CLUELESS YARADUA SNUBS OBAMA

When United States president, Barack Obama made his historic visit to Africa and failed to touch down in Nigeria, it was widely reported as the ultimate snub. What credentials could Ghana boast of to deserve such an unprecedented honor at the expense of a true African giant like Nigeria? The reasoning among our political elite was that first, they ignored us when they invited the top 20 nations in the world to Washington at the height of the global economic crisis, then Obama fails to include Nigeria in his African itinerary, and just recently the US secretary of State, Hillary Clinton visited Nigeria and didn’t have a word of compliment for the nation’s leaders. So my guess is that as a form of pay-back for the cockiness of the Americans, Yaradua and his advisers decided to cancel- at the last minute- his state visit to America on the invitation of the UN, as well as the United States president and instead will now make a state visit to Saudi Arabia, the second time he would be visiting that nation in as many months. As I said the theory of a pay-back is just a guess, but the more I try to imagine a more plausible reason, the more confused I become as to the rationality of this move.

Over 100 world leaders would be in New York this week for the United Nations General Assembly meeting and yet Yaradua opts instead to shuttle to Saudi Arabia in order to ‘hold talks with Saudi King Abdullah as well as participate as a special guest of honor in the opening of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.’ The irony of it all is numbing. The leader of a poor, backward, third world nation has a rare opportunity of addressing an assembly of fellow world leaders as well as having a one-on-one with the most powerful leader in the world- who coincidentally is the leader of our most strategic trading partner. He spurns it in favor of attending the opening of a university in Saudi Arabia at a time when all his nation’s universities are on strike. I would consider it laughable if it were not so foolish. As a result of this warped placement of priorities, Nigeria will not only miss the opportunity to have our voice heard in the proper slot allotted to our president but we would also miss a lot of perfect negotiating opportunities. The opportunity to campaign for Nigeria’s election for a permanent seat in the UN security council by the president among his colleagues is lost; also the luncheon to be hosted by Obama for African leaders to strengthen African economic and social development especially in the areas of job creation, creation of a more conducive environment for trade and investment and agriculture would not have our president in attendance. Our president would also be absent when President Obama hosts member states of the UN which contribute to the UN international peace keeping missions. Even former president Obasanjo in spite of his many flaws, would have made a better choice. The questions that need to be asked and answered are these: What criteria were used to adjudge the meeting with King Abdullah as more vital and strategic than the ones President Yaradua would have held in NewYork? Why wasn’t the Vice-President sent to NewYork instead, considering that the UN hierarchical structure would have better recognized him than the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe who has been assigned to represent the president instead(The minister also represented the president last year at the UN general assembly)? Is this president still capable of making sound decisions on behalf of this nation? If he is, why does he fail to explain the reasons for these kinds of radical decisions? Do the president and his cabinet even know the details of their job description? And I ask this for a reason. During the recent festivities, the minister of the Interior, Dr. Shettima Mustapha said in an interview with the NTA that “As Minister of the Interior, I have to be close by the president as he celebrates especially as he performs the eid, otherwise I would have travelled to Maiduguri.” Obviously the minister thinks that the position of minister of the interior refers to the interior of Aso Rock. Another example of the kind of 'smart' guys that lead this nation.

ASUU BEWARE!!!

As I mentioned on a previous post, WHY I SUPPORT THIS ASUU STRIKE, “…only a non-discerning optimist can delude himself into believing that this government will concede anything tangible once the strike has been called off and the lecturers are back in the classrooms.” As if to buttress my point, staff of the nation’s unity schools joined the striking party last week again because contrary to the promise made by the Minister of Labor and Productivity that consequent upon their calling off the strike, the education ministry would address their demands within 30 days, nothing has happened, more than 100 days later. I guess ASUU can learn a lesson or two from that.

WHY I SUPPORT THIS ASUU STRIKE.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has never been strong candidates to win a popularity contest in Nigeria, and honestly their present strike action would not help matters at all. They are no saints. But then, neither is Yaradua’s government. As the back and forth between ASUU and the Federal government continues, it is ASUU- not the government- that is being picketed, pressured and lampooned by most, thanks majorly to government’s effective propaganda as well as ASUU’s general inarticulacy. Suddenly, ASUU bashing has become a fad. ASUU’s position may have been disjointed sometimes but they are not fools. If they dare call off the strike before their demands are met, it is highly improbable that they would be able to muster again the kind of widespread compliance that they have managed this time, if and when this government reneges. That would be rather unfortunate because only a non-discerning optimist can delude himself into believing that this government will concede anything tangible once the strike has been called off and the lecturers are back in the classrooms.

I support this strike for equity sake. Common sense would tell you that when individuals determine whether the compensation they receive is fair compared to their coworkers’ compensation, any perceived inequality will affect their motivation, thus they will act in a way that restores the sense of equity. This strike action is intended to rectify the disparity and inequity between Nigerian lecturers and their African counterparts as well as other Nigerian public servants.

INEQUITY IN COMPARISON WITH OTHER AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: It is funny how successive Nigerian governments love to label Nigeria as the ‘giant of Africa’ on every single issue apart from those relating to the government’s responsibilities towards its citizens. ASUU has argued- and I agree- that the wide gulfs between lecturers pay in Nigeria and other African nations is unfair and is responsible for the mass exodus of smart lecturers from Nigeria to countries like Kenya and Botswana for example. The salaries of academic staff in this nation are among the least anywhere in the world. How sad! Even though the strike action affects and disturbs me just like every other Nigerian student, I cannot in good conscience argue that ASUU’s clamor to be paid at least up to the African average is too much to ask. The inequity and subsequent brain drain is responsible for the saddening fact that the University of Benin for instance which is ranked as the best Nigerian University is only 61st in Africa and 6662 on the world rankings. That’s what you get when your best minds are herding away in droves in search of greener pastures.

INEQUITY IN COMPARISON WITH OTHER NIGERIAN PUBLIC SERVANTS: This is where logic is turned on its head. Let me explain and maybe you would have better luck making sense of it. An average university professor earns about N321 589.88 monthly and ASUU is demanding that this is upped to about N525 010. Huge leap, you might argue. That is until you consider that local government councilors -many of which are stark illiterates- earn about N1 129 647.92, more than double of what ASUU is demanding for the PROFESSORS and about 251% of what PROFESSORS earn now. Special advisers to President Yaradua earn about N1 902 742, over 400% more than PROFESSORS. You will rethink your stand when you realize that the Minister of Education, Mr. Sam Egwu earns about N2 659 650; yet he begrudges ASUU for demanding that their professors earn up to a quarter of what he earns. Not to mention our ‘distinguished’ senators and ‘honorable’ members. So where is the justice and why must our dons wait until they get to heaven before they receive their due reward. Things have got to change. Nigerians should stop whining about ASUU and start demanding that our government do the right thing. If the extravagant pay of some of these public servants is cut, we would not even need to bother about further depleting the nation’s already lean purse.

And this is not to say that increased pay is all our lecturers are demanding, but on the face of that alone, they are fighting a just cause. Let us understand these facts and start rallying behind ASUU. How long would we be satisfied to just turn around and be whipped? Dr. Andrew Efemini is a lecturer in the University of Port-Harcourt and has a Phd in philosophy. He is also the chairman of ASUU in that university. Thanks to our government’s insensitivity, he now spends this free time working as a bus conductor. I do not care whether his action is just a mere public relations ploy. What I do know is that there is a cause. A nation that despises its academicians must be ready to watch from the sidelines while other serious minded nations set the pace and blaze the trail. Traditional rulers, concerned parents, distraught students, everyone should start calling on our government to wake up from their slumber and call off their strike because in reality, ASUU isn’t on strike- our government is. We should be ready to make sacrifices and endure pain for future gain. If we don’t pay, subsequent generations will pay; either way, to chart a new course for this nation in the education sector or any other sector for that matter, somebody’s got to pay.