ASUU: Intellectualising An Enduring Developmental Path, By Andrew A. Erakhrumen

On October 2, 2024, we had to embark on a trip to Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, from Benin City. The question expected from the reader is: was the trip by air or road? We did not fly; we went by road! Road? What is/are the reason(s) for travelling by those unsafe roads? You will likely guess right! As they say in pidgin lingo, “flying nah your mate?” To fly from Benin City to Abuja and back is like trying to commit personal financial seppuku by some poorly paid, demotivated, disrespected lecturers in Nigerian public universities! Though, this should not be misconstrued to mean that there are none, with other legitimate earnings, among this category of workers in these educational institutions who can afford this means of transportation. Here, we are not referring to pseudo-academics in cahoots with the scoundrels plundering and pillaging our common patrimony! They are not faceless; we know them! These are the ones giving the reputable academics wrong image out there! Enough on these shady characters for now!

Since parts of the Benin–Ekpoma–Auchi road have been rendered almost impassable, we had to settle for Benin–Sobe–Sabongida-Ora–Afuze–Auchi route. We set forth on that journey at around 8:35am travelling “smoothly” on rough pothole-ridden asphalted roads. Like the typical Nigerians who are used to tolerating all sorts of nonsense, we adjusted to “Shuffering and Shmiling” mode satirised in a 1978 song by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938–1997) and his Afrika 70. It was like that until we got very close to a narrow bridge on the last stretch of Afuze–Auchi road. In fact, we were already “seeing” Auchi from there! The experience we are about to relay here, like those of other common Nigerians, is an example of how we are on our own in this country! What is termed as “government” in Nigeria has lost direction and justification for existence!

We met the part of the road, from our side, leading to the narrow bridge completely clogged up by three heavy duty articulated vehicles! Wetin dey happen? We asked in pidgin. We were told that one of the vehicles experienced (some) mechanical fault(s) which prevented it from moving forward. Hence, at different points, two other articulated vehicles tried to proceed through the sides of the immovable vehicle but also got stuck. Unsuccessful attempts were made to move at least one of the trucks off that position. The policemen and Federal Road Safety Corps personnel at the scene were as powerless as all of us! This seemingly normalised madness often encountered by common Nigerians was a harrowing experience for us!

We could not move ahead! Heading back towards Sabongida-Ora for another route was a difficult alternative to consider especially with the recent astronomical increase in the price of premium motor spirit in the country! Unwillingly, we decided to wait, hoping against hope like Nigerians! It was not until a certain truck – loaded with boulders – suspected to be from an unidentified quarry site was brought into the equation that a sign of hope surfaced! The truck was accompanied by some good-spirited individuals who assisted in towing one of the articulated vehicles from that theatre of confusion. As expected of the typical Nigerian scenario, pandemonium set in concerning which vehicle(s) should exploit the little “thoroughfare” created. By then, we had been held up in that location for over four hours! During that period and before we got there, all the vehicles and their occupants did resign to a state of helplessness!

Gross failure in public infrastructural development, occasioned by actions and/or inactions of irresponsive and irresponsible Nigerian “governments”, is not strange to most Nigerians anymore! Some may even laugh at us for finding time to comment on this “normal” incident experienced daily by the masses. They are accustomed to being oppressed like slaves! They may ask: wetin concern government for “trailers” wey block road? They talk about “institutions” but fail to embrace the fact that “institutions” are about humans insisting on correctness – always – irrespective of whose ox is gored! Lest we forget, our trip to Abuja was to attend a State of the Nation Conference themed “Nigeria in a State of General Crisis: The Search for a New Path to Development” organised by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and held at Idris Abdulkadir Auditorium, National Universities Commission, Maitama District, Garki, Abuja, from 3^rd to 4^th October, 2024.

To cut the long story short, we finally arrived in Abuja at around 10:15pm that day! We were “lucky” as our colleagues who proceeded to Jos, Plateau state, for another academic endeavour got to their meeting venue long after the opening ceremony the next day! The issue of failed leadership/followership was fervently mentioned and discussed at that conference in Abuja as negative fallout from the current deformed governance structure emplaced by an overindulged, unregulated and unquestioned Nigeria’s mediocre political class! Doubtlessly, the conference was well-received in the light of the number of attendees and enthusiastic participation of participants. It did rekindle hope in us! Consequently, we think this conference should regularly hold earlier than the current decennial schedule! Due to limited space in this piece, we will not delve deeply into the thought-provoking and illuminating submissions by speakers at the meeting; the conference communiqué will be in the public domain soon.

With part of the remaining space here, we will attempt to buttress our long-held opinion – that the louts in public offices could not care less about the masses – with an interpretation of a seemingly loose comment from someone. Those at the conference will remember a fellow, representing one of the political parties, who started his talk by informing the audience that his wife just left for the United States to pursue a postgraduate degree in a university there. We agree that anyone has the right to seek for education anywhere. Nonetheless, our experience in Nigeria’s public universities is that they are now being attended mainly by students from poor background!

An unfortunate reality is that many of the foreign universities being flaunted, today, by their Nigerian students and graduates were far inferior to most of this country’s first-generation universities, such as University of Ibadan, few decades ago! This evidently shows that our public universities have seriously depreciated owing, partly, to poor quality/quantity of investments in them! It is no wonder Nigeria has been floundering about in deep waters of confusion! Any country that is disinterested in investing in intellectualism will find itself stranded like Nigeria in the middle of nowhere! This is a serious setback for Nigeria; a country that is acknowledged to possess rich human and natural resources but with some of the most shameful mediocrities, from politics of rascality, as “leaders”.

All the same, the fellow went ahead to say that his wife got appointed by that university (presumably as a Teaching/Research Assistant) and what she is being paid is enough to pay six professors in Nigeria! Yes, six professors! He concluded this aspect of his talk by clearly stating that his wife can employ six Nigerian professors! The reader may fact-check this from those present at the conference on October 3. We do not know, and the fellow did not attempt to clarify, the context within which he made the last sentence.

We really do not want to jump to any hasty conclusive generalisation as we are not sure if he did not intend to mean well with the comment; perhaps, he was unable to deliver his point fittingly. However, since most Nigerian politicians do denigrate other mere mortals, his comment was perceived more like a deliberate attempt to subtly insult Nigerian academics even at the conference!

For now, what matters to most politicians, in this clime, is the dishonourable wealth illicitly extractable from the country’s resources! Should it, then, be surprising that they are anti-intellectuals always at loggerheads with the intellectual class that is aiming at correcting them?

This is a dilemma for ASUU; a union with the character required for leading the process of forging a sound path out of the current insanity and crisis.

Prof. Erakhrumen teaches at the Department of Forest Resources and Wildlife Management, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.