BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME
ASUU strike is like a cycle in the country. There is hardly any year since 1996 that lecturers had not gone on strike.  Sometimes, they tag it warning , indefinite, etc strike.

At the moment, they have been on strike since December last year and they code named it Indefinite and Total strike.  Students, parents and guardians are usually the most affected by this disruption in the academic calendar. A four year-programme in some cases because of the incessant strike today runs for about six to seven years.  But who is to blame? Is it government or the lecturers?

In this interview Vice Chancellor, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Prof Barineme Fakae bares his mind on the issue.  He describes the strike culture on the part of lecturers as unfortunate.

Ukachukwu Awuzie, ASUU president and Professor Barineme Fakae

He urges the lecturers to seek an alternative to strike action towards resolving whatever grouse they have with the system and that universities in the country should embrace globalisation in the education sector as a way to step  up university education in the country, and that the nation should shun  promotion of ‘ quota system” above merit and competiveness.

 ASUU strike recurs. Students and parents are worried.

I think if I will describe the strike undertaken by the ASUU leadership, I’ll say it’s unfortunate. I mentioned ASUU leadership because I have been able to find out  as Vice Chancellor that some of these things are done by a cabal within ASUU. The generality of the lecturers don’t even know what is happening.

And they are only told there will be a strike, they go. Go to ASUU meetings and try to do a census about the percentage of those who attend over the general or what you call the total population of lecturers. You will see what I am saying. But the point is that the other ones are the silent majority. And so some few persons who you always find in the leadership of ASUU, year after year, they have just taken advantage of it. What do you do?

It is trade unionism. I am thinking that as academic staff, we ought to operate beyond the situation.  In the United Kingdom, we have what we call Association of University Teachers.

The truth is that it is not everybody that belongs to that group. But here, people when they have appointment as lecturers they just believe that they are members.

They never fill any form. They just find themselves there. The dues are taken off not by their consent. So when every month you are checking off about four million or so to a group of people, it is really some big business. So they do business with that.

So you don’t see any reason for the strike?

Obviously, for every strike there is always a reason. I was a bit worried while people were on strike towards the Christmas. Again, at a point when the national security is not… One wonders whether we have done a very good calculation…. But like people say, the only thing the government understands is strike. Well, I think we can do something, whether we like it or not. The other service side is there. I can’t tell my colleagues  who are  in Oxford or Cambridge  that I have been on strike for so many months. They won’t take me seriously.

And when I have to run exchange programmes, he never goes on any strike but I am always going on strike. For instance, you set up experiment as a biologist that should be monitored over a period and you are dealing with live animals. You have to deal with them at a particular age. Assuming in the middle of it when you have already timed them for a particular intervention, somebody says there is strike and you go away.

These animals were very expensive. Where will you get money again to do the experiment all over.  On the other hand, you also need the experiment to be able to publish in  an index journal which will give you your promotion. So if you cut it short, you have lost all the money, time, promotion. You need the publication to be recognised as an academic

So when strikes keep going on and on, you find again the whole focus is lost. That is the painful thing about it all. Should we always be doing it? There is nothing as predictable as strike. You can always predict it will come which is really sad for me as an academic. There could be reasons for that but the frequency, timing, affect us.

When you go on strike and you say “it is total and indefinite “that means even your academic meetings will not be held in which case your promotion can’t be considered. Time is going and then you are cut off from conferences and other parts of the world. I find these things very unfortunate in our situation.

Government also shares in this blame.

Government comes and goes but you are in a profession where you must make impact. It may be painful. I think we should begin to think of another thing.

I am not making excuse for any government that does not fund its institution. At least in Rivers state, we have an exception. The governor gives up to 26 percent of its budget to education, even more. We have one of the best university, primary schools and secondary schools.

Nobody is quarrelling with the level of funding of education in the state. I think we that invest up to 26 percent of our budget in education should not join the strike because we are well funded.  Some other areas ,maybe their government is giving one percent to education. We that have more than 26 percent are also joining them.  When the Rivers state government started to look for a university, other states were not looking for universities.

In fact, the nation even wondered whether we should run a university. How can we be doing the same thing with others? They go on strike we go  too, meanwhile we are better.

Your issue came up on the floor of the state House of Assembly recently. Some of your students, it was said  in the House complained that they did not have terminal date for their programmes, particularly at the Post Graduate level. There was also the angle of your  ASUU chapter threatening not to work with the Dean, Post Graduate Studies…

Cuts in .I think it was lack of information. When the legislators got the right information they understood better. They wanted me to name those that grounded the programmes; you won’t believe people admitted people without the required papers. Somebody is shouting as if the thing started yesterday. It is the effort we are making that has made us discover those without improper records in our programmes.

The leadership of ASUU said at a time that they won’t do business with the Dean, Post Graduate studies because they said he broke ASUU rules.  What was this rule? That we conducted post UME for Rivers state indigenes at the time ASUU did not want examinations to be conducted.

JAMB is national. If you don’t take advantage of the time, you lose a whole year and that was why we went ahead with the examination. We did not want our students to sit at home for one year waiting for university admission.

The present dean of the Post Graduate School working in the Vice Chancellor’s office worked with the administration to ensure the Post UME went on and for this they want to ostracise him. This is a person that should be given honour,  that he did not allow the children to be at home.

The VC has the prerogative to appoint a Dean of Post Graduate school.  This was a man who was Director Academic Planning; he helped to have the programmes that were accredited. He is also the Vice Chairman, Dean of Post Graduate schools in the country. Are we not lucky to have him?  In any case the reform in the Post Graduate School has started, there is no going back.

Is there any step you have taken to ensure post graduate programmes have terminal dates?

Like I said earlier, we met this problem. Now we have resolved that programmes which should  be 12 months should finish within the period. We have also said there will be no provisional supervisors. Every admission now must have supervisors. By NUC regulation, they are not to supervise more than five students. Now you register online so we can track your progress. These are some of the reforms we have in place.

These reforms appear to be for fresh students. What about backlogs?

As a VC, if you want to look at the decay before you came on board, sometimes you will finish your tenure still looking at them. We have said those who already have their certificates but are sure they did not do well, we will not give them their transcript if they come.  If they come for their transcript we will give them the real transcript and if it shows that there were somethings they did not complete it means you can’t go any further.

Any admission between 2005 that you have not finished  has elapsed. We sent information that they should register afresh online. Those who responded we are handling their matter. Those who did not their  admission has expired.

Your students were once  on rampage.

Since 2009, such things ended. Our Students’ Unions were made up of those who did not pass their courses or with low cumulative then. Senate now said you must be 3.5 and above. You can’t look for position in the students unions with low cumulative. It is only when you are good as an academic that you can be good to provide leadership.  Now we have serious students’ union leadership. We are not having bad students again. I don’t think we have problems with our students.

Challenge?

There are those who just want to bring down the university. We should build our schools. Those who graduated should come to identify with the alumni association.

They should come and build the school. We have produced people in the region.

Any word for university education in the country?

You don’t compete on your own. You are competing globally. Let’s embrace the reform in education. Be sure we are not doing anything by quota system. We are going to excel. We can go high places if we allow competitiveness and embrace globalisation in the education sector.