Battling to save the soul of higher education in Africa: attacks on intellectual labour in Nigeria

Violations of academic freedom are on the increase in Africa and are attracting organised resistance from academic unions across the continent. Africa has one of the worst records of attacks on academic practitioners in the world. In the early post-independence period (the 1960s and 1970s), these took the form of the politicisation and state control of the academies. In the 1980s and 1990s, the context was defined by the impact of the contradictions in the character and nature of the state, the crisis in its political economy and the role of international financial institutions and local elites. The present context is characterised by state repression and by resistance from academic unions. The resultant crisis is connected to the economic hardships experienced by the general population and the neglect of universities. This plays out in tense relations between most state officials and the universities.