Who is Professor Victor Emmanuel Osodeke?

The title above is not originally mine. Rather, it is the headline of an online post by ng.news247.com on May 30, 2021, the day before Osodeke was elected President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), taking over the leadership of Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi. Osodeke, a professor of soil science at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, was vice president of ASUU. The ng.news247.com posting was, of course, intended as an exposé on Osodeke and a warning to ASUU members and students on what to expect from the new ASUU President. Osodeke snagged the position of President of ASUU on May 31, 2021 and the rest, as they say, is history.

The ng.news247.com post on Osodeke read: "Ngnews247 reports that Osodeke has an ongoing battle with management at Michael Okpara University where he works, which has sparked a movement known as of Coalition to Save Michael Okpara University (MOUA), for once alleging (that) "his ambition to become the National President of ASUU should be thwarted..."

Osodeke, however, emerged at the National Conference after Professor Biodun Ogunyemi's term ended, promising that the union's struggles for better funding of the sector and treatment of its members will continue during his tenure. Osodeke took over from Ogunyemi who led ASUU during a period when he engaged the government in a long battle for better financing of the sector, demands for social protection and the call for the repeal of the controversial integrated payroll system. and personnel information, IPPIS.

Prof. Ogunyemi's tenure has seen the longest strike due to Covid-19. A member of Save University Michael Okpara, however, told Ngnews247 that the longest strike during Ogunyemi's tenure will be a breeze during Osodeke's tenure...all students in Nigeria's universities should prepare for a long strike...

Professor Osodeke could not be reached for comment on this. It was reported at the conference, however, that he had pledged that the "union's fight for better funding of the sector and treatment of its members will continue during his tenure."

I have removed many of the allegations made against Osodeke in this report for obvious reasons. Let's start by agreeing with Osodeke and, indeed with ASUU in general, that the fight for better funding for education and for better treatment of ASUU members is a just fight that must be supported by every well-meaning comrade thinking. No nation progresses better than the progress it is able to make in its education sector. Whoever you are and whatever you become in life, education, whether formal or informal, plays a central role. As it is with individuals, so it is with nations. So it's foolhardy to think you can advance a nation and its people when you're stunting their educational advancement.

Have we wondered why Nigerians excel abroad, achieving feats difficult to achieve at home and battling against the best in other nations? This is because of the conducive environment abroad, chief among which is the quality education and training facilities that are available abroad but lacking here. And it's not like it was rocket science. Our leaders go abroad and see these facilities. They go abroad to take advantage of it and they send their children to the best schools abroad to benefit from the best educational and training facilities offered there but neglect, out of sheer wickedness and selfishness, to reproduce the same thing here. Instead, they steal the money that should have been used to provide free, quality education here.

Our lecturers are said to be the lowest paid in Africa, where we pride ourselves on being the 'Giant of Africa', with minnows and Lilliputians doing even better than us. Isn't that why our students not only flood Europe and America for their studies, but also less fanciful countries like Ghana, Benin Republic, Lesotho and what have you? We are losing billions in what is now called educational tourism. So on this point Osodeke and ASUU are fully justified and they have my unwavering support and unmitigated and unmitigated sympathy.

The Nigerian government has never at any time given pride of place to education. Funding has been derisory. Policies have been in spurts. The school curriculum is outdated. And with the children of our leaders educated in the best schools abroad, the commitment of policy makers to the education sector is eroding. At best, they pay lip service in lofty statements made but barely implemented. In that they turn around to embezzle, mismanage, misapply, misallocate and embezzle even the meager funds voted for education, they are laughing our ass off.

So, make no mistake, the problems in the education sector – decadence and decadence – are entirely the responsibility of the government, and not just the Buhari government, but successive ones...