By Taiwo Ademola
In 2011, Africa’s first Nobel Laureate,
Prof. Wole Soyinka, described Nigeria’s educational system as a colossal
failure and called for the declaration of a state of emergency in the sector.
At a later date, Soyinka in fact went on to propose a shutdown of all tertiary
institutions for two years to enable the adequate tackling of the ‘inherent
rot’. To him, the deplorable state is perhaps irreparable except if given such
attention as becoming of sectors where state of emergency is/are declared.
The erudite professor, though means well,
did not take into cognizance how different his understanding and interpretation
of such word as emergency is to complacent Nigerian governments (both at the national
and state levels). While he and well-meaning Nigerians worry over how
illiteracy level has gotten to such disgraceful height; a situation whereby
being an artisan is comparable, and even thought of as better than being a
university graduate, the latter grossly termed with such unregistered
colloquial as graduate illiterate, the governments seems not lose a sleep over
the issue. And to think they wouldn't mind permitting any small wind to
destabilise the already crumbling system is worrisome.
It is now close to three months since
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, has been shut down due to
the non-payments of the institution worker’s salaries and entitlements for
quite some months now. And sadly, nothing hitherto has revealed the genuine
interest of the two governments who jointly own the school, other than a
statement from the Permanent Secretary of the Osun state ministry of education,
Mr Festus Olajide, who in the as- usual-Nigeria-government rhetoric said, the
government will see into the issue. Of course, it is everyone’s prayer that
Nigeria will one day reach a level where the government will stop seeing into
everything without doing something really about it. That statement has been
well over four weeks now, and nothing yet has been done to address the
situation.
The
response of the Osun state government to the strike action though lacking in
conviction as evidenced in the fact that the strike still linger on, could be
lauded if one considers the I-don't- care disposition of the Oyo state
government to the situation.
Or are we to relate this immoral act of
neglect and outright nonchalance to the nation's economy since the nation’s
economy seems now to be the new reason for every single problem in the country.
Even the nation's economic paralysis is in no way separable from the
dilapidating education sector, for if the knowledge impacted by universities
and other higher learning institutions had been commensurable with the yearly
turn outs of graduates, we wouldn't have probably been plunged in such economic
catastrophe as we presently are. And it is quite counter intuitive to conceive
of it that a government that is serious about economic resuscitation is at the
same time crippling the education sector in neither paying education worker's
salaries and entitlements as and when due, nor improving the institution's
state of infrastructure.
It is not a sin if the Osun and Oyo governments
admit to their inability to rescue the situation. Doing this may attract the
attention of the federal government to render whatever help it can, or perhaps,
assume ownership of the institution if even for a short term or outright.
It is now high time successive governments
in the two states stop using student's lives to play the game of dice. The
constancy of the strike actions by the school staffs mostly due to unpaid
salaries and entitlements is merely a reflection of gross impotence which
simply could be cured by calling for help or sitting for a review of the
university's ownership, or perhaps handing the university over to the federal
government. . This strike should not just be called off in a scrupulous manner
as typical of others. The key reasons must be considered to forestall future
occurrences. If that is not done, it merely reveals how students' interest is
after all not important in the decision process, something which naturally
should not have been the case. Responsibility demands proactive and sincere
actions. So as we to say #Reopenlautech and we want the whole troubles
affiliated with the constant strike action resolved once and for all.
Taiwo Ademola, a fresh graduate of LAUTECH,
is a supporter of Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
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