‘There’s a time for every little thing…’ as the traditional phrase reveals to us. I devoted the final two weeks on ‘Why Academics Too Ought to Get 300% Pay Rise’. I promised to proceed this week however it is a time to take a look at a weightier matter of educating – the socio-economic problem that’s threatening the inspiration of tertiary schooling in Nigeria. A lot of the media organs have been elevating alarms on how insufferable electrical energy payments have begun to cripple educational and non-academic actions in Nigerian universities and polytechnics. Sadly, as an alternative of managing the menace to our improvement as a precedence, schooling authorities in Nigeria seem extra involved about meretricious age-limit for admission into the establishments of upper studying and age-limit to take a seat for college certificates examinations for admissions into the identical establishments dealing with existential menace.
And so, I feel it is a time to droop commentaries on pay rise for academics and age-limit for entry factors and qualifying examinations. That is one other time to remind authorities in Abuja that they need to not play I-don’t-care politics with the well being of private and non-private tertiary establishments in Nigeria. Likely, they wish to take into consideration Challenge-2027 as an alternative of consideration to the standard of schooling in Nigeria. In any case, they’ve been dribbling the ASUU members (college academics) for many years. They’ve been demonising them over unfulfilled covenants and agreements with them. However right here is the factor, we can not proceed nation constructing this manner. The schooling authorities in Abuja shouldn’t proceed with debates on inconsequential age-limit in twenty first century the place 17-year-old college students have reportedly accomplished doctorate levels and 14-year outdated college students are enrolling for medical sciences. They should get up in Abuja to freeze all irrelevant distractions together with police invitation to Labour leaders on alleged terrorism financing, president’s frequent journeys and age-limit for college schooling. They need to face the weightier matter of the regulation and governance of college schooling in Nigeria. Purpose: it’s one other time to remind our leaders in Abuja and all of the 36 state capitals a couple of submit that has been trending for a while from entrance gate of a South African college that: collapse of schooling is collapse of a rustic. The submit reminds us that we don’t require any atomic bomb to destroy a rustic: all that’s required is to destroy schooling in that nation and the nation will probably be forgotten.
Particularly, the next phrases posted on the entrance gate of a South African college sums up the issues we at the moment are dealing with: ‘Destroying any nation doesn’t require using atomic bombs or using long-range missiles. It solely requires decreasing the standard of schooling and permitting dishonest within the examinations by the scholars.’ The result’s that: Sufferers die by the hands of docs. Buildings collapse by the hands of engineers. Cash is misplaced by the hands of economists and accountants. Humanity dies by the hands of non secular students. Justice is misplaced by the hands of judges. As a result of “The collapse of schooling is the collapse of the nation.”
As I as soon as wrote right here, the message from South Africa the place seven high universities are higher rated than Nigeria’s in world context, will not be directed at President Bola Tinubu and his Minister of Training alone. It’s directed in any respect the 36 state governors and 774 native authorities council officers on this convoluted federation. It’s not about typing out the quotable quotes or phrases on marble on schooling in our varied rooms and places of work. It’s about how our leaders can handle priorities in a method that can empower them to treat schooling as a weapon of nation and world competitiveness. That has been the motivation for writing about pay rise for academics to boost requirements and defeat the ability of mediocrity that has been overwhelming us.
This isn’t a time of lamentation concerning the quantum of time the ASUU members have spent on strike, the one language authorities perceive in Nigeria. It’s not only a time to do not forget that ASUU has been essentially the most unappreciated driving pressure behind improved remuneration package deal within the public sector. It’s simply the fitting time to encourage our leaders in any respect ranges to swallow their pleasure and self-importance and be indignant with themselves concerning the penalties of their violent ‘assault on schooling’ and certainly on the way forward for their nation.
The present energy chalenge:Reviews are widespread now that the College of Benin College students have been at residence in the midst of the tutorial session. Authorities shut down the establishment the opposite day following a peaceable protest by the scholars. It’s understood that the aggrieved college students weren’t asking for pupil mortgage or any concessions from the college authorities. The demand is for electrical energy and water, two fundamental components for a snug keep in class or residence or workplace.
The absence of electrical energy has made pumping of water unimaginable. Benin Electrical energy Distribution Firm (BEDC) reduce off energy to the college for failure to pay its electrical invoice of N280 million month-to-month. This adopted a 300 per cent enhance in April this yr.
That is nevertheless not strictly a UNIBEN problem. Reviews have indicated that a number of federal universities in Nigeria are getting ready to a serious disaster, with 52 establishments dealing with a possible collapse due to a steep enhance in electrical energy tariffs. UNIBEN simply occurred to be the primary to chunk the bullet as a commentator put it the opposite day.
This alarming scenario has raised severe considerations amongst Vice Chancellors and academic stakeholders, who’ve urgently referred to as on the federal authorities to intervene. The Nigerian Electrical energy Regulatory Fee (NERC) latest approval of a 300 per cent enhance within the tariff paid by Band A prospects, from N68/KWh to N225/kWh is the set off of this hassle. This resolution impacts federal universities positioned in areas designated as Band A, resulting in a quadrupling of their month-to-month electrical energy payments. As an example, Ahmadu Bello College (ABU) in Zaria now faces an annual electrical energy invoice of N4.4 billion, up from N1.2 billion. Equally, the College of Ilorin’s month-to-month invoice has surged from N70 million to N230 million, a scenario the vice chancellor describes as “unsustainable.”
The monetary pressure attributable to the tariff hike is crippling college operations throughout the nation. A lot of the establishments have been struggling to fulfill their overhead prices, and the extra burden of elevated electrical energy payments solely threatens to halt their actions completely. Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, Secretary to the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), has warned that if the federal authorities doesn’t intervene, 52 federal universities might collapse earlier than later.
The implications are obtrusive: the potential collapse of universities wouldn’t solely disrupt the tutorial calendar but in addition jeopardise the schooling of tens of millions of Nigerian youths. This could be an unlucky improvement as Nigeria is already far behind in lots of instructional indices and this might take the nation down a peg or two.
The Educational Employees Union of Universities too has cried out in opposition to the large energy payments paid by universities within the nation estimated at N275bn yearly, following the latest enhance in electrical energy tariffs. In a fast response to the disaster, the Nationwide President, ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has referred to as for per-unit billing as the colleges’ energy invoice rose by 300 per cent, hitting N21.480b month-to-month.
The schools are underneath Band A the place prospects take pleasure in electrical energy for no less than 20 hours every day. Electrical energy is a necessary want within the universities as they’re required in laboratories, libraries and for different important functions. Earlier than the tariff enhance, all 274 universities in Nigeria paid N5,252,000,000 month-to-month or N63,024,000,000 yearly. After the rise, the colleges now pay N21,480,000,000 month-to-month and N257,760,000,000 yearly. As an example, inquiries have revealed that the College of Lagos, which beforehand paid a mean invoice of N180m, now spends N300m on energy.
The ASUU boss, in an interview insisted that the Federal Authorities should guarantee equity to all, citing the elevated electrical energy tariffs, which had risen sharply. He famous that every one customers must be charged based mostly on the precise models of electrical energy consumed, with a uniform charge, somewhat than being categorised into completely different bands. Osodeke additionally criticised the Band A classification for the colleges, stating that, “Electrical energy tariffs are a nationwide concern and never restricted to universities alone. The concept of categorising customers into bands reminiscent of Band A or Band B is flawed. Billing must be based mostly on precise consumption, with a constant per-unit charge for all customers. His phrases: “If somebody receives 14 hours of electrical energy, they naturally pay extra as a result of they use extra, however robotically charging them extra just because they fall underneath Band A is illogical. This new system is horrible and unfair.”
Suggesting a method out, Osodeke acknowledged, “We advise that the speed must be equitable for everybody. Folks pays extra as a result of they eat extra vitality, not due to arbitrary classifications. The system must be honest to all Nigerians, charging solely based mostly on the precise electrical energy models consumed. Whether or not in universities, cities, or villages, everybody ought to pay the identical charge per unit of vitality consumed.” Nonetheless, the Committees of Professional-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities referred to as for a concession in electrical energy tariffs for all 274 universities in Nigeria.In keeping with statistics offered by the Secretary-Basic of CVCNU, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, the common month-to-month electrical energy price for first-generation universities elevated from roughly N80m to N300m, whereas for second-generation universities, it rose from N50m to N200m.
He famous, “Electrical energy prices for first-generation tech/agric universities elevated from N30m to N150m. First-generation state universities additionally noticed a rise from N30m to N150m. Second-generation state universities (1999/2000) skilled the identical hike, from N30m to N150m.
“First and second-generation non-public universities’ prices rose from N10m to N60m and universities established by former President Goodluck Jonathan elevated month-to-month from N20m to N100m.”
Ochefu maintained that the VCs committee had written a letter to the Federal Authorities on this regard, and the matter was now within the arms of the pro-chancellors, insisting that if the federal government didn’t give concession to the colleges, college students might need to pay an additional N80,000 for electrical energy. “The vice-chancellors have performed their half.
Because the pro-chancellors have been inaugurated, they may proceed from the place the vice-chancellors left off as a result of it’s a basic funding concern. For instance, we reported that universities used to pay N1.2bn to N1.3bn yearly for energy.
That is one other big problem earlier than the Tinubu administration. What’s extra, that is one other space the place silence gained’t be golden. This existential menace to the tertiary schooling in Nigeria shouldn’t be left to draw the eye and certainly violent protest of the last word losers, the scholars. In the primary, it’s too delicate to be left to the Training and Energy Ministers alone. They haven’t been resourceful thus far in dealing with crises of their domains. The presidency and Nationwide Meeting ought to get cracking instantly earlier than it’s too late.
