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ASSU: Gambling with the future! By: Kabiru Tsakuwa
The prospect of any society is determined by the nature or quality of her youth. And as the future of the nation, they represented the hope and aspirations upon which all future plans and projections are based. Any society which therefore wish to prosper and commands due respect in the comity of responsible nations must take her time to invest heavily in nurturing her youth for the daunting challenges ahead. This is more so, because of their critical importance in the continuity and survival of that particular society.
The nature of the youth that a country processes aptly mirrored and projected it to the outer world. That is why conscientious leaders around the world go the extra miles in equipping their youth with adequate skills in all aspects of human endeavour in order to guarantee the perpetuation of a sound and egalitarian society. To such categories of leaders, no investment is too great, as far as youth empowerment is concern!
For that, we more often than not, get to know about proposals and implementations of different social security packages aimed at stimulating baby booms, most especially in western world were wholesale adoptions of family planning methods have significantly tilted the balance. Disturbed at the realization of the danger of extinction staring them vividly in the face in a few years to come, due to the preponderance of graying/aging populations, such countries are already neck deep in thinking; trying to explore newer measures aim at contending the situation. Part of such measures includes the enactment of new laws to allow for the production of more babies per couples.
Being immune from such dangerous scenario however, many thought that, Nigeria will utilizes such God-given advantage of her youthful population to the maximum. But alas, for so long, it has been sheer waste of precious opportunities. For despite the many negative factors like: poor health care delivery system; mother-child mortality and morbidity; poverty; poor leadership at all levels among others, Nigeria has one of the highest fertility ratios in the world. And her population is overwhelmingly within the desired age brackets, which assured her longevity in the long run.
Unfortunately however, while many resources barren countries have been exploiting their human potential to maximum advantage as pointed earlier, ours were only ripe for gratuitous violence. For example: from 1999 to date, the number of our able-bodied youth that have been wasted needlessly as a result of ethnic conflagrations, political turmoil, and religious upheavals across the country can better be left unsaid. All these are as a result of the combinations of bad policies, insensitivities, deliberate manipulations to score cheap political goals and negative influence.
To buttress the point further, the lingering ASSU strike, whereby the federal government vehemently refused to shift ground clearly demonstrated the non challant attitudes of the rulers toward the flight of the youth. Tell me, which country in the whole world would allow her citadels of learning to be closed for well over 13 weeks without doing something concretes to address the ugly situation? Such unwholesome behavior of the government which allows out teeming youth to be idling away aimlessly, is a fitting example of the very poor quality of leadership besetting the country right after the aborted first republic. It so insensitive, so pathetic and a practical demonstration of the level of degenerations inherent in the Nigerian leadership structure, whereby functional education which is a veritable ground for the inculcation of sound moral values, social ethics and cultural rejuvenations; couldn’t merit the necessary priority attention it so much deserved.
It is very upsetting indeed, to also hear some hypocritical Nigerians talking foolishly against ASSU, calling it names and accusing it of rigidity in the legitimate pursuit of her right to better working conditions, when in reality; it is the confused and insensitive federal government officials that are sorely to blame for the lingering logjam!
But to the fair-minded individual, those who are now castigating ASSU must either be ignorant of the real issue at stake or are benefiting handsomely from the ugly status quo ante. Methinks, instead of siding with falsehood; why not ask the federal government to listen to the many wise counsels and honour all obligations to ASSU, if it genuinely wants address the situation. And why not advices it, to accede to the initial agreement it earlier entered, in fulfillment of all the promises it made with our lecturers. And shouldn’t they also drum it into the ears of the government that, the ongoing trades of words with the patriotic lectures are quit shameful and unfortunate? That what we need are sensible dialogues and compromises. That continued accusations and counter-accusations in the market square are indeed counter-productive and a very bad statement to say the least?
In fact, one is ill at ease to rationalize Nigeria’s dangerous refusal to implements at least the minimum UNESCO approved 26% budgetary provisions to education; which stand at the root of the problem of the Nigerian educational system. But given the fact that Nigeria is one country which chose to deliberately gamble precariously with her future; these can hardly be surprising. What is however more surprising is that, every blessed day, Nigerians are getting the picture clearly that, the difference between military dictators and their civilian counter-part is just in the kind of attire they wear!
If I can recall clearly, since 1992, when ASSU began to agitate for better working conditions among other demands; only General Sani Abacha of blessed memory does something worthwhile in committing 11% of the fiscal budget to the educational sector. Apart from him, no Nigerian leader in record memory has done anything close to that. But what is even more surprising and at the same time more pitiful, is the incumbent civilian president-yar’adua, who was once in the system, before destiny catapulted him up to the pinnacle; but for close to three years couldn’t do something, worthwhile and different from others before him!
Indeed, I often shudder at the thought of the very bad conditions of the Nigerian youth, and couldn’t help but ask myself the same questions many times over, about the fate of Nigeria as a united and indivisible entity in the coming years; given the peculiar nature of her teeming youth who were reduced to miserable and pitiable existence. But who knows that, may be, such large army of unemployable and half-baked graduates, vagabonds, area boys, militants, arm-robbers, kidnappers, ‘yan dabas, ‘yan jagaliya, ‘yan sara-suka and ‘yan kunda, were the class or category of people meant to carry on with the task of the Nigerian nation building in the 21st century and beyond, when the current crop of failed rulers finally succumbed to the inevitable? I pity Nigeria wallahi-tallahi!!!!!!
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