The University System in Transition?
By
AGAIN and again, I have had cause to draw attention to the state of our university system. I do so because that is my constituency. It is the only system that I really know well, and I am committed to its being preserved in a healthy state.
The Federal Government has declared that it is committed to university autonomy. Yet it continues to act in a manner which belies its own declaration. An incident occurs at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The Federal Government announces the closure of that university without reference to the Vice-chancellor or the council. For various reasons, the Vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos has to resign from office. His letter of resignation is sent to the federal government which proceeds to accept it, rather than return it to council with advice that the resignation be accepted.
The council of the University of Ibadan goes through the process of interviewing candidates for the office of Vice-chancellor. Three names are sent to the Federal Government for security clearance. For what must be assumed to be good reason, the Federal Government decides that the No. 1 candidate on the list cannot be appointed and that the No. 2 candidate should get the job. It does not consult with the chairman of council, but proceeds to announce the No. 2 candidate as Vice-chancellor. Why could not the Federal Government talk with the chairman of council and cause the University of Ibadan to announce the appointment of its Vice-chancellor? It appears as if, despite its declaration, the Federal Government is having difficulties departing from the ways of the military administrations that did so much to ruin our universities. The Federal Government must match words with action.
It is important that Vice-chancellors should see themselves as appointed by the councils and not the federal government. In the recent past we have seen Vice-chancellors concentrate on being in the good books of Abuja while their universities go to ruin. We have seen Vice-chancellors amass filthy lucre just so long as they are friends of the powers that be in Abuja. In order for Vice-chancellors to see their universities as their constituencies which can take steps to remove them if they fail to perform or perform in a manner prejudicial to the university, it must be made very clear to them that the appointing authorities are the Governing Councils, not the Federal Ministry of Education or Aso Rock. So it used to be. So let it be again.
University workers? salaries have been reviewed upwards, and for weeks now there have been on going negotiations for a more upward review of those salaries and allowances. We await the outcome of those reviews. In the years of poor pay, many university teachers looked elsewhere for sustenance. They went into consultancies and business and all sorts of part-time employment. Many made good money. Alas, however, they made this money at the expense of their students whom they hardly taught. Now with better pay, quite a number of these teachers are still continuing their old ways. Heads of Departments, Deans and even Vice-chancellors seem unable to deal with the situation which has arisen. The issue is not whether university teachers should put their expertise at the disposal of other sectors of the nation for appropriate remuneration. The issue, rather, is that of ensuring that these teachers adequately discharge their primary responsibilities in the areas of teaching and research. As the nation seeks to return the universities to normalcy, the universities must see to it that the aberrations of the last decade or so are righted. Those found guilty of not having taught their courses must be duly punished.
Another area that requires quick and tough action is that to do with examinations. A teacher in one of our universities told me that his head of department told him that he should set, print and distribute the question papers for his courses all on his own! Who knows how many such heads of departments there are in the system? Many lecturers now regard invigilating at examinations as the work of clerical staff in the departments. Heads of departments seem unable to insist that such lecturers should do their work. Examination malpractices thus rule the waves. Meanwhile ASUU is asking that its members be paid for invigilation and for marking examination scripts, as if teaching does not involve conducting examinations and marking answer papers. The whole concept of the job of the university teacher is at stake. That brings me to an aspect of the current negotiations. Government is negotiating with ASUU over pay. Who has done the job evaluation of the university teacher? What is the basis of the current negotiations? Just ASUU?s demands, and government?s reactions thereto? I would hope not. I have always believed that a person should be paid for the work he/she does. The best way to determine that is to do a proper job evaluation. There are experts in the land who can carry out the proper evaluation.
Let us use them in determining a fair pay for university teachers. Perhaps that will eliminate the demand for endless allowances. If the universities are to get back on course, teachers must be made to invigilate examinations and mark their scripts within the periods stipulated in the regulations. University teachers are quick to criticise others. Let them examine themselves and discharge the functions for which they are paid.
ASUU has become a professional trade union. The circumstances of our universities over the last quarter of a century have brought this about. As we seek a return to normalcy, we must ask ourselves whether a university needs a professional trade union. What are the ASUU equivalents in Europe and America? The Association of University Teachers (AUT) of old operated very differently from the ASUU of today. Partly, this is because then the university had autonomy. Now that we are seeking a return to autonomy; ASUU must begin to prepare for a radical change in its operations vis-à-vis the university administration and the Governing Council. This is why I said in an earlier piece that if the Federal Government is serious about autonomy, then it should be discussing remuneration not with ASUU, but the employers of the members of ASUU, namely, the Governing Councils of the universities. So far, there is simply too much of the old in the new.
The writer is a Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts