The ever wise Buddha said: “If a seed of lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead, the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed.” Nigerian youths are these seeds that aren’t properly nourished by the universities. The nourishment refers to our failing educational system. Hence some of these youths come out ill-informed, misguided, and a menace to our developing society.
As a young Nigerian teenager, I have heard about the Asuu strike more times than I have seen 24-hour power supply in this country. I prayed that I never witnessed such when I entered school. Alas, during my four years of schooling, I’ve been unlucky to experience it twice. And, it always has a way of pulling me down and lowering my stance on education in this country.
Asuu is a union that serves as an intermediary between lecturers and the Federal Government, it’s built on solidarity, fighting for what’s best for both the lecturers and students. Why…? you may ask. Well, I’ll give my answer to that.
The Federal Government’s role in this debacle has been quite appalling. First, not providing enough fund for the Universities, to rejuvenate the disaster of the lecture halls and labs. I remember the torture I went through while attending classes in my first year. The halls were too small for the large crowd, and as such everywhere would be cramped up and extremely hot, you could literally die of exhaustion. We were like tunas packed in a tight tin. This could be easily fixed by the FG it doesn’t take a lot to build a standard hall.
Now, let’s move to Asuu and the impending strike. Their reasons are far from altruistic, being more concerned with their gains than the well-being of the students and it honestly has made us devastated. It’s been long months of idleness, and the saying goes “an idle mind is the devil’s playground.” You might ask why not get a skill or a menial job? Well, not every Nigerian parent is in support of their children doing any of the above, or the fact that not every employer is ready to take an employee for a short term, in other words, the opportunity is scarce. The depressing part is students lose the zeal for education because of the stress we pass through in and out of the University gates, unemployment rate is on a high so no assurance of a job after graduating, a pressure to do unhealthy things, and commit crime for money among my peers build up, certain age limit for jobs are being put, and yet our time is being wasted.
On Monday 7th January, Asuu reached an agreement with the FG, after 9 weeks of negotiations finally the strike might be called off. Phew, a heavy weight has been lifted off the student’s shoulder. I know one thing for sure we hope this agreement does bring a change with new halls, conducive labs, accommodative hostels, re-energized lecturers and not one that is fruitless, leading to another strike in subsequent years.
Written by Esere Gibson-dick, I am a writer and a student from the University of PortHarcourt.