ASUU's Outrageous Demand Spurred by Nigerian Politicians' Earnings

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By Omololu Ogunmade      

                        
Senator representing Osun Central senatorial district, Prof. Sola Adeyeye, Monday advocated 50 per cent reduction in the earnings of all Nigerian elected officers for the purpose of adequate funding of education.

Adeyeye, who made this call while briefing journalists in Abuja, said, he believed that the whimsical demand of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was a reaction to their earnings, which he said were not justifiable.

He also advocated the contribution of five per cent of the earnings of all Nigerian workers for the funding of the education as education taxes, adding that any embezzlement of funds meant for education should be accompanied by capital punishment.

Adeyeye, a Professor of Molecular Biology, who lectured in the United States for decades, also said the National Assembly should henceforth begin the appropriation of 26 per cent  of Nigeria's current revenue to education.

"First, the National Assembly of Nigeria should henceforth appropriate at least 26 per cent of Nigeria's current revenue to education alone. Second, Government in Nigeria, especially the Federal Ministry of Education, has been denigrated into a beast of burden. The metastasis of asphyxiating bureaucracy demands the streamlining of the endless parastatals that drain resources while making little or no contribution to national well-being and progress.

"Third, to raise revenue for funding a national redemption programme in education, all imports should attract a mandatory education tax of one per cent. Fourth, beginning from January 1, 2014 till December 31, 2018, all workers in Nigeria must contribute five per cent of their income as education taxes.

Embezzling any amount of these revenues targeted for education should be taken as an act of treason.
"This should attract the most severe penalty such as impeachment, imprisonment and perhaps death penalty. Fifth, the costs for running the offices of all elected and appointed political office holders should immediately be pruned by 50 per cent. “Something tells me that the implacable demands by ASUU are fuelled by resentment at the cult of obscene privileges which Nigerian politicians have become. But our task is to curb needless privileges rather than add to them," he said.

Adeyeye, while reacting the allegation by the Chairman of University of Ibadan chapter of ASUU, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, at the weekend, that he enjoyed Duquesne University Flex Benefits as a lecturer in the US and yet criticising ASUU's demand in Nigeria, explained that Flex Benefits were not automatic as Ajiboye had thought.

According to him, he contributed 12 per cent of his earnings to the scheme while the university contributed six per cent, saying it would have made greater sense for ASUU to opt for Flex Benefits instead of its outrageous demands.

"Since Ajiboye admired Duquesne University Flex benefits programme so much, would he canvass that ASUU adopt such flexibility rather than the current system where a Professor of Engineering at the University of Lagos enjoys similar salary structure as a Professor of Religious Study at Ibadan and a Professor of History at Ile-Ife?" he asked.

On the allegation by Ajiboye that he sent his children to school abroad while criticising ASUU’s demand at home, Adeyeye said contrary to Ajiboye's imagination, he was so blessed with brilliant children to the extent that all of them secured scholarships to pursue their education as a result of their extra-ordinary performance.

He also said should he opt to be as "mischievous" as Ajiboye, he would have also castigated ASUU members for sending their children to study abroad where he said such strange demands as made by ASUU are never contemplated by their fellow lecturers.

" Ajiboye erroneously (and perhaps deliberately mischievously) sneered that as senator, I sent my own children to be educated in the USA while not caring for the children of ordinary Nigerians. It would have been easy for me to also sneer at any ASUU member whose child, sibling or ward might be studying abroad where academic staff unions would never contemplate declaring a strike so that an academic staff could be paid allowances to supervise a thesis or dissertation!

"Do these staff not benefit from such researches which are crucial towards the scholarly publications necessary for academic promotion? If someone has been paid for doing or supervising research, should he again be rewarded with promotion and its concomitant salary increase on the basis of a service for which he had already been rewarded?" he queried.

He also reminded Ajiboye that as much as he flayed ASUU's demand to the tune of N1.5 trillion, he also vehemently condemned the federal government for signing an agreement to which he was not committed.