The Ogun State Government and the Governing Council of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago-Iwoye, are said to be responsible for the disruption of academic activities in the institution
Solomon Olumuyiwa Adebayo is, at present, lamenting the situation in which he has found himself. After completing his Ordinary National Diploma, OND, programme in Mass Communication at the Ibadan Polytechnic in 2004, he was caught between going ahead with the Higher National Degree, HND, programme and seeking direct-entry admission into a university. Eventually, he chose the latter. He told TheNEWS that because his grades were excellent, he had no problem gaining admission into the same department at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago-Iwoye.

Adebayo may not have had any qualms gaining admission into OOU, but he certainly has many graduating. Apart from the fact that his course of study has been de-accredited by the National Universities Commission, NUC, he has remained in his final year since 2008, because his lecturers have intermittently gone on strike since then. The latest one was embarked upon on 30 September, 2010. This magazine gathered that the striking lecturers, who are members of the OOU Branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, are not ready to call the strike off until all of their demands have been met.

The demands, according to Dr. Adesola Nassir, ASUU-OOU chairman, include the payment of staff salaries withheld during the national ASUU strike of 2009, resumption of deductions into Unions, Cooperative and Welfare accounts from source in line with the Trade Union Act of 2005, lifting of embargo on staff promotion since 2008 and the recall of academic staff illegally sacked by the university, among others. Dr. Nassir said the university was plunged into its present state of crisis by the state government and the Governing Council of the university.

“With consistent poor government funding, appalling and grossly inadequate facilities, low staff morale emanating from poor welfare, the school was forced to focus more on generating funds to sustain itself rather than launch into deep research and first class academic training. Of the entire structures on the campuses of the university, the state government cannot boast of a completed building executed with the state’s capital project funds. Most of the existing structures were either donated or erected from the university’s internally generated revenue,” he claimed.

It was this situation of generating funds for itself, Dr. Nassir noted, that led to the university admitting about 60, 000 students four years ago. Yet, there were just 750 lecturers to attend to them. “That was why results were never released on time. Examinations took unnecessarily long time to conclude,” he said. He added that when the NUC discovered the impropriety of the staff-student ratio, it ordered that the school must not admit more than 4, 000 students. Today, however, there are over 16, 000 students. Worse still, 138 of the less than 650 lecturers have been sacked by the university, following recommendations by the Governing Council of the university.

Many of them, this magazine gathered, are already making plans to leave because of what they referred to as job insecurity. “You should expect them to have such fears. Imagine a university sacking someone like Professor Serifdeen Tella, a renowned professor of economics. As it is, OOU has less than 400 lecturers, with a student population of 16, 000. UNILAG has 18, 000 students, with about 1, 200 lecturers. University of Ibadan has about 18, 000 students, with 1, 300 lecturers. So, there is no way the NUC will not deny many of the departments their accreditation when they come visiting in January 2011, because one of the major requirements for accreditation is the staff-student ratio,” he said.

As it stands, the Departments of Political Science, Economics, Psychology, Sociology and Mass Communication have lost their accreditation. Those of Medicine, Agriculture, Biochemistry, Geology, Accounting and Banking and Finance are equally likely to be de-accredited. Dr. Nassir fears that if this happens, many of the students will not graduate even after paying so much to get a degree. Besides, since many of their lecturers have either left or been sacked, there are courses that may not be taught to them. “Should this happen, it is either the students are left to graduate like that, in which case they become half-baked graduates, or they wait endlessly to be examined in those courses before graduating,”

Adebayo’s dilemma falls within this category. “If I had known, I would have continued with my HND at the Ibadan Polytechnic. I would have since graduated and done my youth service. Now, I don’t know if I will ever graduate. I am so confused that I don’t even know what to do. I have lost hope,” he cried out. Like Adebayo, many students of OOU have been rendered hopeless by the crisis rocking the institution.

Bad enough, the crisis may not be resolved any soon because it extends beyond staff welfare and the fear of de-accreditation of its departments. Dr. Tayo Omoniyi, secretary of ASUU-OOU, recalled that the problem actually began in December, 2008, when the state government charged a Visitation Panel headed by Professor Oye Ibidapo-Obe, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, to look into the problems of the school with a view to solving them. This magazine gathered that even though the ASUU members were skeptical about Professor Ibidapo-Obe heading the panel, they went on to submit their memorandum to the panel.

But when the panel submitted its report, the ASUU members noted that many of their recommendations were omitted from it. But they did not protest against the report. Thus, following the recommendation of the Visitation Panel, a Governing Council was constituted for the school in Abeokuta. “Immediately the government-appointed members of the Council were constituted, they met and took certain far-reaching decisions without waiting for other statutory members of the Council. They asked the then vice-chancellor, Professor Odutola Osilesi, to proceed on leave. He was eventually sacked,” Dr. Omoniyi said.

In the weeks that followed, over 120 academic staff were relieved of their jobs, in an exercise which, according to the state government, was meant to restructure the school. In an advertorial published in the 9 December, 2009 edition of Nigerian Tribune, titled Towards A New of Life At OOU, it was stated that many of the departments were grossly over-staffed, while others needed extra staff.

The advertorial, signed by Otunba Alex Onabanjo, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of OOU, noted that the university could no longer meet its obligations to staff because it had a debt profile of N1.9 billion. “Apart from this, we inherited an over-bloated workforce. On its part, the government of Ogun state, being the proprietor of OOU, tried its best to keep pace with the phenomenal increase in the wage bill. Not only that, it allowed the university to keep all of its internally generated revenue. We put it on record that that those disengaged were not selected because of any wrong-doing, but because the university could no longer keep them,” it read.

Babatunde Odunlami, vice-chairman of ASUU-OOU, reckoned that the Governing Council’s claim that those sacked did not commit offence clearly showed that it was confused. He revealed that the same Council had earlier stated that those sacked were involved in admission racketeering. “The Council has consistently contradicted itself since this crisis began. We told them that they can’t just fire lecturers without recourse to due process. If anyone is suspected of any wrong-doing, let such a person face the disciplinary committee. It is only then that a punishment can be meted out. In any case, those sacked are in court challenging the process of their disengagement,” he said. He added that the Council, in questionable circumstances, went on to appoint Professor Wale-Are Olaitan as the new Vice-Chancellor of the university.

His claim was corroborated by Dr. Deji Agboola, an Oncologist and Investment Secretary of ASUU-OOU. Dr. Agboola alleged that Professor Olaitan was the only candidate interviewed for the post of the vice-chancellor, even though he is a professor with three years experience. “There are more competent professors for the job. Some even have about 10 years experience,” he said. Agboola added that when he and his colleagues found that the Council was not holding meetings regularly, but merely taking arbitrary decisions, they decided to meet with Governor Gbenga Daniel. In that meeting, Daniel was said to have admitted that the problem of the school had to do with shortage of funds.

“That invalidated the story about over-staffing. ASUU protested the composition of the Council and the legitimacy of some of its decisions. We took our case to the state House of Assembly. The Deputy Speaker, Remmy Hassan, told the Commissioner of Education to go back and review the Council’s decisions. But, till date, nothing has been done,” he said. Dr. Agboola lamented that the students are worst hit by the crisis. He said apart from the fact that their certificates are now prone to doubt, they have suffered all forms of exploitation. Adebayo agreed with him.

Adebayo claimed that they are made to pay exorbitant fees via online registration. “For every payment made online, a company known as Bra Solution deducts N4, 000. I even learnt that the company belongs to Moji Onabanjo, daughter of our pro-chancellor,” he alleged. Odunlami agreed with Adebayo. He said ASUU told the visitation panel to cancel the deduction of such fees and it agreed to do so. “But the university continued to deduct the amount, claiming it was technology development fund,” he said.

Odunlami said while the university had stopped paying staff salaries and arrears since May, 2010, it appears to have run out of ideas on how to manage the institution, plunging it further into crisis. He said although the Council claimed to have stopped sacking lecturers to restore their confidence, it went ahead to sack Professor Tella few weeks back, adducing the sack to the ongoing rationalisation exercise. Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, former Dean of the Faculty of Education, said the sack of Professor Tella is an indication that the Council is acting a script. “It shows that the crisis in OOU is very complex in nature. Of course the crisis is easy to resolve if only the state government is sincere. If not, the university may just be on its way under,” he said.

But Elder Yemi Akinwunmi, Commissioner for Education in Ogun State, believes the problem of the university is multifarious. He told this magazine that OOU has the highest population of students in Nigerian universities. “It also has the largest number of staff. When the NUC directed that we must reduce the population of both, we had no choice but to do so. It is true that we owe salaries and arrears. This is due to the global economic meltdown. Besides, what we get as federal allocation is meagre. We are number 31 in the order of highest paid. Our Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, is minimal and we have to spread it among other institutions in the state, including the civil service,” he said.

The commissioner claimed that the salary arrears would have been settled if the G-15 members of the House of Assembly had not remained uncompromising about approving the bond sought by the governor. “Many states, including Lagos and Edo, have gone to the bond market to get funds. Some have even gone twice. But in Ogun State, it is a different case. The G-15 members of the House have remained uncompromising, so we cannot access funds to offset these arrears. But I assure you that the state government is doing all it can, including exploring alternative means to get funds to offset the arrears. The OGD government is committed to making sure that the welfare of staff is taken care of,” he added.

Dr. Nassir, however, believes that rather than create the impression that members of ASUU-OOU are the cause of the crisis in the university, the state government should be sincere enough to meet its obligations to the university. These include the full adoption of the ASUU/FGN Agreement by Council and modalities for its implementation; payment of outstanding arrears on monetisation and Consolidated Universities Academic Staff Salary, CONUASS; payment of salary and allowances withheld in August, September and October 2009, when the union was on strike; payment of outstanding deduction to various unions; deductions into Cooperative/Staff Welfare fund and re-introduction of payment for promotion arrears which was halted during the reorganisation exercise. Failure to do this, Dr. Nassir noted, would keep the university perpetually shut down.

—Olusola Olaosebikan/Ago-Iwoye
Source: http://thenewsafrica.com/2011/01/10/destroying-a-university/

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tola
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Re: Destroying A University
« Reply #1 on: Yesterday at 08:36:25 am » Quote

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The problem with OOU has being there for long and has been aggravated way too far. The Management and the govt should have tackled this whole crises long ago.

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oou!!! Hmmmm just pray God shuld change d situatn of dat skul

No b only senior lecturer na dean of faculty.f@?k u, i calld him yesterday nd his accent sounds lyk one of those ALABA BOYS.who u won scam LOOSER!

No b only senior lecturer na dean of faculty.f@?k u, i calld him yesterday nd his accent sounds lyk one of those ALABA BOYS.who u won scam LOOSER!

Amadi you are fool! What has this have to do with calling you? Fool illitrate!