SAMUEL AWOYINFA
writes about the disagreement between the students of the Federal
Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State and authorities of the institution which
led to the school’s closure
Students of Nigerian tertiary
institutions usually give reasons each time they protest against any
policy of the authorities of their schools.
This scenario played out last Thursday
when students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, in Yewa South Local
Government Area of Ogun State, embarked on a protest.
As
early as 7.30am on the fateful day, the institution’s Students’ Union
Government led by Moshood Saheed, mobilised students for the ‘struggle’
against the management of the school led by the Rector, Olusegun Aluko.
They took over the school gate from the
private security guards. No one was allowed into the school and none was
allowed out of the place. Crowds of students milled around the
Ilaro-Oja Odan Road situated in front of the school. Vehicles were also
not allowed into the school.
Saheed told our correspondent during the
protest that year one students paid for the 2014/2015 students handbooks
at the beginning of the session.
He added that after two months to the end
of the session, none of the students had got the handbook which
contains guidelines of courses including the regulations for every
student of the institution.
The students’ union leader also said the union met the authorities on the matter but did not get any encouraging response.
According to him, each of the students paid N1,500 for a copy of the handbook.
Saheed also described Internet access on
the campus as nothing to write home about. He alleged that the students
do not get value for the N6, 000 each of them paid per year for Internet
services.
He said,” Each time the union meets with
the management on the handbook issue, it keeps assuring us that it is
making some amendments to it. It is now two months to the end of the
session. Some of the students fell victim of some offences which if they
had the handbook, they would not have committed. Also, each of the
students paid N6,000 annually for Internet access yet the network is
nothing to write home about.’’
He further accused a male porter in the
institution of entering a female hostel without permission and
considered it inappropriate.
However, the rector denied all the
allegations levelled against the school authorities, noting that Saheed
was only trying to test the will of his administration.
Aluko, an architect, said the protest was
uncalled for, claiming that what the students were protesting against
was the situation on ground in the school before he became the rector in
October.
He explained that the school once
published a handbook, containing rules and regulations which covered
areas such as dress code, examination malpractice and behaviours in the
hostels among others.
Aluko said extracts were distributed to
the students who Saheed said paid for the handbooks without getting
them. He said the extracts were made pending the arrival of new
handbooks.
The rector noted that the students were
impatient because the 2014/2015 students’ handbooks were delivered to
the school by the printer last Friday.
He said, “It is true that we made some
amendments to the old handbook, but the printer delivered new copies on
Friday. It is only the Ordinary National Diploma I students that are yet
to get theirs. All other students have the handbooks. The protest is
beyond the handbooks.”
He said the president and other members
of the union came to him and made some ‘mischievous’ demands like
allowing students to wear whatever they prefer on campus ranging from
base ball caps, bum shorts to dark goggles.
According to the rector, the students’
union members resisted wearing of identification cards on campus and
also demanded to be on the school’s Academic Board.
The rector stated, “The leadership of the
students’ union and other members came to my office, asking the
management to allow the students to wear base ball caps, shorts, bum
shorts and dark glasses. They also do not want to put on identification
tags. They just want to dress anyhow on campus. I do not know which
authorities of any higher institution will allow such. The SUG President
said I was treating students like secondary school pupils. He even said
members of the union should be allowed to be on the school’s Academic
Board.”
He added that Saheed had appeared before
the school’s disciplinary committee on a number of occasions, received
letters of warning and had written an undertaking to be of good
behaviour.
The rector, who showed our correspondent a
file containing the letters to buttress his point, accused the
students’ leader of ‘loading’ 23 students of the institution into a
hired 15-seater bus from the school to Ota for a victory party shortly
after he emerged the union leader.
He said Saheed’s action was against the
rules of the school, adding that the vehicle which conveyed the students
was involved in an accident which left some of them with injuries.
“In fact, I drove to the spot of the accident to rescue some of the victims and took them to the hospital,” he stated.
On the poor Internet access on campus,
Aluko explained the school uses the services of two Internet service
providers; Glo and MTN.
Besides, Aluko said the school has a
full-fledged Information Communication Technology centre where students
can make use of Internet services. He, however, did not deny the fact
that there had been cases where the services were poor.
The rector also faulted the allegation
that a male porter entered a female hostel in the school without
approval. He said the male porter was only assisting the chairperson of
the hostel who is a woman.
Aluko added, “A woman heads the female
hostel, but the man is there to complement her roles. Assuming that the
occupants of the hostel see a rat and raised the alarm, the man can
assist them to kill it. Moreover, the man is an old man. I believe what
the students’ union president was capitalising on was a case in which
one of the students in the female hostel poured water from the window on
the man. And when the man asked the lady what she poured on him, the
lady replied that it was urine. The situation led to a disagreement
between the lady and the porter. The matter was eventually settled. I
learnt that when the union leader heard about the case, he mobilised
some people who went after the porter.”
But Saheed denied organising any victory
party at Ota. He explained that he was in Ota to attend a convention of
the Junior Chambers International on the day of the accident, adding
that he had not become the president of the SUG then.
He said 21 of them that attended the
convention appeared before a disciplinary committee who warned them not
to embark on such a trip again without permission from the school
authorities.
On their proposal to the school
authorities that the students should be allowed to wear base ball caps,
shorts, bum shorts and others on campus, he said, “We only said the
school authorities should allow students to wear base ball caps, shorts
and dark glasses on weekends. And on Wednesdays when we have sports,
students should also be allowed to wear sportswear.”
Aluko said as a father, he desires the best for the students and the employees of the institution.
He explained that he increased the course
content, improved on staff welfare and embarked on infrastructural
development of the institution after he became rector.
“Since last October when I became the
rector, I have made some achievements. I added six new programmes
(courses), which are agricultural engineering, insurance, taxation,
library information science and system operation for HND students.
“Apart from this, I regained
accreditation for hospitality management and civil engineering. The
protest was getting out of hand because hoodlums hijacked it. They even
threatened to locate the headquarters of the National Association of
Nigerian Students in the school since many institutions were on holiday
for the Eid-el-Fitri celebration,” he added.
Aluko said he initiated new projects such
as the building of a 500-seater auditorium, 250-seater conference
centre modelled after Barcelona Artiva, and a studio and workshop for
entrepreneurial studies, while the mass communication department was
ongoing.
He said, “In addition to all this, we
bought a luxury bus for the students to ease their movement from campus
to town and from town to campus. I also bought an 18-seater bus for
members of staff and five official cars for the Deans of schools.”
He said he could not understand why the
students would embark on a protest considering his plans for them and
the institution as a whole.
Meanwhile, it is not certain when the
school will re-open for academic activities. After its emergency meeting
on Tuesday, the Academic Board inaugurated a committee to look into the
immediate and remote causes of the protest.
According to a statement released on
Wednesday by the Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Lasunkanmi Bolaji,
all academic activities remained suspended.
The statement read in part: “The Board
after exhaustive deliberations set-up a committee to look into the
remote and the immediate causes of the uprising and make recommendations
to the Academic Board.
“Consequently, the Board decided that:
All academic activities remain suspended and students remain on recess
until management resolves all issues surrounding the uprising.”
