Prof Ife Adewumi of Niger Delta University (NDU), was former chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) branch. He is also an ordained minister of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria (FGCN), who is married to Dr. Adejoke Adewumi (Associate Professor) also a pastor in FGCN. In this interview with Gabriel Dike, the former activist spoke on the need for government to fund research in universities, why ASUU often goes on strike as well as how government can improve university management, thereby stemming brain drain of lecturers.      

  You were in OAU for several years. Nigerians will like to know why you left the institution.

Taking a career in any establishment is a matter of preference. There are three ways people leave a job: You either leave voluntarily or on retirement; or you may be sacked for a misdemeanor  by your boss, who can hire and fire and thirdly, if the person dies, whether he likes it or not the person receives one-minute silence. In my own case I voluntarily left to avoid further victimisation and I think when the ovation was loudest for my successful prosecution of our efforts to get the university administration to stop illegal deduction of about 7.5 per cent of entitlements of all staff from salary account received from the Federal Government.  Most importantly, I am a spirit being. The Lord told me to move on and I had to. I have no regrets moving on with my life!

How do you judge the success of that struggle, was the deduction stopped?

  Well the struggle started as continued consultation with the university administration from 2008 till late in 2009 when the joint union’s actions became a bit confrontational. Even at that it was a peaceful sit-out by workers after resumption daily. We pray and ask God to touch the hearts of the university authority to stop the enslavement through illegal deduction of our entitlements. 

The issue was that we had records of funds regularly deducted from salary account signed by the bursar and deputy bursar as it should be but the narration used in siphoning those funds say each transfer into a dedicated fixed deposit account was for staff Contributory Pensions Deduction for specific months from July 2004 until the time of the struggle and I think it still continues to date!

When I raised some questions as regards the legality for the deductions, the VC said we should go and bring any body. So, we sent petitions to ICPC, EFCC and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF). Those are bodies established by the government! Ironically when ICPC then responded to my letter of 2009 in 2010, I received two two contradictory mails in the same envelope. One was addressed to me and the other to the VC but I found that the contents were not the same. The one addressed to me stated that ICPC did not discover any wrongdoing by the university administration and the one to the VC directed him to refund some millions found in the account wrongfully deducted to the AGF!  That was when we called the press conference and your paper published a full detail that time! For that, we were witch-hunted and got threat calls. I then wrote a petition to the President of the Federation, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on the issues. The then chairman of ICPC, Justice Olu Ayoola (rtd.), was removed and the commission invited me to give a public lecture in Osogbo on how to fight corruption in higher institutions in April 2011 and at the end of the lecture the Coordinator of ICPC for the Zone said he was directed to give me an award of the commission for my integrity. I think shortly afterwards, the chairman of council called me to a meeting where he said the university council had decided to give a financial award of N450,000 to each senior staff whether academic or non academic and N250,000 to each junior staff. I called congress to present the offer and congress agreed that I should write the council chairman to accept the award and remind council that our interest, however, is in refund of the money that the university had been deducting since July 2007.

Many people have suffered injustice in the hands of university administrators.  There was no action I took without approval of the congress and when necessary I went to the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU (NEC) for permission.  That was why the university authority got some past ASUU veterans in its service to instigate my removal, as chairman collecting signatories to the effect, in three weeks they got only 95 names and when concerned members got to know of it under four days we got more than 350 signatories that wrote to counter the agents of the university administration.  The VC on the strength of the breakaway group stopped the union’s check-off deduction. Allegations of misappropriation of union fund were levied against me. I then took the petition to the floor of congress and requested congress to investigate me.  At the end of the panel’s investigation, the committee found that rather than taking the union’s money, I had been using my personal money to pay the union’s staff and do all that needed to be done due to the stoppage of the union’s check-off deduction by the VC. 

 Was that why you left OAU?

Honestly it is my faculty that can answer appropriately. I did not leave because of the struggle but because of victimization. I have no regret moving on and I know I have been relevant where I am now. I was not the only one so treated, mind you and I think it is unfair for those in power to use their position to oppress those who do not agree with their views.

 Why is this common in academics?

 For VC who delights in keeping assessment reports in their lockers, if it is for someone they don’t like, I think it has to do with the process that leads to their appointment. Until recently, three candidates are normally shortlisted and their names forwarded to the visitor, who, for federal institutions, is the president and for state universities, the governor.  Most of the times, the visitor picks the last candidate, who apparently is the least qualified in the judgment of the process used. Don’t ask me why! But I feel it is to make a stooge of such appointees. ASUU made this an issue in one of our negotiations, demanding for autonomy in choice of VC and principal officers. This was acceded to and since 2006 the council now decides on only one candidate and forwards the appointed candidate’s name to the visitor for noting and approval. One area that is still lacking in the process is that workers have no say in such exercise, and where referendums are conducted by the unions, it is presently more or less a waste of time. It could be argued that the unions have representation in council, as internal members of council. The number of internal members cannot sway the position of the larger external members. I believe referendums by workers should carry a reasonable percentage of the scores because the VC would work with the people.

 What would you consider as your academic contributions in the Nigerian University System?

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 Well, in academics our major roles are teaching, research and publishing of findings and services within the university and outside. These three are the criteria used for promotion of academics. Could I have had meaningful contributions if I had not been favoured to have good mentorship from senior colleagues? My foremost mentor is Engr-Prof Oluwole Songonuga, who supervised my first two degrees in Environmental Health. I have produced two PhD candidates successfully and more than 20 MSc graduates. Few PhD and MSc candidates could not cope, not because I was not available. In Nigeria, hardly do civil engineering students come back for postgraduate studies because of the high demand for graduates in the industries. The few that come are either hopeful that they would get a teaching job after their programme. My PhD work was on conversion of palm kernel shells to activated carbon for different industrial uses, such as water treatment, liquid purification, etc. From the PhD work, I obtained a patent for a carbon adsorbent that could remove heavy metals and chlorinated compounds from water. Those Trihalomethanes and heavy metals contribute to cancerous growth over time when they bioaccumulate in human tissues.

Above all these, I see myself always as loco in parentis (surrogate parent) to all my students, no matter their tribe or faith male or female. That was a calling that I received when the Lord gave me opportunity to come back for my postgraduate studies and later became a lecturer. The efforts at hands on research by our students helped the department to get full accreditation of both COREN and NUC in 2014. The programme was not accredited since 2000 that the department started. So, as I said, I am a blessing to NDU.

 Why do lecturers say their take home pay can’t take them home?

Well, it is obvious that lecturers in Nigeria are the least paid globally. In all our negotiations we would show the government what the average lecturer earns, rank by rank, in Europe, in USA or Canada, even in Africa. The government knows and agrees with us that truly, Nigerian academics are grossly underpaid. The government would then be pleading that we should allow a gradual increment for the sake of meeting other needs. In recent times, Abacha government even gave more to education than other governments. No government has met the minimum UNESCO allocation of 26 per cent of total budget to education. If lecturers or university staffs are not well paid, there would not be full commitments. I think most governments at all levels and even across Africa do that, giving more fund to entertainment. Can you imagine millions, watching obscene Big Brother Africa and what the winner would go home with after making a caricature of Africans? Why is DSTV not sponsoring Technology Incubation Centres (TIC) and showcasing Africa got talents where young talents could be discovered to design and patent relevant things to our economy? Why are MTN, GLO and DSTV and other multinationals profiting from our unsustainable consumption, not create chairs with fund to support major researches in public universities?

Many lecturers have relocated to other countries and there is dearth of PhD holders to teach in most of the mushroom private universities that are being established! We that are around believe we cannot all leave the system to collapse without a struggle, hence what most would term frequent ASUU strikes. ASUU does not go on strike without following due process of Trades Unions Acts (2003) and other regulatory principles.

With the reports of indictment coming out from OAU recently, will you say ASUU under your chairmanship was justified to take the action?

 A resounding yes! A union is to protect the welfare of its members from oppression in any form! The harassment the acting VC is receiving is from those struggling to keep their tracks covered. Several people across all the unions have been calling me to appreciate my selfless service, as coordinator of the trade unions during those three years of non-violent struggle. When the council chairman said I was the only leader not cooperating; and how the university would send me on overseas trip for three months, I told him I was content and needed no such support.  

In view of the findings, what will you advise government do with the reports?

The discovered monies in different fixed accounts outside Ile-Ife by the committee set up by the acting VC belong to OAU workers (July 2004 to date). So, all staff within that timeframe should be paid sums, pertaining to the deductions; the money taken from salary account every month with wrong narration and kept in fixed deposit accounts should not be treated as government fund. Let the government decide what to do with those who have brought the hardships on innocent poor people! The findings should not be swept under any carpet! 

Were you and others threatened during the struggle?

That would be an understatement. I have narrated the sack of a colleague, another executive member was trailed by hired assassins to her residence in town and a day to her defence of her PhD thesis, they came back again and under gun threat, took her laptop on which she had her thesis. She was to be wasted but one of the assailants pleaded with others that, though they were paid to eliminate her, they knew she was defending the interest of workers. And because we were fighting for the welfare of all workers, I got security reports of efforts being taken to eliminate me and that I should pray more, etc. Others who remained committed to the struggle were placed on 24-hour watch to know who they met and where they went. 

Since you left OAU in 2012, have you visited the place?

Of course, several times! Nobody declared me as personae non grata!  Both my colleagues in academics and other friends and comrades in sister unions call me to pray for me and thank me for the good leadership I gave when I was in OAU. In fact, there were days I just came to process my car sticker and workers were at a rally, on sighting me, they insisted I should come and give them pastoral blessing! I am not their problem but those who stole workers’ money are those that would be afraid to walk freely. The righteous is bold as a Lion.