I have deliberately been silent on the ASUU strike and not retweeted hashtags on it. Many people have been asking for my thoughts on it, but I have been too busy Baby Boying to bother. This thread by @fimiletoks captures most of my thoughts. I’ll just add a few things. Thread...
The quest for uniformity and sharing is killing our university system. There SHOULD BE elitism at university level. Harvard is not the same as Shaw University. Their admission processes are not the same. Their fees are not the same. Their faculty don’t go on strikes annually.
We should have a few elite universities that can start to aim for the top 500 of universities worldwide. This is a position that has been canvassed by erudite scholar Prof Ladipo Adamolekun, my academic mentor. Those elite universities should get more funding & charge higher fees
For the sake of politics and diversity, he suggests that we should have an elite university in each geopolitical zone. Although I understand his reasons for this, my preference would be to agree assessment criteria upfront and chose the best universities strictly on merit alone.
If all the best universities are in one geopolitical zone, so be it. However, it may be safer to go with Prof’s suggestion of one in each geopolitical zone for the sake of peace. These elite universities will attract the best lecturers, the best students & the best administrators
These elite unis should charge almost what private unis charge, and pay their lecturers the market rates for their qualifications and experience. There would be a need for a mechanism through which children of the poor are not excluded, perhaps through a scholarship/loan scheme.
The government doesn’t even need to find additional money to fund elite universities. Part of TETFUND’s money that is now for sharing can be ring-fenced for them. Tax breaks can be given to rich individuals and companies to enable them endow professorial chairs and fund research.
These elite universities should be able to attract the best lecturers from around the world, just like @OgbeniDipo and I currently teach in foreign universities. We should be tired of uniform mediocrity. Well, if you are not, I am. It will not get us anywhere anytime soon.
As soon as we get some universities that are recognised as centers of excellence, it will create healthy competition and others will sit up. Govt should not be including lecturers’ salaries in the federal budget. Give them grants. If you want to strike, strike against your uni.
If you want more money, raise it through research grants. That way, lecturers will actually carry out research. Various facilities in many private and public universities are actually funded by private companies and individuals. We should encourage and incentivise more of this.
The problem with the ASUU strike over the years has been that a govt Minister with no training in negotiation skills will promise something he knows that government cannot pay, just to “End ASUU strike.” Govt will predictably fail to meet it and ASUU will strike again.
The cycle continues over and over again. ASUU will fight if you enforce a no-work-no-pay rule and refuse to pay them while they are on strike. Govt is used to the usual strike threats, especially near to elections. No big deal really. The only people that suffer are the students.
So, I am sorry that I won’t be promoting the “End ASUU strike” hashtag. To me, it simply means “Promise ASUU the impossible again, settle their leaders and postpone the evil day again, as usual.” We need a root and branch rethink of our education system, not another bandaid.
The current system does not work and will never work. It will continue to produce half-baked graduates & lecturers that plagiarise academic articles. In all these, I don’t blame ASUU. I certainly don’t blame the students. Govt must bite the bullet and change the system. End.
