SPEC & RSM HOLDS PUBLIC SYMPOSIUM, REJECTS FEES INCREMENT, STUDENTS LOAN AND PIECEMEAL PALLIATIVE

Report by Salako Kayode

The members of the Save Public Education Campaign (SPEC) and Revolutionary Socialist Movement (RSM) hold a public symposium on the Theme “Nigeria @ 63, Any Hope For The Working Masses” and a sub-theme on “Public Education Crisis, What Can Be Done?” The program started around 11 a.m. on the 23rd of September, 2023, with solidarity songs followed by the introduction by Comrade Dimeji Macaulay. He gave the introduction and he carefully explained Nigeria’s situation and the depth of the history of how Nigeria came about – the independence to the type of system we operate and how the military ruled the country without solving any social problems except oppression and abuse of democratic rights, transfer to the civilian rule and so on. According to him, “In a few days to come, Nigeria will be 63 years old, and it’s an age of pure maturity where we should have solved our problems”.  He continued that “the crisis of neo-liberalism and neo-colonialism has held Nigeria down. In a few days, a dollar will be N1000. This ‘dollarisation’ of our economy has increased the prices of goods. Removal of subsidy has also increased transportation cost and living standards are in jeopardy”.

In his introduction, he explained how the Nigerian ruling elite ruled Nigeria like a conquered state.  He said, “There is no hope of any kind under President Tinubu and the APC regime because he represents the capitalists’ interest and by so, he is an extension of the Buhari regime”. He also talked about the crisis in the economy, the dollarization of Nigeria’s currency, the collapse of national grids, unemployment crisis which has greatly affected the working class and the poor masses. In conclusion, he urged the masses to be united and fight back because the ruling elites were not tired of looting and continued to oppress the poor. He called on the masses to embrace a change of system by replacing capitalism with socialism where the resources will be used for the benefit of all.

 

Another speaker Comrade  Agena Robbert Ande, the Federal Capital Territory Chair of the Africa Action Congress (AAC)  said there are lots of struggles ahead of the Nigerian youths as it is not yet Uhuru. He mentioned the struggle against police brutality which has continued nationwide, stating that the Men of the police still moved around with POS machines and carried out arbitrary arrests of innocent youths across the country. He urged Nigerians to stand up to defend their rights and stop the fear of the unknown. He stressed that “if we talk of protest, it is not a violent kind of protest but a peaceful one”. He added that “it is our right to protest against injustice and that what is needed is a revolution to move out of the socio-economic crisis that has plagued Nigeria”.

 

Another speaker, Comrade Alfa Marshall from the More Action Less Talk (MALTA), in his contribution, said that “there is nothing good that can come from the Tinubu regime looking at the method he used in removing subsidy and the method he is presently using in introducing the subsidy back with the huge amount of money stylishly spent last month (about 169 billion naira)”.  He said that “there is a need for a united fight against all the anti-people policies of the regime”. He painfully addressed the attempt of the FG to make Nigerians pay for more crisis while President Tinubu and others are living large and political office holders are earning jumbo pay while Nigerians are suffering.

 

Comrade Dammy Owot, the Secretary of the Workers and Youth Solidarity Network, said, “The new fee increment will send many students from poor and working-class families out of school setting the example of what is happening in all of our campuses. While some schools doubled their fees, some fees rose astronomically at about 500%. This is coming when the federal government promised that there wouldn’t be an introduction of tuition fees”. He called on Nigerian students to fight back because the claim by the government that there are no resources to fund education isn’t tenable. According to him, “it is important to ask a question from the government that if they have no money to subsidize petroleum, fund social services, fund education and security, then what exactly do the government have money to fund”? He added that students’ loan should be rejected because it solves no problem. He concluded by saying that “there is no better time than now to call for a general strike in saving the public education sector from total collapse”. He therefore called out NANS to wake up and fight for the Nigerian students.

 

Comrade Femi Falana (SAN), in his contribution, asserted that “we have to get set to fight the reactionary forces among us who have introduced neo-liberal capitalist policy that may force the children of the poor out of school”. He further explained that “Nigeria is endowed with enough resources and sufficient enough to provide free education at all levels for its citizenry and that free education and other social amenities were possible if resources were democratically managed and controlled”. Falana noted that the resources available to Nigerian universities must be monitored and also the revenue shared with different state and local governments.

 

He added that the “piecemeal palliative” provided by the government must be rejected by the people because the federal government could afford billions of naira for National Assembly members for cars, allowances, renovation, and consistency projects. He concluded that “we must charge the government to revive our refinery and also cut the cost of governance, not that the ruling elite living like a king, while the poor are encouraged to continue to endure the untold hardship”.

 

One of the online participants, Abu  Aburazak, a student leader at the University of Benin said that “in as much as we expect much from the government, we should also encourage the ASUU to be accountable even for the little fund provided by the government”. While noting the uniqueness of the contribution, Comrade Dimeji responded with the role ASUU has been playing in saving public education from total collapse. According to Dimeji, “If not for the ASUU struggle, there would not be anything called public education with the level of nonchalant attitude always displayed by the federal government. We have principled support for ASUU because it is ASUU that has been standing against the federal government’s attempt to commercialise education”.

 

The programme ended with enthusiasm for participants to continue to ask questions and build united solidarity against anti-poor policies.