DROP TRUMPED-UP CHARGES AGAINST UNIUYO 44

RELEASE ITA ASUQUO ESSIEN AND DAVID UKO FROM PRISON CUSTODY

Press Statement 

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) calls for the dropping of charges against 44 students of the University of Uyo who were arrested during a mass students' protest against management transportation policy on June 12, 2013.

While 42 have been granted bail since last year due to the effort of their lawyers, the two remaining are still languishing in prison because the state is opposing their bail. On Wednesday 15 January 2014, they returned to prison in tears as their bail applications suffered yet another set-back. They will be back in court again on Thursday 23rd January 2014. They are now spending their 8th month behind bars while their academic suffer. They are Ita Asuquo Essien and David Uko of the departments of Petroleum Engineering and Political Science respectively. We demand their immediate release from prison custody and the dropping of all charges against them.

The arraignment of the UNIUYO 44 is being painted by the State as an effort to dissuade brigandage and vandalism. Meanwhile, it is a political trial meant to criminalize protest and scare students from ever daring to oppose poor studying conditions and government anti-poor education policies. Instead of putting students on trial for fighting for their rights, we insist that the demands of students for better transportation conditions which led to the protest in the first place must be addressed. This is the only way to ensure justice and peace in the University on a sustainable basis.

The June 12, 2013 protest against bad transportation policy went riotous after it was brutally attacked by armed police who in the process killed a student named Kingsley Udoette. While the ERC is stoutly against violence as a method of struggle, we nevertheless put the blame for the degeneration of the hitherto peaceful student protest on the provocative actions of the armed police drafted to the campus on the invitation of the University's Vice Chancellor.

According to reports, police shot indiscriminately at protesting students leading to the death of Kingsley Udoette. Seeing the lifeless body of their colleague, the students hitherto protesting peacefully went riotous and vented their anger on anything in sight. Now in order to cover their crimes, the police have arrested and arraigned 44 students of the institution on various trumped up charges ranging from  murder, arson to malicious destruction. Also in addition to this, when the University which was closed for several months eventually reopened, students were asked to pay N10,000 damages fee.

Given the legendary illegality and excesses of the Nigerian police, it is very well possible that most or all of those standing trial today may not have participated in the vandalisation of the University's properties. According to our investigations, most of those arraigned were arbitrarily arrested not at the scene of the protest as would be expected, but from their hostel located at Udi street in Uyo and some along the road. We demand that the Commissioner of Police provides evidence linking the arraigned students with either the vandalisation which occurred and/or the state murder of Kingsley Udoette. Anything short of this will amount to a  grave injustice against the UNIUYO 44.

The injustice being perpetrated by the University of Uyo management and the Akwa State government against ordinary students must stop. If justice is to be served, it is the Commissioner of Police and the University Vice Chancellor that should be standing trial today for killing Kingsley Udoette. But such is the travesty and miscarriage of justice that the victims have now become the villains.

The situation in UNIUYO is not an isolated event. It is part of a concerted effort by the government to suppress students right to protest and resist their anti-poor education policies. In many campuses across the country, there are similar cases of attacks on democratic rights of students including ban of unions and victimisation of students activists. However students must not be deterred. The struggle for proper funding of education  must continue until victory.

We call on the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff  Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and all other staff unions at the University of Uyo to equally condemn the trial of the UNIUYO 44 and call for their freedom. The ERC will continue in every way we can to give solidarity to the campaign to free the UNIUYO 44 because "an injury to one is an injury to all".

                                                                                               

Hassan Taiwo Soweto                                              Michael Ogundele                                 

National Coordinator                                              National Secretary                               

07033697259                                                           07066249160

State of Education in Osun State: ERC Leaflet

The Need for a Radical, Mass-Based Students’ Movement

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Osun State Chapter commends Nigerian students under the banner of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Osun State Joint Campus Committee (JCC) for organizing this forum for students to decide their future and that of the organization. Without mincing words, the state of Nigerian students’ movement vis-à-vis the degeneration of various structures of NANS and student unions, calls for a sober reflection. This is more so at a period when Nigerian students, their parents and families are faced with monumental suffering in the midst of superabundance. Today, governments at all levels have turned education, especially tertiary education into commodity to be purchased by students and their poor parents. Currently, lecturers in polytechnics and colleges of education are on national strikes. These strikes are products of anti-poor policies of government. Where governments have been compelled to undertake some minimal and token programmes for education, such projects are used to line private pockets of politicians and big businesses.

The Terrible State of Education in Osun State

In Osun State today, in spite of the so-called progressivism of the current Aregbesola government, the state of education has not witnessed fundamental change from the rotten levels past administrations of Oyinlola/PDP and Bisi Akande/AD left it. The Bisi Akande regime, under a sadistic reform programme sacked thousands of teachers but left most schools in dilapidated state. The Oyinlola administration, in a cynical attitude for which the government was notorious, only did a patch-patch work on education even when the foundation was seriously faulty. While huge amount were budgeted for education, the only result students saw was increase in school fees for students in tertiary institutions, and a handful of environmentally dangerous classrooms. Few teachers were employed for schools; facilities were at horrible state, where they existed at all; morale of working staff was low, etc. In short, education was in complete mess.

Unfortunately, in spite of all propaganda by the current government, not much has been seen since its emergence over three years ago. Fees are still high in tertiary institutions despite the meager reduction government claimed to have effected. In UNIOSUN for example, a political science students still pay as much as over N90, 000 as fees while medical students (whose medical school has not been approved by relevant professional councils) pay more than N150, 000. In state owned polytechnics and colleges of education, fees are also very high. Worse still, state of facilities has not improved. While Aregbesola government claimed to have procured computer tablets for secondary school students, all the tertiary institutions in the state have no functional ICT facilities, functional internet connection or useful computer centres. In fact, most of these institutions lack proper provision for electricity supply.

Added to this is the poor working conditions for staff, which has led to at least three strikes in the state tertiary institutions in the past three years, while the lecturers in Colleges of Education in the state are bracing up for another strike. Moreover, there is major shortfall of staff, which is putting heavy workload on few lecturers working. This has the tendency to encourage cronyism and exploitation in the absence of viable and progressive student union leadership. Furthermore, aside the huge fees students are coughing out; accommodation is a major problem for most students. It is unfortunate that Aregbesola government has not changed the ridiculous provision in the state education policy that ensured that no school hostels are constructed for students on campus. This has pushed many students into the hands of Shylock landlords, while many students are forced to live in terrible conditions (with no water and electricity supply, etc).

Rebuilding the Students’ Movement

These situations are not going to change if students, through their unions and organizations are not prepared to get organized and fight for better conditions; not only for themselves but for generations unborn. The history of Nigerian students’ movement has shown that when students decide to take their destinies in their hands, by fighting for and defending their rights to better living and studying conditions, they have tendency to succeed. However, this requires proper organization and democratic involvement of students in decision-making process in unions. This implies that student union principles be premised on mass mobilization of students through regular congresses, popular parliamentary meetings, political symposia and lectures, rallies, and protests. This method can make union leaders accountable and get respect of government and school authorities.

More than this, student unions need to be based on fighting for and defending the rights of all students without succumbing to divisive politics of managements. For instance, union elections in many institutions today are subjects to undemocratic rules and guidelines set by managements, and not by students who are the real owners of the unions. This is meant to ensure the emergence of pro-management, pro-state, toothless union leadership. Unless students and activists are prepared to change this relation, unions may not be able to achieve much. This also requires NANS including JCC Osun to begin the process of redirecting the organization to its radical and left wing history. Inasmuch as NANS structures continue to serve as tools in the hands of various anti-poor capitalist politicians, it cannot defend the interests of students. Therefore, the task is on students, activists and union leaders to begin the process of rebuilding their organizations on radical, progressive and democratic path.

Immediate Programmes

Practically, we of the ERC call on students and activists gathered at this august meeting to start drawing up programme of action to defend the collective interests of students and reshape student unionism. Among other things, we propose the following:

1.      Immediate drawing up of Charter of Demands of students in Osun State on salient issues that affect them. This should include demands on welfare and conditions of studying of students e.g. accommodation provision; infrastructural facilities in schools; exploitation of students on campus; attack on students’ rights including right to organize, role of cadets on campus, managements’ interference in union affairs, etc; and immediate reduction of fees to, at least, 1999 level. This Charter of Demands, which must cover all the tertiary institutions in the state, must serve as basis of negotiating with various managements and state government. This Charter should be used as a basis to organize mass actions of students across the state.

2.      Students must also begin the process of reaching out to staff unions with a view to building joint actions on issues affecting students and staff. For instance, the question of poor working conditions and inadequate staffing affect both staff and students. Therefore, defeat of one section will definitely lead to defeat of the other. Consequently, student unions and NANS JCC must make effort to reach out to staff unions on issues affecting each section and both. This means that students should support industrial actions of staff unions that seek to better their working conditions and/or improve state of education in the state.

3.      The NANS JCC, as a way of rebuilding students’ confidence in the organization, must begin the process of self-restructuring. This should involve immediate organization of mobilization and educative activities such as symposia, rallies, etc in various campuses, to take the organization back to the students. More than this, regular congresses of NANS JCC need to be organized as a way of building a mass base and popularizing revolutionary ideas among students. Through revolutionary and mass-based activities of NANS JCC, it can be possible to mobilize students in various institutions to begin the process of rebuilding their various unions along revolutionary path.

4.      NANS JCC must support other students under attack. For instance, OAU student union has been under ban for the past three years. NANS JCC and other unions must support restoration of the union in OAU. An injury to one is an injury to all.

These, among other issues, are what we consider as vital for this august meeting.

Join the ERC

If you are opposed to attacks on education and the rights of students and workers by various governments, and you want to fight back, then the organization to join is the Education Rights Campaign (ERC). ERC is a campaign platform of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) for free and quality education, proper funding of education, democratic management of schools, better working conditions for education workers, and for rebuilding of Nigerian students’ movement i.e. NANS and student unions, on revolutionary and mass-based path. We initiate and participate in struggles and campaigns of students for improvements in their studying and living conditions, and are opposed to all attacks on democratic rights of students and workers. We organize through public symposia, rallies, public meetings and seminars, and publication of educative materials. If you are seeking better deals for Nigerian students and youth, we enjoin you to join and support us.

Issued January, 2014

ERC OPPOSES THE "JAIL THE GAYS" LAW

It is a Legalised Assault on Democratic Rights 

Press Statement

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) opposes the anti-same sex marriage bill recently passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by a desperate President trying to hang to every straw, including the criminalisation of a people for their sexual preference, in order to remain relevant. We call for the reversal of this homophobic law and the permission of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transsexual (LGBT) people to freely engage in their preferred way of life so far they do not impose their views or ways on others.

Not a few people would be surprised the ERC is speaking about issues not directly related to public education which is considered our primary area of advocacy. Yes; the ERC fights and campaigns for free and democratically-managed public education. However at the same time, we consider our ultimate task that of mobilising the youths to fight against all anti-poor capitalist policies everywhere and linking up with the working class to reclaim Nigeria. For this reason, the ERC stands against all attacks on the democratic rights of the people be the young, old, workers, Christians, Muslims, ethnic minorities, social and sexual minorities, disables, immigrants, women etc.

Also some people may consider it wise and safe to remain silent on this vicious law for the simple reason that it unfortunately currently enjoys the support of a majority of the population. However the ERC find it crucial to speak out now because of our inability to agree with the theory being promoted by the Federal Government that it can ever be correct for a man or woman to be imprisoned for 14 years or more for engaging in consensual sex with a partner of the same sex in a country where a heterosexual rapist gets not more than a 7-year jail term provided he is prosecuted at all. Also we could not stomach the idea that it could ever be correct for ordinary gay and lesbian Nigerians to be convicted for whatever they do consensually to each other behind closed doors while a tiny ruling elite who steal our votes, impose themselves on the leadership of our country only to loot our collective wealth and impoverish the vast majority of the population rarely go to prison for any reason.

Also we are deeply worried about the wider implication of this law especially on the democratic rights of not only LGBT people but also of workers, youths and ordinary people. This anti-gay law completely erases the democratic and fundamental human rights of the people to freely associate and express themselves - rights which were never submitted even under the dark days of military dictatorship. By virtue of this law, the ERC could be alleged and prosecuted for encouraging the homosexual practice just because of this press statement! This is a throwback to the dark days of military rule and is a vital part of the signs of the incipient civilian dictatorship which the Jonathan presidency is slowly developing into. Besides, those who dress in a particular manner can also be targeted for assault and attacks. For instance, a man who wears earrings or braid his hair can on suspicion be attacked and even prosecuted and imprisoned.

Most especially, the ERC organises within the constituency of students and young people who are the primary target of this outrageous law. There are about 85 million young people in this country. Young people are by virtue of their nature the least likely to accept to hide their sexual preference in order to be accepted by a deeply conservative society. The demography of those already being witch-hunted, harassed and arrested over suspicion of being homosexuals shows that they are dominantly youthful.

The ERC believes that young people, neglected and betrayed by the anti-poor capitalist system as they are, are already overburdened by stereo-types and stigmatisation that criminalises them and makes them easy targets for police harassment. This explains why youths are the largest social group facing the most illegal arrests, detention, extrajudicial killings and brutality from the police especially in the poor ghetto communities of cities in Nigeria. All these harassment and killings of youths are committed by police and security forces hiding under different social stigmas which criminalise the youth. For instance a gathering of youth in poor communities of Lagos just for the simple purpose of a party or to watch football is likely to attract police attention for the mere reason that the stigma exists that crimes and youths in the ghetto communities are Siamese twins. It is our contention that the homophobic stigma which this new law has just endorsed will make the life of young people more miserable as it will be wielded by the police and other state institutions to witchhunt people and make illegal arrests and detentions.

Also this law is a call to homophobic violence and anarchy. Even before it was signed into law, there have been blood-curdling reports of homophobic attacks and harassment in some states across the federation by people who consider it their calling to decide the moral code of the Nation. As a public endorsement of the opinion that LGBT people are vermin to be done away with, this law provides a legal basis and in fact a motivation for lynching of people for the slightest suspicion. The likely result would be nothing short of a pogrom. We are very worried about what likely fallout this law would have on campuses and communities and whether or not this law and the homophobic hysteria it will definitely create could lead to breakdown of law and order, loss of lives and the forcing out of school, work and residence for fear of attacks citizens of this country who should have the same right and protection as others under the law.

These and others are the reasons we have decided to speak out against a law we strongly believe is an assault on the key pillars of fundamental human rights. Regardless of our individual opinion, be it approval or revulsion, about Lesbians, Gays, Bi-sexual and Transsexual (LGBT) people, the ERC believes the right of everyone to live their life as they wish so far they do not constitute a nuisance or disturbance to others is sacrosanct and must be respected and protected. It is the same way that the right of everyone to practise their religion within a secular state  regardless of the opinion of anyone about existence or otherwise of God or of the usefulness of religion itself is protected by the constitution and the state.

Besides, Nigeria is a secular state and it is not ruled by any one code of morality whether religious or cultural. What is often referred to by those who defend the criminalisation of same sex marriage as African culture and morality is incoherent and disparate. From one culture to another within the same continent of Africa, we can find several ways of life, culture and sexual practices. In the history of humanity, polyandry, polygamy etc all came before monogamy which is the current predominant mode of marriage globally. Different variants of same sex relationship is visible in many of the folklores, arts and historical accounts that record the way of life and culture of Africans centuries ago. That some vestiges of these practices are still visible today in some cultures has given a lie to those who whitewash African history as a monolithic code of ethics unchanged for all eternity.

The whole argument of morality canvassed by the Federal Government spokesperson in the person of Mr. Reuben Abati and the Senate President David Mark to support this undemocratic law is hollow and hypocritical. Going by their habitual corruption and looting of the treasury, the Nigerian ruling elite have no right to preach morality to Nigerians. Many high profile members of the government including Ministers have been accused of serious cases of corruption yet they still retain their positions in government without the slightest pretence of prosecution. Up till today the National Assembly continues to harbour in its rank a serial child molester and paedophile in the person of Ahmed Sani Yerima. If homosexuality is actually a crime which it is not, then child marriage which is more revolting and consist of the molestation of a child who has not reached the age of consent should be a bigger crime carrying a longer jail sentence. That this has not happened is a sign of the chronic hypocrisy of the ruling elite.

Besides if it is really true that homosexuality is a "western import", then such other "western imports" like the unjust capitalist system alongside with President Jonathan's neo-liberal policies of privatisation of public utilities which runs contrary to the communal and collective ways of African life deserves to be criminalised and made illegal too. But far from this, the same government that waxes nationalistic over issues of homosexuality is busy implementing every dictates of western financial agencies of the IMF and World Bank to privatise and sell our collective patrimony in the name of privatisation. As we all are aware, the privatisation of the electricity sector which has now failed is to be followed by the sale of refineries - all to private foreign companies many of which are from the West!

We call on the labour movement, student movement and civil society to defend democratic rights, publicly condemn this law and call for its reversal. While the bill was before the National Assembly it was perhaps convenient to shrug it off as a mere ploy by the ruling elite to distract attention from burning socio-economic issues and an opening shot in the 2015 election campaign. This was the prevailing attitude in the labour movement, student movement and civil society. Now that it has now become a law and Nigeria now faces the prospect of legalised lynching of our own brothers and sisters not because they looted the treasury but because they preferred a particular sexual orientation, we cannot continue to remain quiet. 

As we pointed out above, just as no one has to be a Muslim or Christian or even practise religion at all to recognize and defend the right to freedom of religion, so also one does not have to like homosexuality to nevertheless recognise that those who engage in it have rights to live, assemble and express themselves as the rest of us. Silence now is nothing but complicity.

Today more than half of Nigeria's population may oppose homosexuals for different reasons. However as the violent, unjust and undemocratic implication of this murderous law begins to manifest, people will have a rethink. All over the world, opinions and ideas are changing. Whereas some hundred years or so ago in Nigeria,  overwhelming majority of the population in some parts of the country supported the killing of twins as a valid African culture. But today in many parts of the country, a killer of twins would be immediately arrested and prosecuted by the State for murder. No matter how long it takes, particularly when society develops in knowledge and science, and civilization becomes more widespread, we have no doubt that the ignorance which envelopes and prejudices the mind of a great number of people against their neighbours for having a slightly different sexual preference to theirs upon which the state has crafted this murderous and unjust law will eventually evaporate. At that time people will vigorously question and demand the repeal of a law that criminalises and endorses the visitation of violence on people simply for their sexual preference.

                                                                                               

Hassan Taiwo Soweto                                                                                   

National Coordinator                                                                        

07033697259                                                                           

ERC BACKS ON-GOING ASUP AND COEASU STRIKES

ASUP and COEASU Should Name a Day of Mass Action to Compel Federal Government to Meet their Demands!

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) fully supports the ongoing indefinite strike actions by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU). These strikes again show the failure of the federal government to resolve the lingering problems in education sector.

We call on the Federal Government to immediately meet ASUP and COEASU's demands so that Polytechnic students and their counterparts in the Colleges of Education can resume their academic activities which have been disrupted for months now. The demands of ASUP and COEASU are to improve the education sector most especially the polytechnic and Colleges of education sub-sectors that have suffered neglect by the government. 

We note that the Federal Government has been largely indifferent to the agitations of ASUP over the past few months which has contributed to the prolongation of the strike. It is not coincidental that same indifferent and disdainful attitude is being applied by the Federal Government to the COEASU strike which started much later. President Jonathan's anti-poor capitalist government has nothing but contempt for public education most especially the Polytechnic and Colleges of Education subsectors. 

The ERC believes that further expectation that this government of looters will do the right thing simply through dialogue is a waste of time. We therefore challenge ASUP and COEASU to name a day for nationwide mass protests to compel the government to meet their demands. The ERC is confident that if ASUP and COEASU jointly name a day of protests and embark on serious mobilisation towards it, the response from polytechnics and Colleges of Education lecturers, home-weary students and concerned members of the public would be solid. Indeed if such a step is taken, we in the ERC pledge to do our utmost to ensure the success of the action.

We hold that the strike of Polytechnic lecturers which started much earlier than the ASUU strike since May 2013 has not enjoyed the same level of attention from the Federal Government as a result of two major factors:

One, as a result of the ease of exploration and vastness of crude oil earnings, Nigeria's neo-colonial capitalist ruling elite have long lost the motivation to build a truly industrial, productive and self-sufficient economy which could have given Polytechnic education its deserved place in society since its products would be required to drive the wheel of industry. Thus as far as members of the ruling elite are concerned, the Polytechnics can collapse if they like. 

The second major factor responsible for the indifference which government has shown towards the strike of ASUP is the weakness of the union itself and the refusal of the ASUP leadership to build the struggle as a true mass movement to save public education. For instance there are many state polytechnics that have not joined the strike or pulled out and ASUP does not appear to be doing much to win back such institutions into the strike. Also save for occasional press statements, ASUP does not yet have a strategy to build the strike into a mass movement that will involve mass protests and demonstrations of polytechnic lecturers and students only which could begin to compel the impervious Federal Government to give attention to their demands. It was such mass protests called by ASUU, Joint Action Front (JAF), ERC and other civil society organisations that piled pressure on the Federal government to meet ASUU's demands.

Therefore, we call on ASUP to review its strategy and begin to revitalise this strike by calling mass protests and demonstrations of polytechnic lecturers an students. We make this call to ASUP because we believe that the union by its own recent experience should know full well by now that the elements occupying the seat of government at Aso Rock are capable of making promises they have no intention whatsoever to fulfill. Therefore only the force and pressure of mass struggle can win demands from this kind of impervious civilian dictatorship of President Jonathan. This is why we are calling on ASUP and COEASU to jointly declare a day of nationwide mass action that will involve rallies, protests and peaceful demonstrations.

We appeal to students, parents and the general public to back the genuine struggle of Polytechnic and Colleges of Education lecturers to save public education from imminent collapse. We call on the leadership of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) and students unions in the colleges of education not to sit on the fence but to mobilize students for actions like press campaign and mass rallies and protests across the country. Nigerian students and the working masses must unite with ASUP and COEASU to fight for the full implementation of the agreement signed with the staff unions. 

The ERC believes that if the demands of the ASUP and COEASU are met, it will lead to improvement in the education sector. However, it will require the democratic running of the entire education sector as well as ending of the system of capitalism and its replacement by a democratic socialist system for real and complete turnaround to be witnessed in the education sector as well as the polytechnic and College of Education sub-sectors.

Hassan Taiwo Soweto                                                       Michael Ogundele

National Coordinator                                                       National Secretary