Insecurity: Nigerians should be allowed to protect themselves – ASUU

By Kingsley Chukwuka

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has advised the federal government to allow Nigerians protect themselves since the loss of lives has continued unabated.

Prof. Nasir Isa Fagge stated this yesterday during an opening remarks on a Public Lecture and a Town Hall Meeting organised by the University of Jos branch of the union held at ASUU Secretariat in Jos.

Fagge who was the Chairman of the occasion said it is sad that the federal government allowed the Boko Haram sect to escalate beyond the control of the federal government.

He said today not only Boko Haram in the Northeast,  but that the whole country is battling with one insurgency or the other.

However speaking on the topic: “Exploring radical remedies for the roots of pervasive insecurity in contemporary Nigeria”, Prof. Asisi Asobie, urged the government to adopt research based strategy as solution to end insecurity.

Asobie said combating pervasive insecurity is possible, saying it will  requires the interaction of the Nigerian working class in alliance with university based research, using accumulated research knowledge over time to combat the ugly trend.

He said, “The alliance between the working class and workers should lead to an engagement with selected wing of business community and state official.

“A three sided collaboration of workers backed by the Universities, the business community and state officials will provide a good bases for charting a viable strategy for addressing the identified roots of the three main source of pervasive insecurity in Nigeria”.

For this reason, the union said Nigerian state does not command the trust of the people.

Asobie however said the relegation of Nigeria universities to the background by the government, which has resulted in persistent strike actions by lecturers, has made the citadel of learning unable to produce necessary research to combat insecurity in the country.

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He said, “Furthermore, the Nigeria state has not yet earned the monopoly of the legitimacy of the possession, control, and use of the instruments of coercion in the society.

“Moreover, the Nigeria state lacks relative autonomy; its dominant class, an alliance of indigenous middlemen or communization agents and foreign merchants and speculative investors is not independent of social groups and heir parochial interests, and criminal activities. It is therefore unable to enforce the law of the land against criminality.”

“Also, Nigerian economy is a casino capitalist economy embedded in a globalizing world capitalist system. It therefore partakes of certain features of this contemporary globalization which make it promotional of criminality and therefore insecurity.”

He said that enduring solution to pervasive insecurity in contemporary Nigeria can only found by addressing its roots, adding that the three main sources of insecurity have some common roots. “They are the nature of the Nigerian state, the nature of the Nigerian economy, and the Nigeria social order and its legal order or justice system.”

Also speaking, Vice-Chancellor of UNIJOS, Prof Tanko Ishaya, said that the funding model for higher education in the country is completely flawed, and cannot take the country far.

He commended the former leaders of the union that fought hard to achieve TETFund that has helped the public universities in diverse ways.

The Vice Chancellor assured ASUU of the commitment of the University towards providing the enabling environment to advance their welfare.