Are we not all agents?

Photo credit: BBC

Welcome to another semester.

Soon, your favourite resident boys will volunteer to carry your bags but you must have seen felicitous fliers severally in the last two months. It is that time of the session again and interestingly Nigeria just went through that phase.

In a political system, every person is an agent of one thing or the other; an agent of change, corruption, or never-ending corruption. Whatever stance is taken by any individual during this period produces a specified effect and by no means, makes that individual less of an agent than his/her counterpart. Sitting on the fence and choosing to go with the flow makes you an advocate for a dull and non-accountable management of the political system in the university. Subjecting your choice of a candidate to personal feelings and relationships and not capability makes you an advocate for an administration that would likely bring the school and its students ridicule. In likewise vein, choosing a leader from the facts presented to what the aspirant has said or claimed to be makes that individual an advocate for a change waiting to happen. 

The just concluded Presidential elections in the country had so many participants at different stages and most heartbreaking is the active participation of lecturers in the electoral process. After the 2022 strike and subsequent fall-out between the two parties (ASUU and the FG), anyone would have said and promised on behalf of the ASUU that they would separate themselves from the electioneering process and refuse the Federal Government from employing their services. On the day of the elections, however, they gladly took up the waistcoat jacket identifying them as INEC agents and performed their tasks like before. The ASUU Chairman had hurriedly said that those involved in the electioneering process were not affiliated with the ASUU but we saw reputable Vice-Chancellors, Professors, and Doctors of ASUUfied universities function at different strata of the collation ladder.

These very lecturers whom ASUU decided to unceremoniously disclaim are usually the first to throw in the towel once the bell of an industrial strike action is rung. So who are those people we saw? CONUA members? Unlikely.

Again, they allowed themselves to be used and while it is very easy to throw stones, we must realise many of us will find ourselves in far more questionable positions at the upcoming UI elections. 

Your behaviour at the coming elections will contribute to the overall result of the elections and what we get in the next administration. It is time to bend down, keep our ears on the ground, and refrain from family politics.