The war between ASSU and Federal Government

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU) recent strike action once again has shown that the country’s educational system is being toyed with! It is very pathetic that both ASSU and federal government had to wait for another strike action before their issues were resolved and it is also even more pathetic that the leaders of this country don’t know how important the educational sector is especially our universities. The questions now are; must strike be used to sort out things in the educational sector?  must there be strike actions every session in our universities? Why can’t there be a lasting solution to the causes of strike in the sector especially in our universities?

A country that does not have benefiting plans for the educational sector is also planning to fail! It is very obvious that there are no benefiting plans for our educational sector because if there are, strike would not be the only weapon of war by ASSU and the federal government would have done something to prevent the constant recurrence of it. Secondly, the recent strike by ASSU did not get the kind of reactions it should have gotten. This is because when subsidy was removed completely by the federal government, everyone could see the reactions from all corners of the country, we could see how the Labour Union reacted; condemning the policy and went on mass protest claiming that the union’s actions were in the interest of the Nigerian masses. The question now is what was Labour Union’s reaction to the recent war between FG and ASSU which led to Nigerian University students to stay out of school for more than one month?

If Labour Union actually fights for the interest of the masses, I wonder why the Union did not make so much noise as the Union did during the removal of fuel subsidy saga. The simple reason is because Labour Union, FG, ASSU are neglecting the educational sector in the country, I don’t think they know the importance of the sector in the sustainability of the country. With quality educational sector, the country would have more responsible and enlightened youths who will shun terrorism act, political thuggish acts, and the country will have more responsible and patriotic leaders etc.

The use of strike as the only weapon to demand for certain measures weather selfish demands or not should stop. The action has led to unqualified graduates who are not employable in the labour market. This is because, in order to meet up with the university calendar, the various Universities in the country would apply the rush method of lecturing so as to start exams on time, this will lead to many students not actually understanding the courses being taught by these lecturers. The action has led to students being idle on several occasions and it is a well known fact that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. When some of these unqualified and unemployable graduates are unable to get employed, they seek for silly ways to make a leaving. I hardly hear of countries that still toy with their educational sector as we do in this part of the world, even some of the worst countries in Africa don’t go on educational strike as we do in Nigeria. It is expected of Labour Union to stand out and engage in actions that will end educational strike actions in the country especially by ASSU once and for all for the real interest of the masses if the Union actually fights for the interest of the masses.

THE ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN SUPPORT OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

Good governance is very important in the development of any society. This will surely lead to the development of all the individuals in the society at large.
Now, how can good governance be achieved and felt by everyone in a society like Nigeria? The answer is through the activities of the Public Relations department of the society.
Now what is governance? Governance is defined as the process by which decisions are implemented (or not
implemented) Wikipedia. Governance involves some structures which
are put in place for decisions to be implemented; these structures are
individuals who have some roles to play in decision making and implementation.
Positive decision affects the public positively. The problem with a country like
Nigeria is bad governance; however I will like to define the concept of good
governance.
Good governance has eight major characteristics. It is
Participatory, Consensus Oriented Accountable, Transparent, Responsive,
Effective and Efficient, Equitable and Inclusive and follows the rule of law.
It’s also responsible for present and future needs of the society. Frankly
speaking, when any of the eight major characteristics is left behind, the
concept of good governance turns to bad governance. There is only one way to
attain good governance is by applying the concept in the sub – department of a
giving society such as the various institutions in a country – the university,
the church, Electoral body, power sector and others. When the various sub –
department gets good governance then the country at large gets development
Now, looking at the concept of Public Relations which is defined by
different scholars as a “distinctive management functions which helps establish
and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and
cooperation (Dr. Rex Hariow). Sam Black defines it as the art and science of
achieving base on truth and full information, going further, the British
institute sees PR as “a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish
and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its public.
Drawing from the above definitions, it’s vivid enough that PR
involves understanding, acceptance communication, management, cooperation,
maintenance, efforts which exist between an organization and its public.
Looking at the role PR has in support of good governance in a
country like Nigeria and establishments like the Police Force, Power sector, the
Universities and others, it will be clear that the concept (Public Relations) is
an important tool for sustainable good governance. But how does this work? Since
communication is very important in PR, the department has to be in constant
contact with the public of a given country or establishment and should stand as
an intermediary between the government and the public. PR makes sure that only
the truth is made known to the public. Since PR is not a propaganda it’s should
not support any form of Mal administration and should always strive for truth
using peaceful method. Through this, the PR practice encourages the leadership
to work hard strive for good governance. PR also carries out periodical
researches to have a deliberate, planned effort to maintain and sustain
understanding between an organization (government) and the governed (public).
The research comes in form of public opinion poll which is meant to know the
public reactions about the services they get because governance is a service to
the people.
Whenever there is good governance, there seems to be peace and
security which encourages investment and development. The crises rocking the
Niger Delta only needs the activities of PR professional practitioners who will
try to create that mutual understanding between the government and the host communities, since PR is all about ensuring mutual goodwill. In most cases, the government
needs to explain to the public the reasons behind its slow to progress which
could be a tangible reason. this means that the government also needs the activities of the Public Relations practice. There is no doubt of the fact the PR has huge tasks to play
in support of good governance.

MEDIA STRATEGIC PLAN ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA FIVE ¬– YEAR MEDIA STRATEGIC PLAN ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
2011-2015
BY

OKORO KINGSLEY UGONN













INTRODUCTION
This strategic media relations plan for university of Nigeria Nsukka is directed towards the actual utilization of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project available in the institution base on its objectives and vision and was formulated using Frank. W. Jefkins public relations planning model. This model was chosen simply because of its straight nature and simplicity. The Frank W. Jefkins Model has the following as its basic steps:
A. Appreciation of situation
B. Identification of Objectives
C. Identifying publics
D. Choice of Media and technique
E. Budgeting
F. Evaluation




EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The mission of University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Restoring the dignity of man
The vision of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Placing the University among the best Universities in the world


SITUATION ANALYSIS AND PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
There is a rising rate of poor purposeful utilization of the ICT projects initiated by the vice chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. This is rampant among students and staff of the university.
OBJECTIVES
This 5 – year media relations strategic plan is with the aim of re – orienting the institution’s primary and secondary audience on the actual purpose of the ICT projects. The case where students and staff of this institution poorly make use of the ICT project is in the increase. A visit to the institution Library reveals that students are always busy engaging in to fruitless activities, making them to deviate from the actual objectives of the ICT project. The students are seen browsing most of the time social network sites where they chat and upload pictures. Most of the Institution’s workers are also in line with the deviation from the actual purpose of the ICTS project as detected by my research. This plan is hereby made to proffer solution to the rising problem by re – orienting the targeted publics. There is no doubt that if the rising poor utilization of the project continues; the institution will not actualize her goals and objectives.
NATURE OF THE ICT PROJECT
The project was installed in the university with the help of MTN and Google and it’s the largest ICT infrastructure in Africa which also has free wireless capable technology installed in the institution, covering the four campuses of the University with the following aims: to attain excellence in-

A. research
B. Innovation
C. Human resource development and
D. Generation and dissemination of ideas
The deviation from the actual objectives of the ICT project is because the Institution primary audience are not fully aware of the objectives.
RESEARCH
The ICT was done according to the university’s vice chancellor so as to create enabling environments for research by both the students and staffs of the university. For the University to be a world class University, the students and members of staff of the school must engage in researches.
INNOVATION
When researches are carried out by both the students and staff of the university, there can be innovation which will actually make the University to compete with other world class Universities.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
With the installation of the ICT project, the development of the university’s human resource is made easier.
GENERATION AND DISSEMINATION OF IDEAS
Students and Staff of the Institution should be able to use the technology expose to them to engage in to activities that will be fruitful by generating and disseminating useful ideas beneficiary to both the University and the country.
Several seminars have been held in the Institution with the regard to sensitizing the students and staff of the objectives and availability of the ICT project .This media relations strategic plan runs for five years (2011 – 2015) which will be with specific targets each year to be evaluated after the length.
Summary of the activities that will be taking place in the strategic media relations plan for the institution on yearly bases:
YEAR ACTIVITIES
Year1 (2011) Shifting from strategies to implementation, inauguration of committees selected base on ICT experience, deliberating on the agenda, submission of the strategic plan to the chosen media, seminars which will take place two times in each year with the invitation of well known ICT experts to sensitize the target audience on the objectives of the ICT project, media discussion headed by the media relations planner and his team on the plans and progress of the strategy done at the beginning and towards the end of the first year.
Year 2
(2012) Inclusion of ICT as a course in the General Studies Unit starting with the first year’s beginners (year one students) to final year students to be run for a full session, encouraging research by establishing a research based department which over - sees the reward of students and lecturers who did meaningful research every year, the annual seminars and media discussions.
Year 3
(2013) Rewarding the outstanding students and lecturers based on their performances ICT classes and meaningful research, establishing a special training centre for lecturers and students who did well in the previous year in the field of ICT (advance training). Continuation of the media discussion with the visit to other media houses for the benefit of UNN secondary audience, the use of the first medium house will be retained for the benefit of the institution’s primary audience and continuation of the annual seminar lectures.
Year 4
(2014) Continuation of the previous year’s activities.
Year 5
(2015) A. Continuation of the previous activities with the inclusion of new activities if the need be.
B. taking a broad look at the lessons learned in terms of success and obstacles in implementing these activities.

THE TARGET PUBLICS
The target publics of this strategic media relations plan are the primary and secondary publics of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The primary publics being the students and staff of UNN and the extended publics like those that have indirect issues with UNN i.e other Universities both national and international, the parents and guidance of the Students of the Institution etc. This is because both publics are meant to know the objectives of the ICT projects, the situation of things and progress.
MEDIA CHOICE TECHNIGUES
The 5 – year media relations strategic plan will be appropriate on both the electronic and print media. This is because of the nature of the strategic plan which is purely academic and the nature of the target audience who are mostly educated. The technique will be press release for the print media and granting of interview for the print media (radio station and television)


BROADCAST MEDIA
The use of the Institution’s radio station known as Lion FM is very important so as to reach out to the primary audience very well. The students and staff of the Institution in most cases are the audience of Lion FM before any other radio station and the station will be easy in terms of accessibility and cost effective. The use of radio Nigeria nationwide as also another channel of communicating to the publics especially the secondary publics is very necessary. This is because the Institution radio station can’t reach most of the secondary publics.
PRINT MEDIA
The use of the various department magazines which is published yearly or quarterly is very important, for instance the Records newspaper of the department of Mass communication, this is because, the medium can capture the interest of the students as well as the staff of the institution. This will be added with the use of any major national news papers for effective communication with the secondary publics.
BUDGETING
A. The first phase of the strategic plan (which involved research) will cost 2% of the annual budget of the Institution’s PR department.
B. The second phase which involves the objectives and means to carry them out will cost 12% of the annual budget of the institution PR department (UNN).
C. The third phase will cost 1% of UNN PR annual budget ( identifying the publics)
D. The fourth phase which involves media choice and techniques will cost 10% of UNN annul PR budget.
E. The evaluation phase will cost 9% of UNN PR department annual budget.
This means that sum of 1.2 million naira will be needed for this plan.

EVALUATION
The assessment of the whole Media Relations strategic plan will be done under two methods;
A. The use of the electronic media i.e. the radio medium, both the Institution’s radio station and the radio Nigeria nationwide station
B. Caring out an opinion poll. This is to ascertain if there will be the need for a change of plan.