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Campuses in turmoil

IT is regrettable that many Nigerian universities are still mired in unrest and industrial disputes 10 months after the return to civil rule. In the past few weeks, there have been crises in the University of Lagos, the Lagos State University and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, all of which are shut. The Imo State University has been on forced vacation. The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, has had its share of distress. At present, only few universities can be said to be operating a normal academic calendar. No sooner had the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called off its strike in November 1999 than its non-academic counterparts, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) embarked on their own. Their advertised aim is to pressure government into negotiating with them on the ways to enhance the welfare of their members. In all this, it is the students who have borne the brunt as their programmes have had to be prolonged beyond the normal duration. Inevitably, the quality of tuition they receive has dwindled and the negative impact of this will be felt long in the country\\\'s development process.

Yet the problems would seem to differ in proportion and manifestation from one institution to another. The case of the University of Lagos is particularly worrisome because up till recent times it was being advertised as a model of a peaceful citadel where the years a student needed to graduate were fairly predictable. But in the past one month and a half the authorities there have ostensibly lost control. They asked students to vacate hostels for renovation. The students resisted and police were called in to eject them after which closure was announced. In the climate of distrust and recrimination, other unsettled issues became noticeable. The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jelili Omotola, seems to have earned more opposition in the process, especially from students who used to adore him. It is unfortunate that these matters were allowed to degenerate to this level. Omotola may have had his glorious years, but he should not be blinded by this to forget that only a few vice-chancellors sustain their reputation through a second term. If the current trend of unrest and inter-clique squabblings continue, Professor Omotola may not be an exception to this golden rule of the Nigerian academia.

With regard to the Lagos State University (LASU), the academic staff has been in a ding-dong tussle with the state government over demands for improved welfare. The authorities say that the government has proposed payment in two instalments, but the teachers are apparently not impressed. A section of the students, in sympathy action, dramatised their displeasure with the state governor, Bola Tinubu, last week by causing a row at the Onikan Stadium venue of a reception for Chief Anthony Enahoro. The governor was angry and, acting in his capacity as the Visitor, ordered the closure of LASU. He should not have done so. The LASU students have a legitimate right to protest the suspension of their academic programme. Besides, they are part of the electorate that gave Tinubu mandate to govern. His action smacks of military high-handedness which detracts from the democratic values that should inform government actions. Authoritarian steps such as rescreening all students for re-admission do not belong to these values. In any case, it cannot be applauded as a feature of good governance for a Visitor to order the closure of a school without having recourse to the Council or Senate.

At the Imo State University, Owerri, a protest by students over perceived interference of the authorities in the election of their union led to the closure of the school. Two weeks earlier, the Federal University of Technology also in Owerri was locked against students following a violent clash between them and some people in the neighbouring town. The mayhem was triggered by a sudden increase in transport fares which the students had vehemently resisted. In Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, students were sent away and academic activities suspended as a result of the recent Sharia-fuelled crisis in Kaduna State.

These cases give the depressing image of a university system whose managers are more engaged in conflict handling than in the primary business of teaching and research. The situation is unacceptable because the universities are public institutions run with tax payers\\\' money. The general public which invests in them no longer gets value. The weapon of strike which was found inevitable during military dictatorship should not be wielded so peremptorily in a democratic era because the atmosphere for negotiation has been improved. This is not to suggest that conditions have improved, they are still largely intolerable and demeaning. But to help recovery, the various unions may have to change tactics in pressing their demands. It does not appear tidy that the non-academic staff hinge their argument on achieving a parity with their academic counterparts in some areas of welfare. If our institutions of higher learning are to benefit from advances in management and information technology, a long-term programme of reducing non-academic staff bureaucracy has to be designed now.

Besides the perennial problem of under-funding, the loss of autonomy is a primary cause of crisis in the universities. The post-military reconstruction of our educational system must make democratisation a core issue. When the universities are autonomous, the advantage is that they will make problem-solving a central aspect of their routine business. Autonomy will free universities from the stranglehold of unimaginative and corrupt administrators who give more attention to being loyal sycophants of government officials than they devote to searching for funds and sustaining academic excellence.

Wednesday, April 19 , 2000