By OCHEREOME NNANNA , TONY EDIKE, Enugu, VINCENT UJUMADU, Awka, PETER OKUTU, Abakaliki, ANAYO OKOLI, Umuahia, & CHIDI NKWOPARA, Owerri
IN the beginning….IT is an irony of fate that a region that, in many ways, pioneered tertiary education in Nigeria is now a subject of national ridicule due to a six-month old strike by lecturers in universities under the control of its five state governments.

In October, 1960, the former Eastern Region breasted the tape when it established the first indigenous, full-fledged university (The University of Nigeria) at Nsukka, with two other campuses at Enugu and Ituku-Ozalla, all in today’s Enugu State.

Founded by Nigeria’s first President and foremost nationalist, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was also the first Premier of the Eastern Region, UNN introduced a new academic template of the American orientation to counterbalance the British one being pursued at the University College, Ibadan. Today, the American system is being widely applied in federal, state and private universities in the country.

As the civilians took over power from the withdrawing military in 1979, Dr Azikiwe’s Nigerian People’s Party, NPP, produced the two governments in the then two states of the Igbo heartland (Anambra and Imo States). Chief Jim Nwobodo, the Governor of Anambra State decided to emulate the pioneering spirit of his party leader by establishing the first state-owned university, the Anambra State University of Technology, UNITECH, through an Act of the old Anambra State House of Assembly of July 1980.

It was renamed the Enugu State University of Technology, ESUT, when Enugu, Ebonyi and Anambra States were split apart. It was also from this gesture that other states in the country, not to be outdone in the quest to take higher education to their indigenes, started establishing their own universities and polytechnics.

There followed what looked like a rat race among the states to have their own universities, and from available facts, most of them went into it either blindfolded or with good intentions but due to frequent changes of government and the refusal of successors to build upon the vision of their predecessors, many state-owned universities in Nigeria, particularly the South East, went to seed. In other instances, the creation of new states forced many state governments to elevate the campuses inherited from their former states into full-status universities.

That was how the Ebonyi State University, for instance, was founded in 1998, with the Abakaliki campus of former UNITECH being made the starting point of the project. The university remained affiliated to the ESUT until Dr Sam Egwu upgraded it. In the same vein, the state-owned university in Anambra State was established by the government of Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju at Uli near Nnewi in 2000, by converting the state-owned Ekwenugo Okeke Polytechnic.

The story was not much different with regard to the two universities owned by governments that came out of the old Imo State.

Governor Sam Mbakwe refused to be outdone by his Anambra State counterpart and proceeded to establish the multi-campus Imo State University during the Second Republic.

The Col. Ike Nwachukwu military administration erased the multi campus structure of the institution, and moved the entire institution to Uturu, near his hometown. When Abia State was carved out from the old Imo State, the University was inherited by Abia.

The civilian government of Chief Evan Enwerem had no choice but to establish a new Imo State University, IMSU, at Owerri, which has now been renamed Evan Enwerem University, Owerri, EEUO, by converting the Federal Government Girls College to a university.

Teething problems never overcome

The problems bedevilling the universities of the South East owed mainly to poor take-off and lack of follow-ups in their physical and academic developments, due to varying degrees of interest shown by successive regimes. The main problems of the ESUT had to do with the movement of the University to its permanent site and the apparent unwillingness of the Governor Sullivan Chime administration to continue with the gusto that his predecessor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani applied when he moved the school to Ebeano City near Agbani, on a virgin 600 square hectares of land secured from four local communities.

Some of the buildings which were under construction in 2007 when the administration of Governor Sullivan Chime came on board have remained at the same level due to the withdrawal of the various contractors from site on account of non-payment for the jobs already done. The non-completion of those projects has constituted enough problems for the various departments of the university some of which have been forced to remain at the old site in Enugu from where they now conduct their activities. As a result, the students and lecturers shuttle between Enugu and Agbani on daily basis with enormous risk and unwarranted expenditure.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities, NASU, and other affiliate unions within the university had been lamenting the difficulties they encounter since the movement to the permanent site. Apart from infrastructural problems, teaching aids and basic facilities were lacking in their quarters. They cite this as major reason why most of them have continued to operate from Enugu since the past five years.

Failure to implement agreements

The decision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities in the South East Zone to collectively go on strike as a result of failure by the state governments to implement the agreement signed with the national body of the Union became a welcome reason for lecturers of the University to press home the need to solve the lingering problems once and for all.

At the Evan Enwerem University Owerri, EEUO, the main problem, like every other institution owned by government, is poor funding. Apart from this, there were cases of mismanagement of scarce funds, poor infrastructure and over population of the student community.

The legacy of excellence left behind by the leadership of Professor Thomas Ndubuizu, which earned it the National Universities Commission, NUC, rating as the best state-owned university in Nigeria and placed it ninth among all the universities in the country, was quickly eroded by succeeding administrations. The NUC would give the university an admission quota of 3,000 and they would admit 9,000 students. Medical students of the College of Medicine could not graduate for 10 years because of lack of accreditation.

At the Abia State University, the major problem faced by the students is lack of accommodation. Only a very small percentage of the students are accommodated in the very few hostels built by the university authorities, while a large number live outside the campus, in rented accommodation which the students find very expensive. In fact, private developers have cashed into the huge profits made off the students by erecting more and more hostels.

Other facilities, like water and electricity are also grossly in short supply. The students are forced to fetch or buy water from outside, just as many of them are forced to buy generating sets to provide themselves with electricity. This, no doubt, has increased their cost of schooling.

At the Anambra State University, ANSU, apart from lack of adequate infrastructure, undue political decisions had affected its growth.

Professor Iheanacho Orajaka who became the vice chancellor of the university in 2004 and left this year, worked so hard to upgrade facilities there. But the tempo was slowed down as soon as he left. Successive governors did not seem interested in pushing the university project forward. It was not until Governor Peter Obi assumed power that most of the courses offered by the university were accredited by the NUC following the upgrading of the facilities, though it is still a fact that the two campuses are not what a 21st century university should look like.

Provision of opportunities
Founding fathers of the university had, at inception explained that the reason for the establishment of the institution was to provide opportunity for students of Igbo extraction who found it difficult to gain admission in the existing universities. But the rate of infrastructural development of the university has been so slow such that first time visitors to the university still remark that infrastructurally, it is not much than a glorified secondary school.

The government of Sam Egwu worked hard to make EBSU a model in the zone and country at large. However, the regime of Chief Elechi which took over from Egwu has not put in enough interest in increasing its infrastructure and providing incentives to encourage the teachers. Our reporter confirmed from government sources that the state is spending a lot of money to get more and more of its courses accredited, despite its meagre resources, to raise the standard of learning in the institution. Apart from a few structures put in place at the outset, little has been done to increase accommodation for students on-campus. Private individuals have largely been involved in creating and providing commercial accommodation to EBSU students.

This, however, has led to loss of lives of students living off campus and proliferation of cult activities. A recent survey revealed that as at 2002 – 2004 academic sessions, the school witnessed a rash of cult clashes, especially at the Ishieke campus of the University. Before the strike action, both the former and present vice chancellors of the institution through collaborative efforts with Education Trust Fund, ETF, and other agencies had worked assiduously to bring sustainable development in research and technology in order to uphold the vision statement of the University which is: “to rank among the best citadel of learning in the world with excellence in learning, research and community service.”

To say the least, funding has been the major albatross of the universities operated by states of the South East Zone. The ESUT authorities had complained of a shortfall in the funds released by the state government for payment of the workers and this was the major cause of the many rifts between the workers and the authorities which culminated in the long strikes even before the current one took off.

But the state government later addressed the observed disparity and increased the allocation with which the workers were settled. Its failure to respond to the agreement signed by the national body of ASUU with the federal government triggered off this current stand-off.

Poor funding has also bedevilled development of ABSU. Worst affected is the medical school and the medical students and their doctor-lecturers. The university’s teaching hospital in Aba is a travesty of what a teaching hospital ought to be and the medical students have been complaining that the situation is threatening the existence of their college.

Condition of teaching hospitals
They are frustrated with the condition of the teaching hospital coupled with their doctors that have been on strike for upwards of six months now. The government had before the present strike increased the subvention of the university to N100 million. In spite of the high fees being charged by the university from the students, the funding has not improved.

The medical students of Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, who have been out of classrooms for upwards of six months on account of the protracted strike embarked by the doctors who teach them have been lamenting their fate. In fact, they said that they are now “frustrated” as some of them have spent extra years from the year they were supposed to graduate.

The students lamented that the accreditation of their medical programmes is under serious threat on account of the prolonged closure of their school even as they complained that some of them have spent eight years for a six year course. The Association of Residents Doctors, ARD, ABSUTH chapter, has been on strike for the past six months over irregular payment of salaries by the Abia State Government and this has halted all clinical activities and learning in the Hospital.

At the ANSU, the government of Peter Obi had during the course of negotiations with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, initially increased its monthly subvention to the school from N50m to N81m and then further increased it to N90m, while the school offered to contribute N70m to bring the total to N160m per month. But the ASUU still insisted on the full implementation of its agreement with the Federal Government which the South East governors said they were not part of.

History of active unionism
The ASUU of ANSU had initially not had a history of active unionism but since the local chapter of ASUU led by Dr. Jaja Nwanegbo was established, it has become one of the most uncompromising of the lot. Unfortunately, it also has in Governor Obi an equally uncompromising opponent who has insisted he could not promise what he would not be able to fulfill.

As the funding of the Ebonyi State University became the heart of the matter, the present administration of the varsity manned by Professor Francis Idike, tried as much as possible to keep the school operational while lamenting that the monthly subvention to the varsity was too small to keep it afloat. The VC in a bid to increase the revenue base of the school hiked its tuition fees for both new intakes and continuing students which caused lots of ripples from several groups in the state. They constantly paid the VC courtesy visits to persuade him to change his mind to no avail.

The fees were distributed as thus: fresh indigenous students to take courses under medical related courses and law: N80,000 while existing students pay N50,000; fresh non indigenous students N150,000 while existing students pay N80,000. For the pre-degree school: indigenes pay N20,000 while non indigenes pay N50,000.

In a similar vein at the EEUO, fresh students of Evan Enwerem University, Owerri, EEUO, and their parents may be required to cough out a staggering N150,000 each as school fees, with effect from the next academic session, if Imo State Government accepts the recommendations of the committee it set up to fashion out an appropriate fees payable in the institution.

Furthermore, second and third year students are to pay N50,000, while those in fourth year and above will pay N30,000 each as school fees. These were parts of the recommendations of the Professor Thomas Ndubuizu Committee set up by Governor Ikedi Ohakim to critically determine appropriate fees and subvention to the University. Presenting the 14-page report to Governor Ohakim in Government House, Owerri, Professor Ndubuizu who chaired the committee explained that the institution needed about N330 million monthly to implement the new salary structure demanded by the striking lecturers.

He suggested that government should increase its monthly subvention to the University from N57 million to N80 million to enable the school cope with its financial burden. Critics and students argue that such increment would only permit the children of politicians to gain access to university education, thereby leaving the children of the poor with no option than to withdraw from the institution.

While this argument lasted, the school management went ahead to implement the proposed tuition fees but despite the huge percentage increase of tuition fees, the management of the institution still could not pay the new salaries of lecturers.

ASUU under pressure
Worried by the continued disagreement between ASUU and government, the alumni association of ANSU and officials of the students union government recently held a joint press conference in Awka urging the lecturers to accept the offer and return to their jobs. President of the alumni association of the institution, Mr. Nnamdi Nweke, a lawyer, believed that government and elders of the state had made enough concessions, arguing that the issue was becoming a moral burden to all those concerned.

According to Nweke, with the monthly subvention of the university increased from N50 million to N90 million and the university’s contribution rising from N42 million to N70 million, bringing it to a total of N160 million, salaries of the workers have been increased by 60 per cent, which, he said, is about 87 per cent of the Federal Government/ASUU agreement.

Nweke said: “It is our strong belief that as the fortunes of the state university increase, the state government will also increase subvention to the university. This means that salary and other conditions of service will continue to receive adequate attention.”  He reminded the striking lecturers that ANSU was barely 10 years old, adding that by all standards, it had made giant strides and had come a long way. The alumni president said that it took the association a long time to intervene in the matter because it was waiting for government to yield enough ground which, he noted, had been done.

President of the Students Union Government, SUG, Mr. Paul Okafor who also spoke during the press conference, said that investigations have shown that most of his colleagues had become down cast, while some were getting involved in social vices due to idleness, adding that many parents were beginning to see their wards as a great burden, as if they were the cause of the problem.

According to him, the students were not concerned about the rumoured increase in school fees, adding that what they want was to resume their academic work and complete the session so as not to lose one academic calendar. “The students did not say they won’t go back to school because of the speculated increase in school fees because the issue has not come up,” he said.

It is not only in Anambra State that many are beginning to see the hard line stance of university teachers in the face of efforts being made to ameliorate the situation as an unnecessary overkill. In fact, in ESUT, a breakaway faction of ASUU, known as “the Consensus Group” is now openly opposing the continued strike. Comrade Monday Ikechukwu, who claimed to be leader of Consensus Group in ESUT, lamented the lingering industrial dispute warning that the continued stay of the students at home could worsen the current problem of insecurity in the zone.

He said: “We have been worried since the gates of our schools were shut by our lecturers who are making demands from the government. No doubt we have lost a lot since the industrial action started. Concerted efforts have been made to make our lecturers see reasons why they should suspend the industrial dispute. A lot of us would have been done with our examinations; some of us who are working on their projects have all kept them in abeyance. We are no longer ready to tolerate this gross insensitivity from our lecturers.

“We have formed the Consensus Group because we no longer have confidence in our Students’ Union Government which has been hobnobbing with our lecturers who are demanding for only what God knows. In as much as we are not taking sides with government, time has come for our lecturers to see reasons why they should call off the strike.

Heeding NUC directive

“We are asking them to heed the directive by the National Universities Commission, NUC, to return to classroom by (soon) or else we will have no other option than to take drastic action against them. We are happy that our religious leaders and traditional rulers have now decided to wade into the industrial dispute and hope that their intervention will yield something meaningful.”

Fielding questions from Vanguard in Owerri recently, Governor Ikedi Ohakim affirmed that no government in the South East geo-political zone closed any of the state owned universities. Ohakim said: “No governor closed down any of the government owned universities in the South East geo-political zone. I did not equally close down Evan Enwerem University, Owerri. The labour leaders closed the institution.”

According to the Governor, the state government set up a committee to look into the demands of the lecturers, adding that he had literally knelt down, begging ASUU to go back to the classroom in the interest of our students. He said: “I believe that the lecturers are poorly paid. But you must note that it is not only the lecturers that are poorly paid. Drivers, doctors, journalists, civil and public officers are equally poorly paid.”

The Governor was not particularly pleased that all state government-owned universities in the South East geo-political zone came together and agreed on a joint strike, which he said had never happened before. He asked: “Why is it that the universities in other geo-political zones did not go on strike? Did owners of those universities pay the contentious wage? The answer is no.” Answering another question, the Governor challenged the lecturers to name the university where students’ fees are lower than what obtains in Evan Enwerem University, Owerri.

He added: “The solution is for the lecturers to please consider the plight of the students. We are almost ending the year. If anything, we sit down and agree on what the government can afford to pay. We put it in 2011 budget and when it is approved, we begin to pay.”

However, union officials insisted that ASUU in the South East zone had a good case. According to Chairman ASUU, ESUT chapter, Barrister Agu Gab Agu, the lingering strike which arose from the government’s failure to implement the 2009 agreement was unfortunate, adding that the development had exposed the insensitivity of the government to the plight of the common man. He insisted that the lecturers were right in their decision to embark on the strike but regretted that the government had refused to see reasons and honour the agreement which states in other geopolitical zones of the country had since implemented.

National President of ASUU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie had told newsmen in Enugu that the non-implementation of the agreement by governments of the South East states had seriously impeded the growth of the universities in the zone. He explained that the strike was to demonstrate the union’s commitment to ensure that state universities in the zone were brought to the level expected of them in the comity of universities in the country and beyond.

Awuzie said: “ASUU should not be misunderstood in this current struggle. We are waging a total and determined strike aimed at saving the state universities in the South East of Nigeria from shame and impending total collapse.” As the cold war between the university lecturers and the South East Governors rages, various groups including religious, cultural and socio-political organizations mounted pressure on the governors to implement the agreement but the governors of the zone continued to explain that resources available to their states were too meagre to pay the prescribed salaries and allowances.

Imo, Abia, Anambra and Ebony varsities resume classes, Enugu is adamant

Governor Ohakim was the first to take concrete steps to end the strike at EEUO late last year. He set up the committee headed by Professor Gabriel Umezuruike. They were charged to look at the demands of ASUU, and come up with the proper fees that should be paid by the students of the institution. Receiving the report of the committee, Governor Ohakim said he had agreed to meet the demand of ASUU 100 percent but that unavailability of fund to start remained the immediate constraint of the administration.

He urged all stakeholders to join in the bid to raise fund to advance the academic standard of the institution, stressing that he was not against ASUU members but that every income belongs to every Imo citizen. Ohakim said: “I am not against you (ASUU). The state is for all of us but remember that every income in the state belongs to everybody in the state. Those in the university and the civil service are only about 10 percent of the population.”

They were also of the opinion that other long-term measures should be taken to look out for other ways of raising funds for improve teaching and learning in the University. Today, the Imo State Government has commenced full implementation of the agreement entered into by the leadership of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the Federal Government. Vanguard confirmed that government paid last December 2010 salary using computations that emanated from the new salary structure.

Although the institution’s ASUU Chairman, Mr. Vitalis Nwulu, did not pick or return the calls put across to him Thursday afternoon, a lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities, Dr. John Cliff Nwadike, confirmed the development.

Nwadike said: “All our outstanding salaries have been paid by government. Our December 2010 salary was paid in line with the new salary structure. The next line of action is to dialogue with government to fashion out how the arrears occasioned by the new salary structure will be cleared.” Answering another question, Nwadike said that full academic activities would resume Monday, January 10, 2011, following the commencement of payment of the new salary.

He affirmed that all the labour unions have suspended the industrial action that emasculated academic activities in the University, adding that all the fresh and old students were expected back on campus with effect from the resumption day.

Meanwhile, Governor Ikedi Ohakim has released N150 million out of the N250 million approved for the accreditation of all the courses in the College of Engineering of the University.

Ohakim, who disclosed this at a stakeholders’ forum in Owerri, also said that candidates with first class or second class upper division, would be encouraged to enrol in the Ivy League universities in the world, adding: “The purpose is to produce well trained world class graduates who would be future leaders of the state and are well equipped to play leadership roles.” The governor expressed happiness that the problems which sadly led to the inability of the medical students to graduate in the last 10 years due to lack of accreditation, have been resolved.

From Abia State also comes the report that normal academic activities resumed on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 as Governor Theodore Orji acceded to pay one hundred per cent of the striking lecturers’ demand. Our reporter confirmed that the government and lecturers decided to meet each other halfway. The lecturers had initially insisted on being paid their arrears based on the new salary figures, but later agreed with the state government’s insistence to start paying from January 2011.

The situation in Anambra State had also dramatically improved, but not at the same level as in Imo and Abia States. The government of Peter Obi agreed to pay only 50 per cent increase in salaries. When the lecturers remained unbending, he decided to apply the divide-and-rule tactics. First, he removed the Acting Vice Chancellor, Chukwunenye Anene, the former Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of the Igbariam Campus, for allegedly being too slow in getting the lecturers to accept government’s offers.

A new Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof Fidelis Okafor, who used to be in charge of the Nsugbe Campus, was appointed. Governor Obi also reappointed Professor Elochukwu Amucheazi, a former lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and ex-Director General of the National Orientation Agency, NOA, as the Pro- Chancellor.

While that was going on, some of the lecturers who believed that the government had shown goodwill started reporting for work and signing the attendance register. They received their new salaries as from Friday, January 7, 2011 following the appointment of the new Ag VC, Okafor.

On Monday, January 10, 2011, Professor Amucheazi, while addressing newsmen in his office in Awka, disclosed that the state government had approached Nigerian academics working in the Diaspora to take advantage of the improved remuneration package and return to offer their services, and that the responses was very encouraging. The ANSU has only five professors. The students are also to pay more. In fact, their school fees have been jacked up to N100,000 from N35,000. That may become the next bone of contention, this time from the students.

As a way of finding a lasting panacea to the strike action, the Chief Press Secretary to the Ebonyi State Governor, Dr. Onyekachi Eni, stated that government had formed two sets of committees to handle the issue of funding of the university and speedy resolution of ASUU strike.

That of funding was headed by Dr. Agom Eze while the second committee to look into the demands of ASUU was headed by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Justice Josy Eze. Dr. Eni assured that the strike would soon be over.

His words: “At present an offer has been made to ASUU and the government is still waiting to get their responses to call off the strike. The government has made an offer to improve the payment and funding of the university generally.”

As at December 2010, there were no learning activities going on in the school as some students who had been waiting for the strike to be called off gradually travelled home to their parents while some in order to stay productive got themselves employed by some fast food joints, private firms, business centres and so on, in the state. Statistically, there had been gradual exodus of students from the university environment. Those who had come around for admission have sought admission elsewhere.

During the recent visit of Prof Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufai, the Minister of Education to Ebonyi State to inspect the designated sites for the proposed federal university to be established in the state, the Governor, Chief Martin Elechi even appealed to the minister to consider converting EBSU to a Federal University adding that such action if taken would be a welcome development for the state. This suggested that the government may have even got tired of the overbearing the financial burden of running the state-owned university as Elechi blamed the former administration for not considering certain factors before establishing the university.

In a communiqué signed by all the commissioners of information from the South East, “ASUU’s insistence did not take into cognizance the fact that the South East states are hugely disadvantaged in the current revenue-sharing formula contrary to the wrong statistics being bandied about by ASUU. It is most regrettable that the striking workers chose to blackmail the various state governments by embarking on strike and creating the erroneous impression that the states governors are insensitive to the plight of the students.

It said: “As a matter of fact, it is on record that the governors had separately and collectively appealed to the workers to return to their duty posts while negotiation towards the amicable resolution of the impasse continued. As responsible governments, we will not compromise the future of our students and will remain open to negotiation as the best option that would facilitate the resumption of normal academic work in our state-owned universities.”

Eventually, the Ebonyi State Government acceded to the lecturers’ demand. In fact, the University threw its doors open again on Monday, January 10, 2011. As in the case of Anambra, it is left to be seen how students would react to the new tuition fees.

Meanwhile, the Enugu State Government has not made any further attempts to pacify the lecturers, and this might not be unconnected with Governor Chime’s heavy political engagements. It is hoped that now that universities in the other states of the South East have resumed the ESUT case will likely be a thing of the past soon after Governor Chime sorts out his re-election headaches.