Oby Ezekwesili,
former minister of education, says the demands by the striking Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) are unrealistic in light of the current economic
situation in Nigeria.
Ezekwesili
told NAN in Ibadan that lasting solution to the crisis bedevilling the
education sector could only be found from strong analysis of the issues raised
by ASUU and evidenced based policies.
“Money
is not limitless and yet everyone must acknowledge that investment in education
is crucial and it is key,” she said.
“There
are, however, some fundamental reforms that the sector needs in order to ensure
that it is not about the size of the funding but about the productivity of the
funding.
“You
cannot simply express a desire, it must be founded on reality and that means
you must know what can be achieved within a given period.”
According
to her, a structural and policy change which allows public and private
investments should be integrated into the university system.
“If
you remember, the ASUU negotiation started in 2007 when I was the Minister of
Education and we constituted a government negotiation team, led by the late
Gamaliel Onosode,” she said.
“Even
though that period was short, one of the major issues for me was for us to make
sure that we were being evidenced based in the way we were solving the problem,
“We
considered issues like the existing model in countries similar to us in
emerging economies.”
The
former minister said the team also considered what could be done by the public
and private sectors about university funding among others.
“Those
are the kinds of evidence that we had and on the basis of which we hinged our
negotiation at that time,” she said.
“It
was a very short period and then we had to leave and the next government that
took over had to continue.
“I
do not know the basis of the final agreement they reached with ASSUU, but if it
was not anchored on analytical evidence, I am not surprised that there has been
inability to implement it.”
Ezekwesili
urged both the federal government and ASUU to return to the negotiating table
and work on the basis of analysis and evidence to find lasting solution to the
dispute.
On
August 14, embarked on an indefinite strike to press home its demands for the
implementation of an agreement signed between it and the federal government on
condition of service.
ASUU
is also asking for increased funding of university, autonomy of the institution
and academic freedom.
- The Cable
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