Nation
Strikes, strikes and more strikes: Buhari’s unfulfilled promises worsen education, health sectors
By Tumininu Ojelabi Hassan
The impact of unfulfilled promises of President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime has posed devastating effects on the education and health sectors.
Despite Buhari’s promise to reinvigorate the health and education sectors when seeking office in 2015, unfortunately after eight years in office, he’s leaving these sectors in a bad shape. The administration era was characterised by the exodus of doctors and nurses for better opportunities abroad, incessant strikes by doctors and the academic staff union of universities and polytechnics. The NARD just called off a five-day strike while the Johesu has embarked on an indefinite strike. No Nigerian university was ranked amongst the world’s top 1000 universities updated recently.
Since 2015 till date, the tertiary institutions in the country lack basic infrastructure, such as lecture halls with modern facilities, halls of residence, laboratories and well equipped libraries. In addition, tertiary institutions are understaffed and underfunded. In 2022, The National Universities Commission (NUC) raised concerns over understaffing of universities, stating that universities had just 100,000 lecturers for 2.1 million students.
In 2016, ASUU embarked on a 7-day strike from November 16, 2016 to November 23, 2016. The failure of the federal government to implement the 2009 agreement prompted this strike. Also, in response to the federal government’s refusal to fulfill the 2009 agreement it reached with the union, ASUU went on a 35-day strike from August 14, 2017 to September 18, 2017. In 2018, the union embarked on strike for 95 days, which began on November 4, 2018 and lasted till February 7, 2019 due to indifference and lackadaisical attitude of the government to negotiated agreement with the union.
The strike in 2020, which lasted for nine months started as a warning strike on March 9, 2020 and was prolonged to December 23, 2020 due to withheld salaries and non-remittance of check-off dues.
After losing a full academic session to COVID-19 Pandemic and ASUU strike in 2020, in 2022, Nigerian students were frustrated by the deceleration of their studies when ASUU commenced an 8-month strike, which started on February 14, 2022 and was called off on October 14, 2022. This action was as a result of the failure of the Federal Government to meet the demands of ASUU, which include to provide funds for the revitalisation of public universities to the tune of N1.1 trillion, payment of earned academic allowances, adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) instead of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), payment of promotion arrears and the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement.
Under the administration of President Buhari, ASUU embarked on series of strike for a total of 668 days except in 2015. Compared with the previous regime of Goodluck Jonathan, ASUU embarked on a 12 months strike. Two months after Jonathan’s emergence, ASUU embarked on a five-month strike action from July 2010 to January 2011. ASUU complained about the failure of the government to implement the 2009 MoA, and again went on a two-month strike from December 2011. Between July and December 2013, the union embarked on another strike, this lasted for five months and 15 days.
The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) is not excluded from the perpetual strike subject under Buhari’s administration. In 2017, the union embarked on a 7-day warning strike from January 30, 2017 to February 5, 2017. The same year, the union went on another strike, which lasted for 15 days from November 11, 2017 to November 29, 2017.
In 2018, ASUP commenced a two-month strike from December 12th, 2018 to February 13th, 2019. The union’s longest strike was in 2021, which lasted for 65 days. It started on April 6, 2021 and was called off on June 9, 2021. In 2022, the union started a 2-week warning strike on May 16, 2022 and was called off on May 29, 2022.
This action by ASUP was ascribed to unresolved issues, which are, the non-release of the approved N15bn revitalisation fund for the sector, non-payment of the new minimum wage arrears and the non-release of the reviewed normative instruments for institution/management and programmes accreditation among others.
Others are the non-compliance with approved retirement age, non-deployment of approved salary structures, poor governance structure and other issues affecting standards, particularly in state-owned polytechnics.
During this administration, 1470 students were abducted in the north east which led to the shutting down of 11,500 schools. The number of children and youths out of school are estimated to be 20 million, according to data from UNESCO, a huge gap from 13.2 million in 2015 when Buhari’s administration kicked off. Also, UNICEF revealed that, one in every five of the world’s out of school children is in Nigeria.
Ironically, the administration claims success in the education sector, stating that it funded tertiary institutions with N2 trillion, N264 billion in matching grants for basic education professional training for teachers in the states and partnered with the World Bank to support skills acquisition in the states and for federal technical colleges.
In 2018, JAMB claimed that a snake swallowed 36 million naira proceeds from sale of scratch cards. Amazingly, in 2018, President Buhari approved the reduction in the cost of forms for JAMB, NECO SSCE and Basic Education Certificate Examination. JAMB from N5,000 to N3,500, NECO from N11,350, to N9,850, which took effect from January 2019.
Similarly, the health sector is troubled with strikes, derelict facilities and lack of health professionals. The members of the Nigerian Association of Residents doctor just concluded a 5-gday warning strike demanding for immediate massive recruitment of clinical staff in the hospitals, immediate withdrawal of the bill seeking to compel medical and dental graduates to render five-year compulsory services in Nigeria before being granted full license to practice, immediate infrastructural development in the hospitals with a subsequent allocation of at least 15 per cent of the budgetary provisions to health in line with the 2001 Abuja declaration.
In addition, the immediate payment of the 2023 Medical Residency Training Fund in line with the agreements reached at the stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Federal Ministry of Health on February 15, 2023, the immediate increment in the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure to the tune of 200 per cent of the gross salary of Doctors in addition to the allowances included in the letter written to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire on July 7, 2022, for the review of CONMESS, amongst others. According to NARD, it would be reviewing the strike in two weeks.
In 2016, NARD embarked on an 18-day strike, while in 2017 the association embarked on a 10-day nationwide strike from September 4, 2017, which was suspended on September 14, 2017 requesting for the resolution of continual shortcomings and unpaid salaries of health workers in federal and state tertiary health institutions.
In 2020, NARD went on a one week strike from June 15, 2020 to June 22, 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic over the disengagement of 26 resident doctors at the Hospital, salary cuts and issues surrounding the medical residency training fund. In September 2020, the association embarked on another strike which lasted for 3 days, from September 7 to September 10, 2020.
In April 2021, NARD went on a strike for nine days which commenced on April 1, 2021 and was called off on April 10, 2021. The action was due to the refusal of the Office of the Head of Service to allow the enrollment of resident doctors on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system platform. The same year, another strike began on August 2, 2021 and was suspended after 64 days on October 4, 2021.
NARD demanded for immediate salary payment to all house officers and an upward review of the hazard allowance to 50 per cent of consolidated salaries of all health workers, among others. Between 2015 and 2023, health workers embarked on a total of 116 days strike.
Recently, the Chief Medical Director of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, disclosed that over 150 nurses resigned their appointments in the hospital within the last three years on grounds of relocation abroad for better prospects. In addition to this, he stated that the application for positions of nurses and medical doctors had reduced in the hospital.
According to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigeria lost about 10,000 doctors between 2015 and 2022. A country of about 213 million people now has only 24,000 doctors, down from about 34,000 in 2015. Going by Nigeria’s population of over 200 million people, that is by a ratio of one doctor to between 4,000 and 5,000 patients while the World Health Organisation recommends one doctor for 600 patients. Every year, about 2000 doctors exit the Nigeria.
Based on data obtained from the UK General Medical Council, the government body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners, there are currently 11,055 Nigerian trained doctors in the UK making Nigeria the third highest number of foreign doctors working in the UK after India and Pakistan. There are about 4000 Nigerian trained doctors in the United States of America, 632 in Canada and 500 in Saudi Arabia.
Doctors, who interacted with our correspondent attributed the reasons for the brain drain to the poor renumeration, insufficient funding, inadequate training, poor condition of service and welfare of health workers in Nigeria.
Nigerians have also raised concerns over the insufficiency of bed-space in Federal and State owned hospitals. This further reveals the awful state of the health sector as some people had to resort to going to private hospitals for medical care where they paid through their noses. The health conditions of those, who couldn’t afford treatments in private hospitals worsened while some lost their lives. No provision whatsoever are made for relatives of people, who are lucky to get bed-space in government-owned hospitals, some had to either sleep on the chair, floor or in the car.
Indisputably, the health sector of the country is in a dismal state, this reflects on Buhari dependence on foreign medical care, the recent one being a trip to London to see his dentist.
Interestingly, Buhari’s regime claims success in the health sector, citing the passage of legislation on basic health provision, disease control, and cancer treatment and the upgrade of some federal tertiary institutions. However, no attempts were made to build world class hospitals that would end the national embarrassment of Nigerian leaders traveling to foreign countries for medical care.
From 2016 to 2022, the health sector received less than 8% of the national budget, except in 2023. Based on UNICEF’s report titled “Situation of women and children in Nigeria”, Nigeria records 576 maternal mortality per 100,000 live births, while approximately 262,000 babies die at birth every year. Infant mortality currently stands at 69 per 1,000 live births, while under-five deaths is 128 per 1,000 live births with more than 64% of the deaths caused by pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea. In Africa, Nigeria has highest malaria death rate, accounting for 31.3% of 619,000 deaths recorded worldwide in 2021.
An assessment on the state of primary healthcare delivery in Nigeria between 2019 and 2021 by the quartet, ONE Campaign, National Advocates for Health, Nigeria Health Watch, and Public and Private Development Centre, revealed that in the areas of immunisation, nutrition, and maternal health, only 19 of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory achieved a score of 56% and above. Only 11 states have at least one functional primary healthcare per ward. There is no single world-class hospital in the country.
Beyond reasonable doubt, Buhari’s administration reneged on his promises to restructure and fix the loopholes in the education and health sector, thereby leaving these sectors in a bleak state for his successor.
