Given the dynamics of politics in every country, it is largely perceived a game of interest where standing individuals or individuals in groups meander through all means in order to achieve different results and their system objectives. In an ideal and the professional setting, politics ought to be a game where individuals battle their way into crucial and minor government positions, competing to be distinguished by their performance. This competition for high
103 performance promotes national development in some countries and destroys others in other nations. While this superlative concept exists in large amplitude in the western world, in Africa, especially Nigeria politics is largely associated with the struggle for strategic positions in order to manipulate and steal public funds thereby occasioning national squalor. This unhealthy national practice on worse scenarios is taken to different environment contrary to normalcy.
What is the relevance of politics in funding universities properly? What is the relevance of politics in settling agreements fully signed with ASUU as a union? What is the relevance of politics in the university management and council having deep disagreements with branch ASUU? It is in fact a great astonishment to observe that politics stands as an adversary to the growth of a positive and lucrative enterprise that is capable of national development. The display of ill politics in Nigeria is a plaguing national madness that has crippled many sectors in Nigeria.
According to the ―Gbuji‖ production in connotative sense, politics or better still, dirty politics is an apparent issue and an irresponsible factor for industrial disharmony.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION
Majority of them are grossly incompetent. Do you know that in some developing countries, the university provides the needs and leadership, as such, they attract grants, own patents and develop their counties. Here what do we have? Is it not men and women who daily agitate for their belly and nothing more? (Smiles) do you know that even those political appointees who do well in government are like expatriates, imported from oversees. How many of them here can boast of providing good leadership in this country?
ASUU MEMBERS We cannot sit here and allow this error insult us!
GOVT. OFFICIAL
Do you know that the university of overstaffed, yet, these men keep telling us that they‘re understaffed, every month, their wage bills keep increasing. In fact, some of them now do business in their offices and drink heavily during office hours. (In anger) The most annoying part is that most of them fail their promotion exercise because they‘re not productive, they hardly write. They‘re always static.
ASUU PRESIDENT
Who brings those stringent measures during promotion?
104 MINISTER OF EDUCATION
Your colleagues of course… Are they no longer members of the central A&PC?
You speak of stringent measures, yet, the serious ones are busy getting promotion simply because they‘re writing and publishing. Have you ever put yourselves on the shoes of your colleagues who are not non-academics? You‘ve constantly demanded for increase allowances, etc without been productive. The students have always complained of been victimized by your colleagues, yet, you‘re busy chasing shadows!
This argument raised by the government official is a clear antagonism against ASUU and it is highly political as it is based on diplomacy and politics of sullenness. But beyond the ―Gbuji‖
claim the following are social realities that express and support the fore point on politics. The practice of allocating the least or one of the least percentages annually during federal budgetary allocation to education can be considered extremely political. This is even a shocking reality being that education is a core sector that requires adequate funding to thrive and supply its
―positiveness‖ to the society but in the case of Nigeria it is rather pushed to the background while other countries flourish in this area. And when crisis set in as a result of much political machination, the politicians quickly set up negation team, which can be considered as a political outfit designed to settling political stooges. Since politicians see crisis as avenues for money making, they keep creating crisis by not implementing agreement mutually entered into with unions. The act of denying agreements made with ASUU by FGN and the council‘s ardent like for different crises is the university community is highly political. How else can one describe such a situation if not to say that a game of interest is working antagonistically from underground? The act of illegally diverting university funds by government officials in the name of projects without instituting the budget monitoring committee is political. Some greedy and deviant personnel in government usually use their positions in engaging in such unethical practices. When the chronicle of strikes and unrest in Nigerian universities is set out, even the
105 most unpatriotic rebel shudders. The cost of the unending instability in our universities is better left to the imagination and no one should continue to fan the flames of industrial disharmony in the university. The political wing of strikes have led to the prolongation of the period of study of the average Nigerian' student, low morale among staff and students, increase in the cost of education, loss of focus by academics, brain drain, plummeting standards and mass despair.
The height of politics can be located in every administration in the country. For instance, after the euphoria of his electoral victory and massive local and international goodwill, President Obasanjo ignored ASUU and denied that an agreement existed between ASUU and the previous regime of AbdulsalamiAbubakar. He argued that there was no evidence of the said agreement in the records of the Provisional Ruling Council. ASUU on its part vehemently argued that the government negotiating team led by the Minister of Education, Mr. Samuel Olaiya Oni, was a legal entity duly constituted to negotiate with it. It rebuked government for disowning the agreement since government is a legal continuity. Shortly, President Obasanjo's government, through the Special Adviser on Economic Matters, Chief Philip Asiodu, in the face of public outrage, shamefacedly acknowledged the agreement. But he stated that government was having a problem with it because it was rushed. After weeks of posturing and showmanship by Chief Asiodu, government negotiated and signed another agreement with ASUU on 26, October 1999, after over six weeks of strike. The essential points of the agreement were indistinguishable from the so called "rushed agreement" of May 25, 1999.
The politics of the industrial disharmony later resurfaced in April 2, 2001, when ASUU declared a strike after failing to get government to sign an agreement negotiated with it and concluded in December 18, 2000. Several attempts were made to avert the crisis by ASUU. Subsequently, the failure to gain a hearing from government, ASUU declared a trade dispute with government and
106 proceeded on strike about four weeks later. Government's reaction to the declaration of a trade dispute and a strike was the position of Chief Asiodu during the 1999 crisis. Dr Babalola Borishade, the new Minister of Education, dismissed ASUU's agreement with the government as a "resolution". He argued that the agreement was impractical, and implementable. He dismissed the negotiating team set up by his predecessor as unsuitable, lopsided and pro-universities. The politics of the industrial disharmony was further pushed as the weeks that followed April 2, the minister engages in a propaganda, which ASUU saw as misinformation and brazen display of arrogance and bad faith. The performance of ―Gbuji‖ through the voice of ASUU Chairman explained why strikes may remain with us for a long time to come. Even when these significant factors are made obvious to the audience in the presence of the government officials ably led by the nation‘s president, it can believed that they are merely incidental upon more fundamental issues of conflicts of perception, values, ideology and general anti-intellectual disposition of the Nigerian Society, a scorn for the teaching profession among other reasons and these are functions of politicising the educational sector. The following lines carefully explain the above:
ASUU CHAIRMAN
(Smiling) It was intentional that I give you the brief history of the union, but since you're not interested in the history, I want to proceed to give you the reasons why ASUU have in time past gone on strike, currently on strike and may equally strike in the future. (Mix reaction from those in the meeting).
CYRIL
Okay na, can you hear him…he is even contemplating of a future strike when the present is not yet tackled?
ASUU CHAIRMAN
Future strikes may be inevitable because the kind of government we have does not encourage scholarship and does not keep to the agreement.
107 Plate 16: ASUU Chairman acted by Emmanuel Linus addressing a section of the protesters.
These social realistic points established which is supported by the ―Gbuji‖ production is indeed a counter-productive practice that has hindered ASUU‘s struggle beyond proper funding of the academia and peaceful coexistence in the university.It is very normal and as a matter of fact a general phenomenon for people to politicize or politic during industrial action. During industrial action such as ASUU strike that has caused this industrial disharmony, members of the government, management, council and some members of the Union of ASUU stand as beneficiaries.
Plate 17: Shows from left to right: Profs Sunday Ndowa Lale (VC Uniport, Andrew Efemini, Frank Ugiomoh & Dr Austin Sado, ASUU Chairman, Uniport Branch)
Nevertheless, the agitation and not meeting of demands will always suffice. The idea of politics in industrial disharmony is seen from many angles, especially that of the students seeing their lecturers (Members of ASUU) trying to carry out industrial action becomes political and
108 personal interest and not for the interest and welfare of the students neither is it for the development of the educational system. The students highlighted instances of corruptionperpetrated by ASUU membersyet the union pretend to be unaware of these crimes in the university. However, the students in their state of grieve; during their discussion practically expose some sensitive issues which members of the union do not discuss. The character SUG President outs forward as follows:
SUG President: (cuts in) it was part of the news items in that period? (Pauses) as if that‘s not enough, just recently, your aunty was appointed commissioner for Happiness and couples fulfilment by one Governor in the east, after assisting the Vice Chancellor of a certain university to ruin it. It runs in your blood. Look at your face!
It is felt that when those who ought to build bridges destroy the university, they activate all the arsenals in their disposal in order to stay relevant either within the university community or in the wider society.