Coming on the back of what could be described as a period of social turmoil and turbulence, Nigeria finally became an democratic state in 1999, at least on paper. Like the jungle would celebrate the installment of the brave Lion as king, Nigerians braced themselves up for a new era. Much of our expectations have since overwhelmed the unfolding results, leaving a wide vaccum of much to be desired of a nation.
The Nigerian system is now well and truly comparable to the harsh realities of what a jungle is as opposed to the eldorado Nigeria the first set of national democrats envisaged. In all levels if the educational system, several lingering loopholes have been dug by the government and it's stakeholders, leaving the 'leaders if tomorrow' as the prey of indulgence.
1999 is not only notable for the new system of government, it also marked the beginning of what has since become a long and dragged history of strike actions by staff members of tertiary institutions.
The Obasanjo-Atiku led administration promised a lot but began to fail as early as a few months into their tenure. Nigerian undergraduates who looked to the government as a beacon of hope towards cultivating a better educational system were dragged into a forceful five months stay at home.
Ever since, undergraduates have been kept in similar restraint for a cumulative period of three years. Much to the chagrin of all that it concerns, the conflict which was ignited between the federal government and the Academic staff union of universities from the very beginning is still a recurrent theme that plunges undergraduates into home arrests annually.
What is more unsettling is the emergence of a new episode in the annual saga. Despite the rise of a ravaging pandemic constituting global crisis, the union was quick to announce another strike action.
The alarm bells of a warning strike might have offered a sign of things to come but the latter announcement is simply unjustifiable.
In their supremacy battles with the Federal government, the quest has proven to be won by guile in place of radical activism.
This conquest mat not be the conquest we all expect to see as the ferocious decisions made by ASUU has always fallen second best the the unerring wit and craft of the government. How long this pandemic will take before it ends remain to be seen but undergraduates would do well to brace up for another frustrating battle at the end of the pandemic.
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