By Olusegun Olanrewaju (Lagos), and Linus Aleke (Abuja)
As the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) enters its 141st day, the Federal Government yesterday announced its plan to absorb Nigerian students that ‘forcefully and abruptly’ abandoned their studies in Ukraine in the wake of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine into Nigerian universities.
The objective, according to the government, is to enable such students trapped in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to continue with their academics back home in Nigeria.
A statement by the spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Francisca Omayuli, to the effect, however, was silent on the government’s plan to resolve the ongoing strike by university teachers.
The statement only announced the plan and ordered affected students to visit the ministry’s website to fill out a form on or before 15th July 2022.
University students have been stranded at home for 141 days today as a result of the lingering war between university lecturers and the Federal Government.
As of the time of releasing the palliative measure to bail out stranded Nigerian students from Ukraine yesterday, there has been no end in sight to resolving the crises in the nation’s ivory towers.
The Foreign Ministry’s latest statement on assistance to students trapped in war abroad reads in full, “The Federal Government of Nigeria wishes to inform Nigerian students who returned from Ukraine following the conflict in that country that efforts are being made to facilitate their placement into various Nigerian tertiary institutions, to enable them to continue their studies.
“In this connection, interested students should visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: https://www.foreignaffairs.gov.ng and complete the online Nigerian Student in Ukraine (NSU) registration form with the required information on or before 15th July 2022.”
How the policy would be effective is not yet clear since the umbrella union of university teachers in Nigeria’s public universities has refused to back down on industrial action rooted in payment of wages and emplacement of infrastructures in the ivory towers.
Since ASUU commenced its strike on February 14, 2022, there has been no headway in the resolution of its dispute with the Federal Government.
All reconciliation meetings held between the Federal Government and members of the Union to resolve the dispute have met a brick wall.
The crisis in the university education system has been compounded by another set of crippling strikes declared by the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education (NASU, as well as other allied institutions, which began on March 25, 2022.
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These versions of the strikes have also entered their 68th day today.
Criticisms are still trailing the non-resolution of the crises in public universities.
The latest came by way of criticism by the transparency group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
The group, in a statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, noted that the government’s failure to meet ASUU’s demands, as well as implement the agreement it had with the union to satisfactorily resolve the issues, has kept poor Nigerian children at home while the children of the country’s politicians attend private schools.
In the same vein, another group, the Programme Director, Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, faulted the silence of critical stakeholders on the academic shutdown.
