According to the current situation, President Muhammadu Buhari’s ultimatum issued to the Minster of Education Adamu Adamu, that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, end its strike within two weeks was merely a ploy.
On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, the president issued the demand. It lost effect on August 2, 2022. There were no observable signs of substantive communication with ASUU and other university workers’ unions during that time. If so, the Minister has not yet informed the country of what happened or the progress being made.
The Blame Game
We instead witnessed Adamu’s somewhat naive attempt to place the blame for his failure to manage this problem in his Ministry on Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment. Adamu claimed he delegated the negotiations to Ngige since the latter argued that the Labour Minister must serve as the negotiator under the ILO statute.
The president put the onus of accountability completely on Adamu’s shoulders by issuing the ultimatum. Ngige was relieved to be excluded from the scene. Adamu could now wave his magic wand, which he had refrained from using for the first five months of the strike because of Ngige’s involvement. Not even a cry or a bang could be heard when it was released. On Monday, August 1, 2022, ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke declared a further four-week extension of the strike because no response to the presidential ultimatum had been received.
The Wonder
What is going on between Buhari and Adamu has Nigerians wondering. Why does Buhari continue to give Adamu a crucial portfolio like education when it is obvious that he has continually performed poorly? Under his leadership, the number of children not in school more than doubled, from 10.5 million to over 18 million now. Children that are not attending school are most prevalent in Nigeria.
Here was a minister who promised that the Federal Government would declare a “state of emergency” on education in April 2018. That date came and went, and nothing of the sort happened. If Adamu stays in office till the expiry of the Buhari government in May 2023, he would have spent eight years on the job. He would be the longest serving Education Minister. What justification can he possibly give for his unprecedented long period in that office, except perhaps, his touted personal relationship with President Buhari?
Failure in other regions and under normal conditions is promptly followed by termination or even resignation. But since Buhari took office, failure has frequently been met with support. This regime is incapable of experiencing failure-related embarrassment. Executive orders are meaningless.
To allow our kids to go back to school, we continue to demand that the president reach a settlement with ASUU. He was chosen to do that particular job. He has to break this deadlock.
