ABUJA, Nigeria – In a blistering critique of the outgoing government, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, described President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight-year administration as the “worst in Nigeria’s political history” with respect to the nation’s education sector.
In an exclusive interview on Sunday, April 30, 2023, Osodeke characterised Buhari’s government as a “disaster” for public education, adding that “ASUU as a union wishes that Nigeria and its people never witness a repeat of such an administration.”
According to Osodeke, while the sector had seen periods of hardship over the years, Buhari’s administration stood out as the “worst of them all from all ramifications.”
The union president laid blame at the feet of both federal and state governments, accusing them of disregarding the sector, treating it with “levity as if the sector was unimportant.”
Osodeke pointed to the dwindling budgetary allocations for education as a glaring indicator of the government’s lackadaisical attitude.
“The budgetary allocation to the sector in the early year 2020 was in the region of nine to ten percent of the total budget, but the figure has come down drastically under this administration to something around 4.3 percent as of last year,” he said.
He labeled this 4.3 percent budget allocation for last year as “the worst in the history of Nigeria’s educational system,” adding that, “it is more disturbing that even then, part of the money was not released.”
The ASUU president also criticized the government’s response to the union’s eight-month-long strike. “A government that allowed ASUU to go on strike for eight months without meaningful intervention…is anti-people and anti-development,” he stated.
Osodeke further highlighted the fact that under this government, “Nigerian lecturers and other school workers are being owed several months’ salaries, with some five, some eight, and some others up to 20 months.”
He painted a grim picture of the current state of Nigerian education at all levels, pointing out that public schools are no longer attractive to parents, with students often forced to learn in dilapidated classrooms and under leaky roofs.
With a note of urgency, Osodeke concluded that “the only hope is for the next government to declare a state of emergency in the sector and repair the massive destruction that has been done to the sector, particularly under the outgoing administration.”
