
of the university system.
Aremu went further to reveal that not all university teachers who are
currently participating in the ongoing ASUU strike are entitled to the so
called earned allowance which he defined as just incentives meant for the extra
workload done by university teachers. After outlining the very few categories of university teachers
who will benefit from the earned allowance if implemented, he therefore maintained that the earned
allowance itself is a reflection of poor funding of public education which will
become unnecessary should Nigeria public education is adequately funded.
On NEMECO, Aremu revealed that
is an independent Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) floated by the ASUU to be in
charge of managing the 7.5% contributory pension the federal government has
been deducting from the salaries of all ASUU members for the past four years.
He revealed that the need for an ASUU independent PFA was conceived especially
when it was obvious that virtually all the existing PFA’s in the country the
FGN wanted to impose on ASUU are actually owned by individuals who were in
charge of many failed banks in the country. Aremu therefore questions the
rationale behind the continued refusal of government to register the NEMECO,
the PFA through which ASUU hope to guarantee the security of the pension
contributions of its members.
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| Ademola Aremu ASUU National Treasurer speaking at the symposium |
In his submission, Aremu charged students with the fact that the
struggle for proper funding of public education which ASUU is leading is
collective fight of students, education workers and members of civil society.
Therefore call on students to have independent plans of mass actions to save
the public education from total collapse.
Abbey Trotsky, while addressing
the meeting maintained that the poor funding of public education as well as
other social services is an expression of various neoliberal policies which
remain the economic philosophy of various capitalist governments in charge of
Nigeria economy. He therefore stressed
that the aspiration of education workers, students and many change-seeking
Nigerians can only come to reality only when a pro-working people government
with socialist programme of nationalization of the commanding height of Nigeria
economy under the control and management of workers and poor is in power.
He submitted by calling on ASUU members and students to join the
effort of members of DSM who had launched the Socialist Party of Nigeria
(SPN) as a step of building a broad
working people political party toward the formation of a government that will
be sensitive to the need and aspiration of Nigeria working but suffering
masses.
One of the highlights of this meeting was the fear expressed by many
of the students who participated in the discussion against the certainty that
pumping more money into the education sector will automatically guarantee any
significant improvement in both the living and learning condition of students
especially when various management of
Nigerian universities had individually and collectively failed in making sure
that various form of fee hikes which Nigeria students suffered in the recent
time translates to any improvement in
their condition of learning.
Dr Segun Ajiboye in responding
to some of the contributions from the students, assure the students that one of
the demands of ASUU is the constitution of budget committee which will
comprises of elected representatives of students, workers unions and member of
the management so as to ensure a democratic management and control over the
spending of whatever resources at the disposal of the university system.
Dr Tajudeen Akanji charged students not to be on lookers but rather to
unite with education workers in fighting for proper funding and revitalization
of public education.
The public meeting attended about 60 persons was brought to end with
solidarity songs
