Dr. Galam Accuses Federal Govt Of Plotting To Destroy University Education  In Nigeria

Yakubu Busari

A don with the University of Jos, Dr. Nanyak Zingfa Galam has disclosed that the Federal Government should be held responsible for the incessant strikes embarked upon by the Academic Staff of Union of Universities, ASUU since 2009,  especially for the level of damage and destruction it has caused to Nigeria’s educational sector as the country is presently operating anti-people policy over non-implementation of revitalization, and the white paper decision reached.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with this medium, Dr. Nanyak Galam said the federal government is playing politics with university education which is affecting the future of the next generation.

He said the ASUU strike had continued to inflict pain in the life of the lecturers and the students because the federal government reneged completely by not implementing the revitalization and the white paper reports that had indicated and exposed their plan to increase school fees and if ASUU had agreed the majority of Nigerian students would suffer it.

Dr. Galam lamented that the incessant strike embarked upon by ASUU also stalled the life of many lecturers who should have defended their projects and also students who have graduated since are now sitting at home.

He stated that he is speaking as a concerned citizen of Nigeria because he doesn’t t have the mandate to represent ASUU in this regard which he attributed as he is personal opinion as well as what he sees as the damage that the strike is causing to the general public including ASUU.

According to him, “we embarked on this warning strike sometime in February 14th and the strike kept lingering on continuously, but now the ASUU has declared a total indefinite strike. We did this because it is a fallout of the resolution of demand that has been long deliberately by agents of the government”.

However, this action of ASUU is the fallout of the 2009 agreement because it was agreed upon, and I can’t really understand the exact figures that they were demanding to come back to the negotiating table with ASUU, these are issues that would make the education sector move forward, he explained.

He reiterated that in 2017, “I think it was another warning strike that the federal government ignored and the government now constituted another negotiating committee that was headed by Baba Lake negotiating committee they try to get ASUU to agree to increase school fees “.

Dr. Nanyak Zingfa noted that the ideas of  ASUU in Nigeria embarking on this strike you know that they have stood firm for the common man for a very long time because the federal government sincerely wanted to increase school fees to about 1 million and above if ASUU  had acceded that demand they have no reason to come back to the negotiating table.

He maintained that the federal government wants to introduce the same kind of thing to Nigeria when knowing you will finish school and you will be wondering on the streets probably thinking about the loan hanging on your head and now apart from the emotional damage it is causing the person, not everyone has the mental capacity to withstand the pressure on his situation or the loan on his head.

He emphasized that the ASUU strike is to address the problem of infrastructure, and academic decay in Nigeria because our universities don’t have the required standards to produce quality graduates.

Dr. Nanyak Galam said the issue of revitalization and the release of white paper reports following the visitation panels that took place in March 2021 is an issue that concerns money, but for the government to work on the agreement and release it, he said the government has refused.

Dr. Nanyak Galam raises concern that the action of the federal government has caused a lot of brain drain in Nigeria’s educational sector, however, it also affected Nigeria’s world ranking body because to rank universities there are a lot of factors that are put together before taking such a decision, which includes the issue of foreign lecturers visiting, but now we just have only indigenous lecturers everywhere in the universities without the foreigners.

Dr. Nanyak Zingfa also blamed the federal government that they’ve failed to honor the agreement reached with ASUU and they have continued to prolong the strike by jettisoning the negotiation since 2017 which forced ASUU to continue with the strike.

He lambasted the Federal government on the issue of N6.25 billion it gave to Katsina State for ranching when you ask the federal government they may be claiming that is to control banditry.

Nanyak Zingfa explained further, “you’re trying to control banditry, and then why did we have bandits in the first place if they were properly educated and if they are educated would there be bandits in Nigeria? That is actually not because of the federal neglected education.

He disclosed major challenges why the ASUU is calling on the federal government to declare an emergency on education and make it free for those who are willing and have the required qualification rather than putting up the homogeneous fees that they are trying to introduce during Baba Lake and jettisoned the ASUU committee.

Dr. Nanyak condemned in its totality the construction of Maradi -Niger railway road that it is a misplacement of priority which doesn’t have economic importance, that is more than the education of our universities, we saw that they are using it for the political game to allow foreigners coming into Nigeria and vote in elections.