In 80’s, 90’s ASUU Was Very Compelling And Necessary, We’ve Lost That Originality — Soremekun
Professor Kayode Soremekun is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Oye Ekiti, which in the past two weeks has been dealing with serious internal matters. In this interview with AYODELE AFOLABI, the school administrator explained the dimensions of
In saying this, let me make a quick correction because the unions at a point in time, they were very relevant and necessary. Even now they are still relevant and necessary, but it is their modus operandi that I am having problem with. I am saying this because in the 80’s and 90’s when the compensation system was very poor, ASUU was very compelling and very necessary. I must say that in terms of shaping the internal information order on behalf of ASUU, I know some of the forces that were involved. But at the moment, there are some form of perennial faceoff between the unions on one hand and the management on the other hand and this is not good for the system. Moreover, some ASUU members think that they can just get away with anything in the name of ASUU activism. Whereas, the original members of the ASUU that we know stood for a fearless and honest interrogation of reality, but that is no longer the case
There seems to be perennial crises owing to activities of different unions in your university. Give us the dimensions?
LET me begin by saying that virtually every university in Nigeria, especially in the public universities, there is what you can call this constant faceoff between the unions on one hand and the management on the other hand. Perhaps, the exceptions are the private universities, which do not have this dynamics. In other words, what is happening in FUOYE is not really unique in the sense that every Vice Chancellor in the public universities has to contend with five unions i.e. ASUU, SSANU, NATT, NASU, and then the Student Union Government that is not even a union but a government. You can see the sense of overweening entitlement in all of these. To that extent, if you situate the Nigerian universities in that context you will begin to see that the university is very unique in the sense that if you compare us with others in the world, you don’t see this stormy dimension to academia.
In saying this, what it means is that if we seek to globalize our universities, if we have to internationalize, something has to be done about the relationship between the unions and the management. Given our own circumstances, during the perennial crises that afflict the public universities, what you see is that we cannot meaningfully fit into the global system of academia.
Let me give you an example. As I speak, we are hosting a Professor from Belgium and he just missed by whiskers, the drama of the current crisis, but he could see the aftermath in terms of a deserted campus. He asks what is happening, and I told him about the unfortunate incident.
In saying this, let me make a quick correction because the unions at a point in time, they were very relevant and necessary. Even now they are still relevant and necessary, but it is their modus operandi that I am having problem with. I am saying this because in the 80’s and 90’s when the compensation system was very poor, ASUU was very compelling and very necessary. I must say that in terms of shaping the internal information order on behalf of ASUU, I know some of the forces that were involved. But at the moment, there are some form of perennial faceoff between the unions on one hand and the management on the other hand and this is not good for the system. Moreover, some ASUU members think that they can just get away with anything in the name of ASUU activism. Whereas, the original members of the ASUU that we know stood for a fearless and honest interrogation of reality, but that is no longer the case. For me I am very sad because in my personal life, my wife and myself, my wife is what you can call a status quo person. So in our constant engagement at home, she is always a management person, whereas, I am pro labour. Now I find that while conceding that labour has good reason, some people commit grievous offence in the name of activism and think they can get away with it. Sometimes, they even lower the quality of academia. For instance, you see members of local ASUU hustling for contract with the head of procurement; personally as ASUU member, because I am still an ASUU member, I feel humiliated that the head of procurement will chase out a prominent member of ASUU from his office. You find such cases and when things don’t happen, they turn to activism. Unfortunately, people at the national level of ASUU may not even be aware of this. This is the easiest way to kill a union, for a member of ASUU to embark on short-run personal reliefs. How have you been able to manage all of these so far?
I want to commend you by your choice of words by saying managing the crisis. By the time you are managing a crisis in an intellectual environment, which means there are very little scope for the core competence in terms of teaching and research and community development, because you are always moving from one crisis to another. University is not structured to manage crisis, it has been structured to teach, conduct research and community services. In the Nigerian university system, we find out that you are ever moving from one crisis to the other, this is why we cannot grow. Looking back, I can now see that all along, probably in my unconscious sense, I was aware of this reality and that in my active days as teacher and researcher, I was a bit insulated from Nigerian university system, insulated in the sense that, apart from my teachings, I am not always around. You will always find me moving from one part of the world to the other in search of fellowships. It was like I bolted with my feet long time ago. But now the reality has caught up with me at the peak of my career. I cannot bolt with my feet, I have to engage with my desk, and engage with human beings. To that extent, I now appreciate the Vice Chancellors; I appreciate what an average chancellor goes through. You see people who have no idea of the university idea. The university idea is showing the light for the society, but it is no longer the case. It is worsening by the fact that we have interesting and uneven relationship with international system. In other words, if you are not promoting knowledge properly, there are social forces out there in the international systems that are ready to promote knowledge for you. In other words, what we have in our hand is a situation in which what goes for knowledge production is even being driven by external forces because we are busy bickering.
ASUU started on a brighter note of unionism, but since then other unions have keyed into what we can call simulated unionism. That is, adopt ASUU tactics without having ASUU deeper notions and philosophical concepts. Let me give you example; there is a prominent member of ASUU in my University, and I need to be personal here. I asked him if he knows Fasina. He said he has never heard of that name before. I said, my world! So, you don’t even know ASUU forebears. So, we have that kind of situation, those who just came into the struggle. As I am sitting here, I am thinking of Toye Olorode, Dipo