Editor’s note: Every coin has
two sides. Every strike action is triggered by workers’ grievances. But
what if one of the reasons is simply the refusal to accept innovation
proposed by the authorities in an attempt to change the rotten and
corrupt system, which the workers may be part of? Naijaentertainmen.com contributor Dr Paul John says Nigerian
tertiary institutions should stop being dependent on the federal
government’s money and foot their bills using their internally generated
revenues.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are
solely those of the original author. These views and opinions do not
necessarily represent those of Naij.com, its editors or other
contributors.
Story highlights:— There is nothing wrong with the federal government asking tertiary education institutions to foot their bills
— “We all want change, but no one wants to change one’s attitude”
— “We need more actions from our tertiary institutions”
Cause and effect
At times when I think about some events in our country, I am forced to ask: “Are we cursed or are we the cause?”
Why should the federal government pay workers in our staff schools?
Where is the internally generated revenue of Nigerian tertiary
institutions? I am solidly behind the federal government’s decision not
to pay salaries of the workers in our staff schools.
It has to be noted that the federal government pays the
salaries of all staff in our federal government-owned tertiary
institutions, along with other capital projects, even when students in
majority of these higher institutions pay more than N100,000 as their
tuition fees.
That is unfair! What do these school managements do with
all the revenue? Or is the money being shared among the principal
officers and their cronies? If you ask them, they will tell you that the
revenue is used to pay cleaners and to buy chalk, whiteboard markers
for teaching.
Everybody depends on oil revenues. That means when the oil
in the Niger Delta dries up, Nigeria will cease to exist. That’s
incredible. Many of the world-class universities in the USA and the UK
pay all their workers and foot all their bills. To be appointed vice
chancellor abroad is a responsibility to work, not the time to build
five-star hotels and save money for one’s generations unborn.
What is wrong with the federal government asking Nigerian
tertiary education institutions to foot their bills? It is time to check
the activities of these Labour Unions everywhere in Nigeria because any
positive move by the government or its agencies is greeted with a
threat of industrial action.
People send their wards outside the country not because the
standard of education in those countries are higher than ours, but
because students in Nigerian public schools hardly graduate when they
are supposed to because if it is not an internal strike, it is a
nationwide strike.
My late father told us that one does not know an
intelligent child when all resources are available to him, but that an
intelligent child is one who can make something out of nothing because
complaints are tools with which purposeless people build their houses
with.
Until the internally generated revenues are properly
managed, our tertiary schools will keep on being dependent on the
federal government.
This overdependence on our oil revenue is not only happening in our staff schools. I once published
my experience when I wanted to travel by train from the Port Harcourt
end of the Eastern railway district. There was no online contact through
which I could contact them to know their schedules, fares and the
substations. If those establishments were owned privately, the owners
would have ensured that Nigerian masses were sensitised through regular
advertisements and other media publications.
A wall of resistance
In Nigeria today, one pops a champagne bottle on getting a
federal government work, since one knows that, work or no work, there
will be an ‘alert’ at the end of the month. We all want change, but no
one wants to change one’s attitude, what an irony of life! Are you now
telling me that if the Eastern railway district I mentioned earlier was
privately owned, the owner would not sit up to find a way of paying his
workers and still make profits at the end of the month?
Go to our tertiary hospitals. We all blame the government,
but what happens to the internally generated revenue there? The last
time I checked, many topmost tertiary hospitals in the UK and the USA
settle their monthly bills from their internally generated revenues. All
the ancillary services, such as Laboratory, Radiological, Dietary,
Physiotherapy and Pharmacy units should be sources of revenue for the
hospitals.
Consider, for instance, the federal medical center in
Owerri that has been in the news recently because the Medical Director,
Dr Angela Uwakwem, wants to bring accountability and transparency in its
ancillary units. The cabals benefitting from the areas involved have
branded her as “high-handed,” and many protests have been sponsored
against her administration. In Nigeria, the predictable accusations
against girls and boys are prostitution and armed robbery; in the same
way every leader is easily accused of corruption and high-handedness.
Meanwhile, when the current governor of Edo state wanted to
bring sanity among its teachers, he insisted that they must pass
through assessment examinations. Expectedly, the NUT, knowing the stuff
of their members, kicked against it. What is wrong with a teacher who
wants to teach students that will be assessed by external examination
bodies being, in their turn, assessed by superior authorities? Can one
give what one does not have? Believe me, many of the “teachers”
preparing our students for WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations would not
pass the examinations themselves. Where can a blind man lead another
blind man to? Many politicians came in and politicised what the Edo
state governor wanted to do. His party, seeing that such exercise, if
allowed, could affect their chances in future elections, had to advise
the governor to jettison the idea. If we continue like this, where will
we find ourselves eventually?
Putting knowledge to practice
Coming back to our topic: since many of Nigerian tertiary
institutions have introduced entrepreneurial courses in their
curriculum, they should start putting the courses into practice. Some
polytechnics are already manufacturing table water, bread, etc. Where
does the revenue from such enterprises go? Civil Engineering and other
departments that specialise in building and road construction should put
their knowledge to practice within and outside their institutions. I
want to see our Theatre, Art and Music departments produce stars of
international repute. Is it not pathetic that a first-class Nigerian
Computer Science graduate may not be able to compete with an SSCE holder
who attended a three-month computer training in an unlicensed computer
center? The much-desired change cannot come unless we change our
attitude.
Jaja of Opobo, real name Jubo Jubogha, was adjudged one of
the richest kings in his time. Many people cannot understand how an
illiterate slave from Umuduruoha, Amaigbo, the present-day Imo, became a
king in the land of his late master. Jaja’s master died, leaving a huge
debt; hence nobody accepted to head the kingdom for fear of being
arrested by the British. In order to avoid anarchy, Jaja, who was then a
slave, accepted the position. Through his aptitude for business, he was
able to not only offset the debt but also earn himself out of slavery.
It was then that he took the name Jaja for his dealings with the
British. Later, he became the head of Anna Pepple House. If an
illiterate slave could record such achievements, why do our tertiary
institutions find it difficult? Jaja did not complain of meeting an
empty treasury; rather, he surprised the whole world. If an illiterate
slave never complained of inheriting a huge debt, then why is our
intelligentsia now complaining?
When we talk of half-baked graduates, I still insist that
it is the half-baked lecturers that produce them. A snake always begets
snakes. China and other Asian Tigers have realised the importance of
practicals over theories. Don’t blame the government for everything when
many discoveries in the world today are made by university dons and
students.
In his book, “Long Walk To Freedom,” Nelson Mandela commented on the South African educational system as thus: “In
Johannesburg, I moved in circles where common sense and practical
experience were more important than high academic qualifications. … Even
as I was receiving my degree, I realised that hardly anything I had
learned at university seemed relevant in my new environment.”
We need more actions from our Nigerian tertiary institutions, not these stale theories.
Dr John wrote from Port Harcourt, Rivers state.