INTERVIEW: Unilag management extorts us, neglects our welfare, their fights mean nothing to us- Student Reps

The removal of the vice chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, under controversial circumstances has generated a lot of reactions within the university community as well as among the general populace. Franktalknow.com in this exclusive interview speaks with the Chairman of Coalition of University of Lagos Student Unionists, a pseudo student body that emerged following the ban on student unionism on campus, Adedeji Olayinka. He shares students’ perspective about the ongoing crisis on the campus.

 The University of Lagos has been in the news in recent times over the controversial removal of the vice chancellor, Prof Toyin Ogundipe. As students of the institution, what do you make of this?

- Advertisement -

Yes, the University of Lagos has been in the news over the removal of the former Vice Chancellor (Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe). Our position as a student body within the campus is not to join any wing of the university administration in their fight. What is much more important to us as COULSU is the interest of students and that is what we will defend rather than defending any wing of the university administration.

However, it is important that we raise some issues that have been in public space over the said removal. Was due process followed in the process of the removal?  Has the former Vice Chancellor denied any of the allegations of corruption levelled against him? Of course we will not join issues with people, we will only state rhetorically that does Babalakin as an individual have the moral ground to prosecute corrupt people?

- Advertisement -

Mind you the same Babalakin has antecedent of corruption. Likewise the former Vice Chancellor who has suddenly become an advocate of rule of law and due process, has he always followed due process in cases that have to do with student discipline? Has he been giving students fair hearing while exercising his disciplinary power according to the law? Mind you the same Vice Chancellor participated actively in the rustication of Student leaders in 2016 just because they exercised their right to protest. So, it is very laughable to see the same vice chancellor who has rusticated and expelled students for protesting now suddenly leading a protest against his removal. Having said this, we won’t join them in their fight we will rather concentrate on defending the rights and interests of students.

How will you describe the learning environment in the university?

The learning environment in the University of Lagos is in a despicable state. What we have in the university today is infrastructural decadence. We have limited lecture rooms with few or no facilities that support learning. We have overcrowded lecture rooms, laboratories without equipment, overcrowded hostels that lack basic facilities like good toilets and clean and constant water supply.

We have heightened insecurity within the university. We have had cases of students being stabbed within the university community. In the college of medicine a medical student who was about to do his convocation was killed. We have had several cases of students robbed of their belongings at the faculties and in the hostels.

All these crimes were committed within the university community despite the security cameras the university management claimed to have installed and despite spending over N100 million  on security contracts and over N40 million  as security vote through the office of the dean of student affairs, all we can see is high level of insecurity. So we posit that the learning environment in the university is in a very terrible state.

If you were to assess the university management and the council, how student-centred are they?

The management of the university is not student-centred as well as the council of the university. While we recognise the oversight function of the council, we posit that the council cannot claim to be oblivious of fundamental attacks carried out on students’ democratic rights. As we speak, students have no right to association as guaranteed by the constitution. This is because the student union which is the only legitimate student representative body has been proscribed since 2016 and the former Vice Chancellor refused to reinstate the student union despite appeals to him from students and other stakeholders.

The former Vice Chancellor kept on evading the question of the reinstatement of the student union during the period of 3 years he has served. The dean of student affairs also carried out repression on the remnants of student body in the faculties by proscribing all legislative arms of students’ faculty associations. Having destroyed all platforms students can use to fight back, the management of the university neglected the welfare of students by failing to upgrade facilities in student hostels despite collecting over N200m Naira annually, they extorted students by introducing ridiculous fees like the illegal GST fee (where students were asked to pay before they can access lectures online), drug test fee, mandatory textbooks and practical manuals, outrageous faculty and departmental registration fee amongst others. So, to us and students in the university, neither the council nor the university management is student-centred.

What is the opinion of the students on the ongoing crisis in the university?

On the ongoing crisis in the university, our position remains that the current leadership tussle in the university is not in the interest of students and staffs. To us it’s a case of a fight between wings that have always in the past united to loot the university resources. The two wings that are currently at loggerheads had at a point in time jointly oppressed students and staffs of the university. We are not going to sympathise with any of the two wings because when they were united the students didn’t benefit, so why do we have to give ourselves unnecessary headache over their disagreements?

We categorically state that students deserve a proper representation in the university through the student union, students deserve a better learning and living conditions, students desire a stop to all forms of extortion. These are our opinions on the ongoing crisis; we will rather use the crisis to let the world know the predicaments students are facing.

There have been allegations of corruption against the VC; do you think the university has such money that is being said to be stolen?

Firstly, we will like to state that the University of Lagos has a lot of money. The continuous claim of no funding in the past has been as a result of endemic corruption in the system that has led to the looting of available resources by the joint action of the council and the university management. In the report of the Dagari-led committee, the former Vice Chancellor spent over N117m on security contracts with Shelter Guard Limited and Nigerian legion. The university management spent over N41m on security vote allocated to the office of the DSA. But despite this entire huge amount spent on security, all we can see in the university is insecurity. The truth is that the millions claimed to have been spent on security was looted, the security contracts were only used as a cover-up for this crime. In that same report, over N112m was spent to renovate residential houses of five principal officers with the former Vice Chancellor and bursar spending N49m and N41m respectively. This was spent at a time that students’ hostels were neglected. Over N57m was spent on travels and tour by the former Vice Chancellor and his cohorts. Over N147m was spent on purchase of official vehicles aside N52m spent to get vehicles for the DVCs. This gross mismanagement of public funds reflected as infrastructural decadence that we have in the university.

I ask this question because there are facilities in the university that are in a state of decay like lack of toilet facilities, bug-infested halls, etc, what do you make of this in the face of the current corruption allegations?

Like I have said above, the endemic corruption in the system has made students to suffer several fates which include poor learning conditions in the face of inadequate facilities in the lecture rooms and laboratories, poor living conditions due to hostels that are less conducive when compared to DSS cell when the two are put side by side and continuous extortion of students through introduction of several ridiculous fees in an attempt by the management to generate funds solely for the purpose of looting.

The senate, ASUU, Alumni body and almost every other relevant body has called for the reversal of the VC’s removal, what is the stand of the students on this. Do you also want the VC to come back and what are your reasons?

To us as students, we won’t take sides in their fight. Unlike the leadership of ASUU, NASU, SSANU and NAAT that decided to be a weapon in the hands of a wing of the university administration who has at a point in the past victimised members of these unions, we as students we will not come down so low to turn to a weapon used by any wing of the university administration to fight their war. Rather than being a weapon in the hands of any of the two wings, we will rather distinguish ourselves and channel our energy towards demanding for the reinstatement of the Student Union as well as push other demands such as better learning and living conditions that bother directly on the welfare of students.

We are not interested in whosoever becomes the Vice chancellor be it Soyombo or any other person. We will only support any student-oriented leadership that will meet the demands of students. But for the former Vice chancellor, we have seen him through and we know what he represents, during his reign all we saw was repression of students, extortion of students and neglect of students’ welfare.

Students have been home for four months due to COVID-19 and ASUU strike?  How do you feel about the fact that private universities are going on with their academics and public universities’ students are doing nothing?

Well on the question of the pandemic, we will like to state that pandemic is not a new thing to humanity. We have always had pandemic in the history of humanity. However, it is important to state that the present impasse in public universities regarding stoppage of academic activities is a reflection of continuous neglect of education and underfunding of education by the government over the last few decades. In the past, universities used to be places where we have enough infrastructures to ensure that we have minimum number of students in each class. But due to underfunding, the same universities where social distancing could have been observed have now turned to public gatherings where the available facilities cannot support the population of students. This is the real reason why the doors to our universities have been locked since March.

In advance countries and even in some private universities in Nigeria, students have been having lectures online but the Federal Government has failed to show interest in investing in education. This is the reason why public universities can’t switch to online learning. We as students have to join ASUU to call for more funding to the universities while we block loopholes for siphoning funds in the universities.

 Your lecturers have said they will not teach unless FG takes them away from the controversial IPPIS. What do you make of this, what impact is this faceoff having on students?

We as students group understands the role of workers Union such as ASUU in calling for better funding for universities. We agree with ASUU on the rejection of IPPIS, members of various unions who had earlier embraced IPPIS have now come out openly to condemn it due to several irregularities in IPPIS. We support the alternative put forward by ASUU, University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

ASUU said it is fighting for students, what you think about this. Do you support the strike and do you think it is in the students’ interest?

ASUU as a Union has every right to defend the interests of its members just like we will also defend the interests of students. We support the call by ASUU for more funding to the universities, we support university autonomy under democratic control of students and staffs, we support the revitalisation of education as well as the payment of earned academic allowance of our beloved lecturers. However, we urge ASUU not to relegate the question of more funding for education and revitalisation of education. It’s only when we have quality education that our members can be meticulously trained in their various professions and that is when we can have quality graduates that are employable.

Are you concerned that the reputation of UNILAG as a brand is being damaged by the fracas between the VC and the governing council?

Well regarding the reputation of the university, we know that the current fracas between the wings of the university administration has seriously affected the reputation of our great university. However, we must also state that the continuous repression of students, continuous suspension of the student union as well as the infrastructural decadence in the university has affected the reputation of the university much more than the fracas. Thus, to help build the reputation of the university, students must be able to associate freely without fear under the umbrella of the student union, there must be upgrade of infrastructure in the university to provide environment that is conducive for learning. Not until when this is done, the reputation of the university will continue to be affected even if the fracas ends.

Some parties in the university have said they will not recognise Soyombo as acting VC, what is your take. Are students also rejecting him?

As I have said earlier, the criteria for us to recognise any leadership of the university as ours is first the reinstatement of the Student Union followed by upgrade of facilities in the hostels and our lecture rooms as well as an end to all forms of extortion of students amongst other demands. We will only support a student-oriented management be it under the leadership of Soyombo or any other person. Ours is much more about the leadership that can meet the demands of students.

What are students doing to end the FG-ASUU impasse?

The only thing we can do is to join force with ASUU to call for better funding for the universities and revitalisation of the universities.

Students used to be vibrant in those days and their voice as a group was strong, but it seems they are no longer feared, no strong voice again. What went wrong?

Students used to be vibrant here in University of Lagos. But the sudden loss of students’ voice is first due to the proscription of the student union. That’s why the reinstatement of the student union is one of the major demands we are pushing forward. Once we have our union back, we can use that as a weapon to actualise other demands. The university management did not just proscribe the union,  they went further to destroy remnants of student bodies by proscribing all legislative arms of students faculty associations. This was done by the dean of student affairs under the leadership of the former Vice Chancellor. The management ensured that there was no platform where students can unite to question the excesses of the management. All of these actions led to the loss of students’ voice.

What changes will you like to see at UNILAG and Nigeria’s tertiary education in general?

We will like to see University of Lagos and other universities across the country turn to an environment where students can get quality education under the best learning and living conditions- a community where students can be trained as leaders through their active participation in student unionism.

 What should students be doing now?

Although, a very good number of students have shown that their solidarity resides with us and in fact, cannot wait to protest for the reinstatement of the students union, however we urge the rest of students to join us in the call for reinstatement of the student union, upgrade of facilities in the hostels and lecture rooms as well as the end to extortion of students among other struggles. We urge students to join us to echo this popular demands, because what can the oppressors do to us when they are divided?

How tired are students now considering the crisis in the university on one hand and COVID-19 on the other?

Regarding the crisis in the university, students are tired of being the grass that suffers the fight of elephants. Students want to see a better University of Lagos that they can be proud of.  As regards the pandemic, students want a return of academic activities within the scope that will guarantee the safety of students. One of the best ways to achieve this is to switch to online learning which requires serious funding. We therefore call on government to properly fund education to enable the universities to switch to online learning while at the same time the government should meet ASUU demands.

Do you think the FG should continue to keep the gates of universities shut?

We are only for the safe reopening of universities where several mechanisms would have been put in place to ensure safety of students. We will not allow students to be used as laboratory rats in the face of the pandemic. We suggest online learning as an alternative.

However, it is our fear that it may flop in its operation of this alternative, as it has not proven better in handling the last faculty elections that eventually disenfranchised overwhelming majority of the student electorates. However, we are sure that if properly funded and free network is provided to the students; it is a step in the right direction, after all, a percentage of the looted funds will do a magic in achieving this. Either ways, the government must put necessary facilities in place to either ensure safe reopening of universities or a switch to online learning.

What have you learned from the events of COVID-19 on how a university should or should not be run?

The only lesson from this pandemic is that funding of universities should never be undermined at any point in the history of any nation. The negligence of government and underfunding of education over the decades have hindered the productivity of the universities, coupled with the endemic corruption by the university administration. All these have almost crippled the system and essence of a university. This has only reflected as the impasse we see in the universities today.

What are your concerns about Nigeria’s education system in general?

Our concern remains that the government is trying every means possible to privatise education, we as student body will not allow this to happen under our watch. We will join force with ASUU to prevent commercialisation of education as proposed by the Babalakin led ASUU-FG negotiation committee. We are also concerned about the poor state of the school’s environment, programmes and structure, which in no way reflect its leadership image amongst other universities in the country.  We are also concerned that the school is failing the nation in producing youths who are socio-politically inclined, because it has eradicated all forms of political culture and socialisation on campus. And the basic reason we are putting all our strength in the advocacy for the reinstatement of the student union. Like we say, politics is dead on our campus.