Nigeria in the doldrums, no movement   

Amid the despair, lamentations and anomie in the polity, the compelling question is: Nigeria, quo vadis – resonating with one of Sonny Okosun’s lyrics, ‘Which Way Nigeria, Which Way to go’? The country is confronted with myriads of challenges at a turnover rate that is overwhelming.
 
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on warning strike, first for four weeks and second, for eight weeks because of federal government’s volte-face on memorandum of action on the agreement reached with the union, preferring de novo negotiation. It is déjà vu characteristic of the federal government which has consistently demonstrated unwillingness to reposition the Nigerian University for effective service delivery. And it is not hard to conclude that the federal government is insensitive to poor quality education in public universities, admitting over 90% of eligible students and the negative consequences on human capital development.   
 
On funding, the Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETFUND) is doing well within the constraints of funds in regard to building infrastructure – laboratories, classrooms, hostels, etc. It provides limited research grants through which some research facilities may be acquired. In addition there is limited provision for postgraduate training of academic staff. The growing number of public universities and the increasing population of students render the available funds inadequate. In any case, TETFUND was conceived ab initio as an intervention agency, to fill the gaps in funding by governments. It is instructive to add that buildings, though important, do not make the university. What is critical is the learning tool – teaching and research equipment many of which are capital-intensive, and without which the learning object of the university is sadly circumscribed.

It is disturbing that salaries and emoluments of workers across the board have not been systematically adjusted over the years in line with inflationary trends in the economy, save for the minimum wage. Even on this, payment of arrears accruing on consequential adjustment on salary is pending for the universities and many agencies. It is ludicrous that academic staff salary has not been reviewed since 2009. A professor of over twenty years on the bar earns a net pay of N416,000 only whereas a chief lecturer in a Polytechnic or College of Education earns a higher salary. Outside of the university, a Councilor in a local government allegedly receives about N360,000 every month. It is not the object of this article to do a comparative analysis of wages. But suffice it to say that disparities in pay structures for equivalent positions across agencies of government are matters of great concern.
 
It is instructive to add that the ‘Guideline for Administration of Retirement Benefits of Professors and A Category of Political Appointees’ (2017) states inter alia in section 2.1.1: ‘For any Professor to be entitled to receive pension at a rate equivalent to his or her annual salary upon retirement, such a Professor must:
i) be an academic staff who retires as a Professor after serving continuously up to the retirement age of 70 years in a University recognized by the National Universities Commission (NUC): or
ii) have served a minimum of 20 years as a Professor in a University recognized by National Universities Commission, and retired before attaining the age of 70 years.     

The way out:  Professor Nwabueze has prescribed as follows:  that the National Assembly exercising power under “section 4 (legislative power) taken together with section 315(existing law) (1) a and (4) can abolish the 1999 Constitution in its entity by repealing Decree 24 of 1999 to which the 1999 Constitution is annexed as a Schedule” Further, “ that Decree 24 of 1999 is ‘an existing law’ under section 315(1) and like all existing laws that are within the federal legislative competence is embraced within the National Assembly legislative authority to repeal or amend” (Nwabueze: Further thoughts on the Nigerian Constitution and Polity, Pp300 -302). To avoid a lacuna he has suggested that “ the adoption of the new (Constitution) should be done at one and the same time with the abolition of the (1999 Constitution).
 
The import of this account derives from the affirmation of residual sovereignty as residing in the people and can be deployed to pronounce the force of law on a Constitution duly approved by the people through a referendum. 

The on-going Constitution amendment with 68 items is not inspiring and does not address the fundamental structural dysfunction of the extant governance system. Given the entrenched interest and geopolitics of the National Assembly, the Constitution amendment exercise is simply motion without movement. The need for a new Constitution, nay, a people’s Constitution is an imperative.
 
For advocates of governance reform and true federalism, Professor Nwabueze’s proposal offers a pragmatic way out of the constitutional quagmire deserving of further interrogation by all patriotic citizens.
Professor Eromosele is former deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.