SOCIALIST YOUTH LEAGUE
OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE, OSUN STATE.
CONTACT; 08081243807, 08097450978, 07034919007.
Motto; workers and youths, unite and fight…


RAVE OF TYRANNICAL UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION VERSUS THE GROWING CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE STUDENTS ON DIFFERENT CAMPUSES.

Recently, there have series of student’s resistance on different campuses in the country against the Federal government agents called the university administrators. The university administrators are only implementing the dictates of their paymasters (government of the day). The university administrators are ditching out series of anti-student policies and also attacking the voice of the student i.e. the Students’ Union. This act is criminal in nature because we are in a democratic setting in which the voice of the people must be heard and also not only heard, their want and wishes must be looked into and be cater for. But in the case where the student platform that was set-up by a university act. This is the act that is also guiding the administration of the university system at large. So for an entity to trample upon the activities of the Union is a criminal act itself. This will establish a situation in which there will be a fissure between the university administrator and the generality of the student.

We have seen resistance from the students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Benue State University (BSU), University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Ogun State College of Health Technology, University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the latest is University of Ibadan (UI). The causes of the student’s protest have not been different since time immemorial; the causes are astronomical increment in fees, bad and inhumane welfare and academic conditions (dilapidated hostel and academic infrastructure), attack on student activists, attack on Students’ Union leaders and the Union itself and lot of anti-student policies and the despotic act that the government stooges on different campus are chucking out on the poor masses children and wards.
We are always of the opinion that astronomical and Mephistophelean increment in fee can never and will never be a lasting panacea to the decaying academic and hostel infrastructure in the university system. And the events are proving us to be right because in 2011, at Obafemi Awolowo University, an “acceptance fee” was increased from #2,000 to #20,000 under the guise that the university administrator want to improve the infrastructural facilities on campus but the student could not feel the impact of the “arm-twisting” fees they are paying which have been growing into billions. It is now becoming of a case of “paying more and getting less”. The student struggle of this period engulf a student in person of Olawale Owolabi aka Ogunruku which the University administration has decided to witch-hunt him for his active participation in the struggle. Up till this moment the University administration has been recalcitrant to reinstate a peace loving and law abiding citizen of the country thereby truncating his academic pursit.

In Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, where the university is under despotic shut-down of the university management, is caused by the ill-equipped university health-care center that led to the death of Ojo Afolabi Daniel, a student of department of Economics Education of the institution, who was involved in an accident but could not get adequate health-care to rescue him from the cold hand of death. This arouses the anger in his colleagues to protest his death.

The case of Benue State University (BSU) is the same with that of the AAUA, where a truck knock down students of the institution but are not attended to by the university health center before they gave up the ghost.

At University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), the student protested against the new tuition fee policy of the University administrator in which has not gone down well with the students. Instead of the University administrators to broker a meeting with the student to find a lasting panacea to the issue, they decided to repress the student’s agitation by send men of the force to forcefully quash their legitimate and peacefully civil disobedience along the line killed a promising young chap that should take-up the mantle of leadership to reposition the backward stage in which the country found itself.

The issue at Ogun State College of Health Technology is about inhumane welfare conditions they are subjected to. The student of this institution revolted (protested) against the lack of power supply in institution’s community. Just like all other Federal government stooge (University administrator), the institution administrator decided to close down the institution not with the hope that such problem will be solved upon resumption.

The University of Lagos case is of the inimical welfare of the student but all the University administrator could respond with is undemocratic shut-down of the institution and also an attack on the voice of the student (the Students’ Union) which was recently unban by the University administrator after proscription of over a decade.

The latest of the “madness” of the University administrator is the ongoing tussle between the university management of University of Ibadan (UI) and the students, where the institution has been closed down twice within the space of almost two months. At first, on March 5, 2016, it was mainly the erratic power supply and epileptic water supply that caused the University administrator to closed down the institution for two weeks. Some days ago, the University administrator display their “madness” again, thereby despotically shutting down the institution upon student protest against the welfare condition which was not attended to after resumption and also demanding the reversal of the verdict of the “Student Disciplinary Council” of the university on the one semester rustication of Michael Tunji Epeti, which was a witch-hunt on the path of the management to cow the student from demanding for what is right.
To cap it all, the Obafemi Awolowo University management led by Prof. Bamitale Idowu Omole, has also increased fee astronomically in 2014 from #40,000 to over #100,000, basing such action on the under-funding of the university by the government of the country. But two sessions after such increment there have not been a corresponding improvement in the academic and hostel infrastructure of the institution which was the reason for the increment.

This has made student to agitate and even protested against this malevolent act but all the student could get back is the University been closed down for months and the issues would not be attended to.

This burning issues has been happening to the extent that student from institution from other schools now ask which school is next to be shut down in a country where the Ministry of Education is not in a vacuum. Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the World”. With this we can conclude the present government of the day whether at the Federal or State level are not bothered with the state at which the education sector is.

We must commend the recent effort of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), Zone-d, for its effort to annex the strength and consciousness of the Nigerian student to better the living and academic conditions of the students. There is a need to call emergency congress of the Nigeria students to discuss and fashion a way out of this imbroglio and we propose that all institutions in Nigeria should decide on a day warning lecture-boycott to tell the Federal government and the ministry of Education to find a lasting panacea to the problems facing the Education sector and also solidarise with the affected institution at the moment. Also NANS should submit a bill to the National Assembly of Nigeria (NASS) restricting the university administrator from attacking the Students’ Union.

We solidarise with the Students’ Unions under attack by the State and their agents (university administrators), to fight on based on the strength of the students that elects them into office of Student’s leader. And also to the students, should always stay behind their leaders at every forum because they represent their interest at every level or function.
To the government at the Federal and State level, we demand that you bring down the search light of the anti-corruption parade down to the Education institutions in Nigeria because out of the little that is allotted to the institutions much is been stolen.

DEMANDS
• All proscribed Students’ Union should be restored unconditionally and the University administrator should desist to interfere in the activities of the Union (UNILAG, BSU, UNIPORT etc.)
• All increased fees should be reverse to stat-to-quo to avoid any crises in the institution.
• We demand that all victimized students and student leaders should be reinstated unconditionally (Olawale Owolabi aka Ogunruku,a student of the department of Physical and Health Education, OAU, who has been suspended since 2011 and also Michael Tunji Epeti aka Mote, a student of Petroleum Engineering, UI)
• We call for the probe of all University administrators on different campuses in the country.
• We call on the workers’ Union (ASUU, SSANU, NATT, and NASU) in conjunction with the Students’ Unions to declare a state of emergency in the Education sector.
• We call on the National Assemble to invite the Minister of Education to give account of the crises brewing on different institution in the country.
• We call for the implementation of UNESCO proposition of 26 percentage budgetary allocation to the Education sector.




SIGNED;

ABIODUN IDRIS
CO-ORDINATOR.

too bad o..