The recent increase in tuition fees of the Unity schools and that of federal universities has clearly shown Tinubu is all out to destroy the legacy of free education and efforts of Awolowo in the education sector.
It is a common knowledge that Obafemi Awolowo is an exceptional role model to Nigeria in politics. Like Oduduwa, however, Obafemi Awolowo is another legendary patron-saint of the Yoruba race who we regarded as the pioneer of free education.
The easiest language that dominates Awolowo’s worlds and political outlooks, had always been his desire and supreme objective of ensuring that every citizen, no matter his place of birth or religion, must be given equal access and opportunities to free education at all levels.
Apart from food and shelter, however, Awolowo believed that the next greatest ‘Man’s need’ is education. The complexity in that his belief also was that, next to life, education is man’s inalienable right and that, among other rights, it must be provided by the State.
Today, Tinubu has a great opportunity to actualize Awolowo’s dream all over Nigeria. Unfortunately, what Tinubu is offering is huge tuition fees.
Do the dead look back to see what those they left behind have done to their (dead) legacies? . If Chief Awolowo were to look back from his grave and behold what his ‘children’ are doing with his legacy of free education, what would be his thought? Would the sage be happy? Would he beat his chest and say he left behind ‘children’ that are worthy to be called “Awoists”? Or would he simply shake his head and ask the powers that rule the universe why they allowed termites to make a mess of the biggest legacy he bequeathed to this generation.
Today, we are in the season of the locust, where the beneficiaries of Awolowo’s free education that made the children of the very poor to go to school, and amounted to something in life, are now taking education out of the reach of the average people, while the very poor are forgotten.
This wave of increments in Nigerian universities will only create a cycle where only the privilege have access to education.
UNILAG fees got increased by 400% to about 190,000 Naira and the same is about to be replicated across all federal universities in the country. The same kind of exponential increment happened across Unity schools last week.
It is preposterous for Tinubu-led government to make such an increase when the standard of living of people have not increase, people are living below poverty line. The arguments put forward to back such dastardly assault on the Nigerian people are as puerile as they are malicious. How can students be paying 190k in federal universities? The arguments are pedestrian, lack depth and too routine to convince anyone in a time like this.
It sounds rather lame an argument to say money saved from subsidy will be used for infrastructural development, or to present the appearance that subsidy is an unusual phenomenon. The fact remains that governments all over the world subsidise one thing or the other.
There is increased in the price of basic commodities out there. There is no solution in sight to that, what the government is proposing is for more hardship for the working people.
It is safe to say, that our hope has finally been dashed with misplaced and inaccurate priority.
Adesina Julius write from Igbeti, the marble city.