Only good governance can prevent ‘Japa’ Syndrome among lecturers —ASUU president

PRESIDENT of the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, says it is only good governance by the political class at all levels that can prevent  lecturers, just like other professionals, from moving out of the country for greener pastures.

He said if the situation at home is friendly, with people having confidence in the system, many will definitely prefer to stay back in the country.

He said that “in a situation whereby lecturers are being treated poorly by the government, they will certainly look elsewhere for better treatments.”

Professor Osodeke shared this thought in an exclusive interview with Nigerian Tribune.

Giving example, he said, some professors in Nigeria earn as low as N300,000 monthly, whereas they can earn  five to six thousand dollars a month abroad doing the same job.

“This is one of the reasons  many lecturers are leaving and I can’t blame them for that. Instead, I will blame the leadership that allows the system to deteriorate to this level,” he stressed.

Osodeke, however, listed the measures the government could take to reverse the trend, charging it to back them up with political will.

According to him, the government should sign and implement the agreement reached with ASUU as all the issues causing lecturers to leave in droves are captured in the document.

He said: “Lecturers cannot be treated as casual workers or servants, or being owed several months of salaries and still be expected to remain in the system.”

Doing so, he pointed out, would be very difficult, adding that “they need to have confidence in the system to remain in it.”

He explained that though he didn’t have the statistics of lecturers who had left the system, particularly  in the last six months or those who may be preparing to leave, he was sure that the majority of them had left the country for greener pastures.

When asked if he was also preparing to leave, he said he had no such thought and more so, that he has about two years to retire from service.

He pointed out that he strongly believed in salvaging the situation together with other patriots until the system is working for all.

He insisted that “it is not that the country does not have the required resources to make things work, but what it lacks is the political will, especially by the successive leaders.”