Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, a familiar figure in national discourse, has been a prominent voice since his assumption of office as the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). In this exclusive interview with Tunbosun Ogundare, he sheds light on why ASUU will not set a new agenda for the government in the coming year and discusses other pressing matters. Excerpts:

What will be your reflection as a union for the just ended year?

2024 was a year of suffering for almost all Nigerians. For us as lecturers, we gave federal government every opportunity to resolve all our contentious issues as a union, yet government didn?t utilise the advantage to resolve them. So, it was a year of missed opportunity for the government.

In what way?

It is simple. As a union, we can only say that government didn?t do anything tangible to change the narrative concerning our old agreement. It is a pity we used the whole year to talk on the same issues that we had been talking about for many years with no positive result. This should tell Nigerians that this government like the one before it doesn?t take our issues with seriousness.

But what agenda will ASUU set for government for 2025?

We don?t need to ask government to do a new thing. Let it simply address the same agenda that has been before it since assumption of office 18 months ago. That is to make things work well in the education sector. The sector has suffered enough. Government should do something tangible to address the challenges in the sector..

We can?t continue to be talking on the same issues now and then without any result. 18 months should be reasonable enough for a responsive government to address our concerns. But this is not the case with this government.

Is that why ASUU threatened to embark on strike or has it changed its mind?

We have not changed our mind, and it was not a threat as we really wanted to go on strike. It is only that we want Nigerians to know and understand that ASUU does not just declare nationwide strike but only when it has been pushed to the wall.

Now, we have given government a notice of strike and extended it many times just to give it more time and opportunity to address the issues so that we all can enjoy uninterrupted academic activities in our universities. But government has not made good use of the opportunity. So, what do Nigerians want ASUU to do then?

But what is the position of the renegotiation committee constituted by the Federal Government to look into your concerns?

For us as a union, we have concluded our own meeting with the committee. We expect the government representatives to go back to government with the issues we raised and the understanding we reached and then come back to us to sign a fresh agreement. But we have not heard anything from them since more than two weeks that we had done that.

Are all your Issues captured by the renegotiation committee?

I won?t say yes or no. But what is certain is that government has to resolve some past issues before signing a new agreement. There are so many of them such as the 35 per cent salary increment for civil servants. Now we are being owed one year arrear on that. That was from January 2023 to December 2023. We have also been owed three and half months? salaries withheld during our last general strike in 2022. Government only paid the first four months and promised to pay the balance but has not fulfilled the promise as we speak.

Similarly, we were told that our Earned Academic Allowance, which was around N50 billion, was provided for in the 2024 budget, yet nothing has been released till date.

We were equally told that N300 billion has been approved, as Revitalisation Fund in the last budget, yet, nothing was released so far. Is it not also surprising that we are still being paid on IPPIS platform despite government claiming otherwise?

Are you saying all those issues mentioned are still unresolved?

That is exactly what I?m saying. Government has not done anything on them. That government claimed to have done this or that are all lies.

Then what is the way forward for ASUU?

Nigerians will hear from us about the way forward this early January. Now, our members have already run out of patience. It is only that the leadership has been pleading with them for more time with the government. I even used myself as collateral, yet, government seems not to bother.

When our congress met in November, the leadership had to plead to allow government to use the months of November and December to address our concerns and, up till, now no concrete step taken. So, we will reconvene our meeting this January to take a decision.

The general members have already endorsed industrial action long before as a way out of this situation. We are the ones that are technically deferring the action. So, if government has not done anything by early January, we will go ahead with our plan.

What is that plan?

It is to declare a nationwide strike since we have exhausted all avenues under the law to avert the strike without result.

Is strike the only option left?

We don?t know of any other option. As I had said, we have done all that are expected of us to do as a union. We have exhausted all the known methods we should go through as a union and also exercise patience enough while the government is not bothered. So, what else can we do than what the government is always waiting for, which is strike. It is a pity that government always wants workers to go on strike in Nigeria before attending to their demands. That has been the nature of our successive governments. But it is now left for Nigerians to tell the government to do the needful this early January. Otherwise, we will go ahead with our strike.

But government claimed to have injected up to N826.90 billion for infrastructural development in educational institutions, including universities in the last one year. How do you react to that?

For us, we have not seen the effect of such quoted huge amount of money in our universities. You know I had also mentioned earlier that government claimed to have provided N300 billion as revitalization fund in the 2024 budget, but the money was not released up till now. So, most of the government?s claims are political statements and not real in practical terms.

Even, when we met with the Accountant-General of the Federation, he confirmed to us that the money had been approved. But here we are, a year after with no kobo released to that effect. So, there is nothing we can hold on to with this government.

You sounded as if there is no concrete improvement in education through this government from the last administration?

Yes, there is truly nothing that differentiates this government from the immediate past as far as our issues are concerned. Tinubu government was one year, seven months old in December; can anyone point out a concrete achievement of the administration in the education sector? Now by May, the administration would have spent half of its tenure in office and Nigerians have been told by one of the former senators that governance in Nigeria is only for three years. That the last year out of four years of every government, is usually for campaign for another election. So, what has this government done differently in education sector from the one before it?

Take for example, our salaries value ratio to the US dollar during Buhari?s administration was between $500 and $600.But now it has drastically come down to about $200. How much were the prices of goods and services then and how much are those items now in the market. We all know the answer.

So, what has this current government done if not to have worsened the condition of Nigerian workers, including lecturers? That is the situation we all find ourselves, today.

But the policy of No work, no pay can be applied to your members if you embark on strike?

That policy is not for people in academic. For example, we have done all the work we didn?t do during our last strike. No lecturer has gone on annual leave in the last two years. It has always been work. Even throughout the festive period, we were at work. So, there is nothing like no work, no pay for lecturers because our students must finish all their coursework before moving to another class or graduating. And for that, we have sacrificed our time and comfort to make up for the lost period during our last strike and that is why we are now in the 2024\2025 academic calendar.

How do you explain government action on all these?

The explanation is simple. It is because people in the corridors of power don?t have children or close relations attending public schools in the country. They rather send their children abroad to study. Because if the children of Mr. President, senators, governors and ministers, for example, are attending public schools in Nigeria, they won?t take the issue of education lightly. They won?t be treating university lecturers and the education sector generally the way they are doing.

You can see what the government budgeted for education in the 2025 budget, just 7.2 percent of the total budget. Meanwhile, most other African countries budgeted up to 15 percent to education.

It Is only at the state level such as Oyo State and a few others that the governors gave education better allocation and also taking care of their workers.

But the education sector takes the third largest share of the 2025 National Budget following after security and infrastructural development.

Yes, it is true, but education should be given topmost priority in the national budget. When we fund education well and people access quality education, the effect will be visible in other sectors of the economy, including security. We are where we are today because we neglected our education sector. If we use all our money on security and we don?t get our education sector right, we will make no meaningful progress as a country.

But President Bola Tinubu quoted that NELFUND has disbursed up to N34 billion to over 300,000 students as loans so far; don?t you see that as a plus for his administration?

It Is not a plus at all. You know why? When you give a loan to student, you are enburdening them and not doing them any favour. What the students really need is grant and not loan. If government can boast of giving over N90 billion free to individuals for pilgrimage, why can?t it do the same thing to students? What should be more important to the country, people going to Mecca and Jerusalem at the expense of government or giving students grants to study? It is simply a case of mis-priority. And Nigerian students who are future leaders you gave them just N34 billion and you are proud of it! It means something is basically wrong with us as a country.

How?

Giving loans to students in a country where fresh graduates are not sure of getting jobs, and you are giving free money to people who are already rich to perform pilgrimages that are not compulsory is saying something about our thinking as a country. This is because all of us, including those in government, today, enjoyed free education particularly in the then Western Region and were also given bursary award to take care of ourselves. Now, the same set of people who enjoyed so much from government during their times are now believing that giving loans to students is now an answer. It is absolutely not. So, what government should be doing is to give students grants that will come as assistance and not a burden as it is with the loan.

Is that why ASUU raised objection to government?s plan to replace TETFUND by 2030?

It is unthinkable that government is proposing to close down TETFUND for NELFUND. TETFUND has been the only formidable agency of government that is working for the interest of children from poor homes, who attend public tertiary institutions. We all know the impact of the agency in all our public tertiary schools-be it universities, polytechnics or colleges of education. TETFUND is the one providing major infrastructural facilities, sponsoring research and development activities and also capacity-building programmes for our tertiary schools. So, Nigerians should not allow government to tamper with TETFUND.

But government at the centre has been pleading with Nigerians for more patience as its various policies are in the interest of the masses?

I don?t believe that. What I?m seeing in this government is about raising money for the rich to continue to enjoy themselves.

Why did you think so?

Today, all the governors have so much money and they are putting very little into the system. They have excess money. They can increase their own allowances while telling Nigerians that they cannot afford to increase the salaries of workers who actually work for the money. Before now, each state government shared something around N400 billion to N500 billion from federal allocation but today, each of them has nothing less than N1.7 trillion.

That is more than triple of what they were getting before and yet no tangible things to show for the huge difference in the life of people in their various states.

So, what is expected is that as their income triples, they should also triple workers? salaries to conform with the economic realities. Now, the costs of food items are skyrocketing every other day in the market. People can hardly afford basic needs again. The price of rice is high and even that of onion and so forth.

Does it mean you go to market yourself?

Well, let me tell you what happened recently. I went to buy Suya (roasted meat) and to my surprise the seller didn?t put onion and I asked him why, he told me that he couldn?t afford onion. That is a simple illustration of our state of economy. Government needs to have a rethink and make life better for ordinary Nigerians.

But can we hope for a better 2025?

I don?t see any hope with the way our political leaders are running the affairs of the country. Except they change to do the right thing. (Sunday Tribune)

Update news