A former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, on Sunday
said that the demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
were unrealistic in light of the current economic situation
in Nigeria.
Ezekwesili said this while speaking with the News
Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan while reacting to the ongoing
strike embarked upon by the union.
The former minster said that lasting solution to the crisis
bedeviling the education sector could only be found from strong
analysis of the issues raised by ASUU and evidenced based
policies.
“Money is not limitless and yet everyone must acknowledge that
investment in education is crucial and it is key.
“There are, however, some fundamental reforms that the sector
needs in order to ensure that it is not about the size of the
funding but about the productivity of the funding.
“You cannot simply express a desire, it must be founded on
reality and that means you must know what can be achieved within a
given period,” she said.
According to her, a structural and policy change which allows
public and private investments should be integrated into the
university system.
“If you remember, the ASUU negotiation started in 2007 when I
was the Minister of Education and we constituted a government
negotiation team, led by the late Gamaliel Onosode,
“Even though that period was short, one of the major issues for
me was for us to make sure that we were being evidenced based in
the way we were solving the problem,
“We considered issues like the existing model in countries
similar to us in emerging economies,’’ she said.
The former minister said the team also considered what could be
done by the public and private sectors about university funding
among others.
“Those are the kinds of evidence that we had and on the basis of
which we hinged our negotiation at that time,
“It was a very short period and then we had to leave and the
next government that took over had to continue.
“I do not know the basis of the final agreement they reached
with ASUU, but if it was not anchored on analytical evidence, I am
not surprised that there has been inability to implement it.”
Ezekwesili urged both the Federal Government and ASUU to return
to the negotiating table and work on the basis of analysis and
evidence to find lasting solution to the dispute.
NAN
A former Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, on Sunday
said that the demands by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
were unrealistic in light of the current economic situation
in Nigeria.
Ezekwesili said this while speaking with the News
Agency of Nigeria in Ibadan while reacting to the ongoing
strike embarked upon by the union.
The former minster said that lasting solution to the crisis
bedeviling the education sector could only be found from strong
analysis of the issues raised by ASUU and evidenced based
policies.
“Money is not limitless and yet everyone must acknowledge that
investment in education is crucial and it is key.
“There are, however, some fundamental reforms that the sector
needs in order to ensure that it is not about the size of the
funding but about the productivity of the funding.
“You cannot simply express a desire, it must be founded on
reality and that means you must know what can be achieved within a
given period,” she said.
According to her, a structural and policy change which allows
public and private investments should be integrated into the
university system.
“If you remember, the ASUU negotiation started in 2007 when I
was the Minister of Education and we constituted a government
negotiation team, led by the late Gamaliel Onosode,
“Even though that period was short, one of the major issues for
me was for us to make sure that we were being evidenced based in
the way we were solving the problem,
“We considered issues like the existing model in countries
similar to us in emerging economies,’’ she said.
The former minister said the team also considered what could be
done by the public and private sectors about university funding
among others.
“Those are the kinds of evidence that we had and on the basis of
which we hinged our negotiation at that time,
“It was a very short period and then we had to leave and the
next government that took over had to continue.
“I do not know the basis of the final agreement they reached
with ASUU, but if it was not anchored on analytical evidence, I am
not surprised that there has been inability to implement it.”
Ezekwesili urged both the Federal Government and ASUU to return
to the negotiating table and work on the basis of analysis and
evidence to find lasting solution to the dispute.
NAN
Read more https://nairalaw.com/asuu-making-unrealistic-demands-ezekwesili/