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Schools under Jonathan: Few gains, many challenges

President Goodluck Jonathan

The Goodluck Jonathan administration is not new to strikes by organised labour. In fact, strike action was one of the tools employed on July 1, 2013 by the Academic Staff Union of Universities to press home its demands.

The strike by ASUU was one that university students would not forget in a hurry. It lasted for over five months before its suspension on December 17.

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The lecturers said they embarked on the strike because of the refusal of the Federal Government to implement the 2009 agreement it reached with it.

It took series of meetings, appeals and confrontations before the 169 days strike was suspended. To make the lecturers return to class, the Federal Government pledged to inject N1.3tn into public universities between 2013 and 2018.

Besides the injection of N220bn yearly into the varsities from 2014, the Federal Government promised to domicile N200bn in a special account at the Central Bank of Nigeria for the remaining part of the 2013 after the suspension of the strike.

In order to be sure of the government’s sincerity to the new agreement, leadership of the union demanded among others a proper monitoring and verification of the N30bn initially released and provision of N1.3tn for the revitalisation of the university system from 2013 to 2018.

Stakeholders were yet to heave a sigh of relief when the President of the National Association of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, Mr. Asagha Nkoro, stated via a three-page letter dated December 18, 2013 that the union was embarking on strike barely a day ASUU suspended its own.

In the letter, COEASU submitted that the Federal Government failed to honour its agreement with the union despite having a series of talks with it between September and December 2013.

“It is common knowledge that COEASU leadership had always felt that the talks held so far with government representatives were well-intentioned. While the government held series of talks with the union leadership between September and December 2013 (specifically six times; four of which were attended by the appropriate Minister of Education and also Labour and Productivity), evidences abound that the government does not wish to keep her side of the bargain in meeting the understanding reached at such meetings. This, without equivocation, is unacceptable to our union given the peculiar high nuisance and volatile nature of the colleges of education sector,” the letter read.

The strike which lasted for eight months was later suspended in principle, following the intervention of the Chairmen of Governing Councils of Federal Colleges of Education.

The leadership of the union explained that it agreed to persuasions from the governing councils to suspend the industrial action based on assurances that the outstanding issues would be resolved.

Besides, the resolutions indicated that the circular announcing the merger of the lower cadre staff in the COE would be released quickly and a technical committee inaugurated to examine other issues.

Apart contending with strike actions, the Federal Government in the primary and post-primary education introduced a re-modification of the 9-3-4 system of education to accommodate a new education policy termed 1-6-3-3-4.

The government had noted that the system would introduce a one-year Early Childhood Education to five-year-old pupils before they advance to six-year basic schooling.

The first year in the 1-6-3-3-4 policy indicates that children within age five would be exposed to early education.

Consequently, primary education is for the six-year structure, while the two three years are for primary and secondary education while tertiary education will be for four years.

The 9-3-4 policy involves six years of primary education before pupils undergo a three-year education in junior secondary school to achieve a nine-year of universal compulsory learning.

The three-year is for senior secondary school while tertiary education takes the four-year completing the structure. Some stakeholders including the Education Rights Campaign described the development as policy somersault.

In the area of funding, education did not fare better than other sectors. For instance in 2011, education got N306.3bn, while other sector received juicy allocations out of the N4.971tn approved for the year.

In 2012, the sector got N400.15bn representing 8.43 per cent of the budget, while out of the N4.92tn budgeted for 2013, N426.53bn went to education.

In 2014, the allocation for the sector was N493bn, representing 10.7 per cent of the N4.6tn budget for the year.

This year, education, however got the lion’s share of the budget with N392.3bn followed by the military which received N338.7bn out of the N4.425tn appropriated for the year.

It was not only about strikes, low allocation and policy introduction; the Jonathan administration also established federal universities and approved nine private ones.

Some of the approved federal universities included the Federal University of Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State; Federal University of Gusau, Zamfara State, and Federal University of Gashua, Yobe State.

The list of the approved private varsities included Mountain Top University, Ogun State; Chrisland University, Owode, Ogun State; Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State; Hallmark University, Ijebu Itele, Ogun State; Kings University, Ode Omu, Osun State; Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Orode, Delta State; Ritman University, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State and Summit University, Offa, Kwara State and Augustine University, Ilara, Lagos State.

Just last week, the government also converted four colleges of education to universities. The affected colleges of education included the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo (now Adeyemi University of Education, Ondo); Federal College of Education, Kano (now Federal University of Education, Kano); and Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri (now Alvan Ikoku University of Education, Owerri) and Federal College of Education, Zaria (now Federal University of Education, Zaria).

In his reaction to the legacy which the outgoing administration is leaving behind in the area of education, an educationist, Dr. Azeez Ademola, said it did well especially for establishing federal universities.

He added that though the governing councils of the varsities were constituted late, the government should be commended for establishing them.

Ademola said, “There were strikes from ASUU and COEASU when the government reneged on past agreements with the two unions. In the area of funding, the government did not fare better even as the spending of internal funds of institutions was not properly monitored. The impunity witnessed under the administration manifested in the sector. Generally, the departing government deserves commendation for also granting university status to four colleges of education in furtherance of their special training.”

The ERC however described the legacy of the Jonathan administration in education as missed opportunities for what it described as its failure to revitalise public education.

Speaking through its National Coordinator, Mr. Hassan Taiwo, it said the last four years of the outgoing administration saw enormous increase in revenue arising from rise in the price of crude oil before the slump.

It stated, “Inspite of this, Nigeria failed to meet up with any of the six objectives of the Education For All goals in 2015. Instead, illiteracy increased with latest research showing about 40 million illiterate Nigerians in 2014.’’

For a lecture in the Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Chijioke Uwasomba, the Jonathan administration should only be commended for establishing federal universities and granting of licences to individuals and organisations to own universities.

He said, “Beyond this, I think I am of the view that the administration’s performance in the area of education is very low. One will wonder however whether the establishment of more universities will have more impact on university education.’’

He also said the Jonathan administration should have returned the era of teacher’s training colleges to support colleges of education rather than converting four of the latter to universities.