Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, President of the Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) in this exclusive interview with TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE, speaks on wide range of issues including the state of the nation, mass production of First Class graduates by the private universities, update on the union face-off with the Federal Government, among others. Excerpts:

WHAT is the latest concerning your unmet demands by the federal government?

We are still on our matter and government has not done anything to resolve our demands. But we have fresh promise from government and with a timeline to do them.

Our demands are still the same. We have revitalization funds. We have unpaid earned academic and other allowances. Our withheld three and a half months salaries and the renegotiation of our previous agreement are also pending.

What is government saying about addressing them?

The last time we met, government told us it would address them, especially the revitalization funds, the earned academic allowances and our withheld three and a half months salaries. It said those items would be taken care of by the current national budget once it?s passed without delay. And now, the budget has been passed and signed for implementation. So, we are waiting for action.

It means you have abandoned your previous nationwide strike threat?

That is not so. We have not abandoned anything. But I must say clearly that it is not that ASUU likes to go on strike. It is only when all other options to press home our demands have been exhausted with no result. So, this time round, government has shown us evidence of commitment to our demands and also involves the Accountant General of the Federation in it. So, we are only giving the government the benefit of the doubt as I had said earlier. And by the end of March, we will review the situation to know our next step if government fails to yield.

If you are to talk about the current state of the nation, what would you say, especially as regards the economy?

It is critical. Nigerians are really suffering. This is the most difficult economic time we ever experienced in Nigeria. Things are terrible because the majority cannot afford basic needs of life. I?m not talking about luxury, but basic needs. Also, untimely deaths are on the rise. For example, we have lost up to 40 of our members across the country within the last three months. In one month alone, we lost 18 members. It has never happened like this in the history of our union. As a professor, for example, you cannot eat well let alone have access to luxuries just because of the poor economic environment we are working in. You will spend almost one-third of your monthly salary on working tools, research and publications. Every lecturer is supposed to enjoy all these freely if the system is working. So, across the country, members of our union are just dying because of the economic situation.

What will now happen to many others whose salaries are not even up to that of the lecturers? I?m talking about those who are earning N50,000, N80,000 or even N120,000 per month and have four children and will need to pay school fees and so forth. We all know the cost of a 50kg bag of rice today in the country. It is more than the entire salary of many married men in the informal sector. So, how will such people survive? That is why there is no better word to describe the situation than critical. That is the situation we are today.

Meanwhile, government?s revenue has increased substantially. For 2023, during the last administration, state government allocation from the federation account was around N500 billion to N600 billion monthly. But, now, the allocation has increased up to over N5 trillion as of the last report, which is more than thrice of their previous sharing. Government income has increased by more than 300 per cent while the salaries of workers remain at best to less than five per cent. So, what is the government doing with the heavy fund in their disposals?

Are you saying government?s huge revenue has no positive impact in the lives of Nigerians?

What I know and understand is that government is about the welfare of the people, with regards to what can keep them alive and give them happiness and not about construction of one road or the other.

For example, construction of Lagos coastal road to Calabar at this critical time is in whose interest? The project is running into trillions of Naira. If government should put such a huge amount of money into agriculture, education and healthcare and turn those sectors around, Nigeria will be better for it. But now putting such money on one road project, which is to serve as alternative route to those on ground?? Let government even revamp the education sector alone from primary to university level, Nigeria will experience real development or if the money should be invested in agriculture with mechanized farming and other necessary things put in place, the benefit will also be huge to the nation. And they should rather put part of such money to fix the existing Lagos-Benin-Warri-Calabar road corridors. But as for the coastal road, it is a misplaced priority.

You mentioned earlier that you lost up to 40 of your members within three months; what could have responsible for their deaths?

The first cause would be stress. Another thing would be because they didn?t have money to take good care of themselves. When somebody is 50 years and above, he or she may start developing one health challenge or the other. And because there is no money and the cost of drugs or medicare is high, they won?t be able to access quality treatment. You will need to pay children?s school fees, huge electricity bills and transportation fare. The high cost of food items is also there. When some people think of all these without money in their hands to address them, they can develop ailment fast and die prematurely.

But this economic hardship is not restricted to lecturers?

Yes, it is true and that is why I want government at various levels to bring human face to their policies and programmes. Government is about people ? to make them happy. It is not about construction of roads or building of bridges and all that. It is about providing enabling environment for people to thrive. It is about paying workers well with salaries that will be commensurable with the economic reality. Or how can a family of two, let alone more people, survive on N70,000 per month? There are even lots of Nigerians in the informal sector whose income in a month is less than N50,000. How will such family survive? So, government policies must address people needs and not what the politicians want. Let the state governors also justify their monthly humongous allocations.

But the new minimum wage now is N70,000?

That is only for the government workers. It does not capture the people in the informal sector, who earn something lower than that. Even can anybody survive with N70, 000 in Nigeria of today? We all know that it is impossible. When you collect N70,000 and you use about half or more of the amount to commute to your work, how much will it remain? In this same economy, somebody, because he is holding political office, earns about N60 million per month. Look at the gap, very wide. Funnily enough, most of the drivers, who drive those legislators and ministers around don?t earn more than N100,000 and that is if they earn up to that. Yet, their masters will want them to be faithful and committed.

But how do you react to the recurrent crisis trailing the appointment of a new vice chancellor for a public university in the country?

The undue interference from the people in government is the major cause of the crisis. You know why? The procedure to appoint a new VC for a public university is very clear and the law is also clear. It is the governing council that is responsible for the appointment whenever there is a vacancy. The council will meet and constitute a committee that will be made up of the university Senate and Council. The selection committee will conduct interviews for the shortlisted candidates and the interviews may be In stages to arrive at the best three and recommend them to the larger council to pick one for the position.

The council will then do thorough review of the entire process against each of the recommended candidate with the criteria used for selecting them. The council at this stage has the rights to pick anyone from the three and the person may not necessarily be the candidate with the highest marks based on their review and findings.

And if there is an argument on who to pick among them, they will subject the process to voting with candidates that has the highest votes becoming the new VC and that is supposed to end the process before sending the person?s name to Mr. President as a visitor through the Minister of Education for ratification. Before this current law, it was the president that picked from the three and he could also pick anyone and not necessarily the number one on the list as the other two have equal chance of becoming the VC. But the council must have to put up a clear and convincing reason or reasons for rejecting the number one and must be able to explain the reason to the public if need be. But what we do see nowadays like the recent case of the Admiralty University of Nigeria is about external interference from the federal government that somebody cannot be picked or that this or that person is the candidate of Mr. President or the Minister, which is not supposed to be so. So, neither the president nor the minister has any role in the appointment of a new VC. That is why the councils are in place, and their judgments must be respected.

But what will be the place of merit and fairness if the best candidate produced in the interview is not chosen?

To resolve such concern is simple as the law provides for a redress. Any candidate who feels cheated can approach the judiciary up to the Supreme Court level to seek redress and the court will entertain the complaint and address it.

When the crisis gets to this stage, the court has the power to upturn the council?s decision if found to be unfair and the ruling will stand, especially if it is by the Supreme Court.

So, I?m saying again that neither the presidency nor the minister has the constitutional power to force any candidate on the council.

And that is why running to the presidency or ministry to resolve appointment crisis instead of court is improper and should be discouraged forthwith in Nigeria. It is just like the politicians who run to court in an election to challenge result and nothing more.

But in most times, the council chairmen have usually been accused of imposition of candidates on other members, how do you react to that?

That is why I said earlier that whenever there is an argument among council members on such matter, they can resolve it by voting and the majority, and not one person, will have their way. The chairman will have one vote as every other member.

How do you see many new universities coming up in the country?

We as a union have said it many times in the past and I?m repeating it again that most of our political leaders don?t bother about quality but quantity. That is why they turn the establishment of universities to constituency projects among themselves. They don?t think about their viability. You can see that even in one city, we now have up to two to three federal universities. They are just opening universities as if they are opening food shops. They are wasting public resources in the name of opening universities. It is not that they don?t know that new universities will also have their own vice chancellors, deputies, registrars and other categories of workers. They will also have councils and all that, whereas they can expand the existing ones and make them more functional. They will be able to accommodate more students and carry out their functions more effectively. What is wrong if one university just as it is in the well-organized country can accommodate up to 500,000 students?

Now, most of our public universities cannot boast of 30,000 students? population. So, the politicians have turned the universities to constituency projects. Once you are a senator, for example, your interest will be to have government establishing at least one university in your village or local government. You know why? They know their children will never attend such universities. Because they are shanty universities. No good infrastructure, not enough lecturers in them. Yet, they boast and use the establishment of universities as their campaign dividends. This is not how to run universities, and I hope the government will wake up and close all these constituency universities.

But only less than one quarter out of the nearly two million candidates, who sit for UTME yearly usually get admitted; what does this mean to you when people talk about Nigeria needing additional universities?

This narrative is not correct because a majority of students who sit for UTME are not fit for the exam. Because how many of them usually pass the exam? Pass mark in an exam of 400 marks is 200. But in the last year UTME, how many of them scored up to 200? According to JAMB that conducted the exam, fewer than 300 candidates out of nearly two million people scored 200 marks and that was why they have to descend so low to 120 marks to be able to get people to admit. So, our problem is not the space. We even have excess universities. So, we should be talking about those who pass UTME and are unable to secure admission and not the totality of candidates who sit the exam. And do you know why a majority of them are not passing the exam? Most of the private universities that are operating like primary and secondary schools are a big problem. Students know that they can easily get admitted with ridiculous scores in both their SSCE and the UTME. That is not all. They can also get promoted to the next class whether they pass or not. That cannot happen in public universities. Those old days before the proliferation of universities in the country, candidates with 180 marks in UTME would not be offered admission let alone those with 120 that private universities are now given admission to. And that is why they also mass produce First Class.

Are you contending the mass production of First Class by private universities?

It is not about contending, most of their First Class are not earned. I?m a lecturer. I know what I?m saying. University of Benin and University of Lagos and some others, for instance, will never admit any candidate who scored less than 200 marks in UTME and most of them won?t produce one per cent First Class at the time of graduation of any set. When Nigerian universities were real, like in those old days, you can?t get up to one per cent as First Class in a set. It was rare at that time. But today, when you look at the ranking of universities, private universities produce more First Class than the public universities. Even those that just started yesterday will produce up to 20 per cent or more First Class graduates in a set.

But are you saying they are supposed to deny their students good grades even if they perform well in class and exam? Do you also know that they enjoy steady academic schedules as they don?t experience workers industrial actions?

What I?m telling you is that a majority of those First Class awards are unmerited. I?m a lecturer and I know what I?m saying. Go and do your findings. About 70 percent of those who lecture in private universities are adjunct lecturers from the public universities. So, why is it that their own real students cannot have First Class while those in private universities are having First Class?

By now, Federal Government should have set up a high-powered investigative team to probe mass production of First Class by the private universities. The investigation should also extend to some state-owned universities that have joined the practice. So, for the private universities, the more students they graduate with First Class this year, the more students they are likely to get for admission the following year. And you should remember that they don?t need to score high marks in UTME to gain admission once they can cough up the high school fees they charged.

Are you saying most of their First Class awards policy is to attract more students for admission?

Definitely that is it. They are looking for students and they will need to do what will attract them. As we speak, the Minister of Education said Nigeria has 138 private universities and 128 public universities. But all the 138 private universities admitted less than 7.5 percent of the students while the 128 public universities have almost 93 percent of the students. So, they need more students and to get more students, they need something to attract them. They can?t use school fees to do so because of the high costs of running schools in the country. So, they are left with two things: mass productions of First Class and also cutting short of academic schedules. So, within three years of your admission or thereabouts, you have already become graduates for a four-year course duration.

So, there is need for government to live up to their responsibilities. Education is the bedrock of genuine development for any country. (Sunday Tribune)

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