As against what was obtainable even in the military era, the Nigerian ruling class has totally, openly and unashamedly committed themselves to all the anti-poor IMF/World Bank-inspired policies of commercialization, privatization, etc. This is more brazenly practiced in the education sector where school administrators and governments, especially state governments, are not only hiking fees but are also destroying the fabrics of intellectualism including basic social rights of expression, association and protest.
As against what was obtainable even in the military era, the Nigerian ruling class has totally, openly and unashamedly committed themselves to all the anti-poor IMF/World Bank-inspired policies of commercialization, privatization, etc. This is more brazenly practiced in the education sector where school administrators and governments, especially state governments, are not only hiking fees but are also destroying the fabrics of intellectualism including basic social rights of expression, association and protest.
To this end, the development at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) comes into limelight. It will be recalled that about five months ago, the Ogun State government, in collusion with the university hike payable fees in the state owned university by more than 500 percents. Then, a set of disgruntled, jobless individuals under the guise of nebulous Parent Forum went to air to announce the new pocket-tearing fee hike, even when the university management had not had the ball to come out on the fee increment. Then, the writer had warned of possible social result of the hike because, even if some students can pay the fee for now, it does not imply that they can pay the next one. As a result of mounting pressure, the university management tactically retreated by reducing the fee increment by about 100 percent.
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The students were forced to cough out the exorbitant fees, while those who could not afford it were chased out. As if that was not enough, just few weeks ago the OOU management, feeling like conqueror, further hiked the fees by another 100 to 200 percents. The students (and genuine parents) who have even found it difficult to pay the previous fees embarked on peaceful protests. Rather than see reason with the students and their poor parents, the university management, in a manner reminiscent of the military dark days, summarily disbanded the students’ union while some union leaders and activists have been penciled down for victimization. The central argument of the university management for hiking the fees is that the institution’s population quota has been reduced by NUC, which has impacted on the revenue profile of the university.
This again brings to fore the ridiculous manner in which our ivory towers are run. It is glaring that the university management is running as a factory where your input determine your profit. Furthermore, what is the logic in asking students to pay for the ineptitude of OOU the management and the Ogun State government which admitted tens of thousands in the first instance, without providing adequate facilities needed for effective learning? The same management that claimed to be spending over N300, 000 per student annually could not provide basic facilities for students as the students’ population far exceed the lecturers and facilities. Yet the management and the government continue to extort monies ranging from increased fees, to various sundry levies such as departmental fees, etc. Few years ago, many lives were lost to student-community crisis which is partly a product of the lack of adequate hostel accommodation for students on the campus. More than three years after, the government had not deemed it fit to provide hostel facilities for students neither did it embark on massive developmental projects to provide the needed facilities for the burgeoning students’ population.
It should also be stated that the government is under funding this institution (and other tertiary institutions in the state). According to report in a national newspaper in March this year, it was noted that aside the government placing the task of funding capital projects on the university management; the university is also made to provide 48 percent of the workers’ salaries in the institution. This explains why the management and the government turned the education in the institution to merchandise where students are sources of revenue. That the Ogun State government which is one of the richest governments in the south-west going by the federal allocation and the increasing internally generated revenue profile of the state could not fund education in the state is a sign of profligacy at all levels of government. The same government that will claim paucity of fund as a basis for abandoning its social responsibility will not find it difficult to pay politicians in power hundreds of millions as salaries and allowances (aside the now routine looting of the state treasury).
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In 2006, the state government claimed to have budgeted 26 percent to education, but since then, the fortune of education has continue to dwindle. For instance, few months ago, students of state-owned school of nursing embarked on protest to condemn government failure to provide adequate facilities for learning (five years after the school was established)which necessitated the appropriate authorities’ dis-accreditation of the institution. The immediate response of the state government is the issuance of threat to close down the institution. Yet this is a government that claimed to be the reincarnation of Awolowo’s welfare government. Also, the university management that has been using under funding as an excuse for commercializing education cannot account for hundreds of millions of naira collected from students in the past, as the living and studying conditions of students continue to deteriorate. The recent decision of the NUC to reduce students’ population is an indictment on the university management as well as the Ogun State government.
The OOU management has been using the growing interest of youth for university education to extort money from them without providing needed facilities for students. It is this that has led to the NUC position. However, the NUC’s position is hypocritical as it was not meant to improve university system but to deliberately reduce university graduate, in fulfillment of the neo-liberal ideology of reducing labour purchasing power. One would have expected NUC that disaccredited many courses in public universities to use the same yardstick for private universities where virtually no university education is carried out when one compare their facilities and manpower with those of public institution. It will also be recalled that the same NUC has been a central advocate of education commercialization (through fee hike) and privatization. From all indications, the fee hike is condemnable and anti-students.
It is necessary that students, parents, lecturers and the good people of Ogun State (and Nigeria as a whole) reject this increment and the undemocratic proscription of the students’ union. What the Ogun State government and the OOU management are doing vis-à-vis education commercialization and attack on students and workers’ democratic rights have become consensus among all facets of government, therefore, its successful implementation in one place will embolden other governments. Already, the federal government has given public institutions marching order to hike fees to a minimum of N40, 000 in a country where minimum wage is less than N15, 000. To this end, from University of Ibadan, to UNILAG, UNIBEN, etc fees are being increased while viable students’ platforms in these institutions (and other campuses like OAU where there are preparation for the hike) that can agitate and resist the fees are being attacked. Also, many state-owned institutions have also followed the same path: from UNIOSUN to LAUTECH, OSPOLY, etc, fees are being increased while students’ unions are being attacked. Definitely, after the students, lecturers and other academic workers should prepare for their share. For instance, the excuse of the OOU management of the need to cut cost will translate to retrenchment of workers in the institution. Therefore, students’ unions and organizations must come together to launch a national campaign against attack on public education and students’ democratic rights.
The position of the academic staff union of OOU in condemning the unwholesome fee hike is highly commendable; this should be translated to workable programmatic joint actions among students, lecturers, academic workers and workers in the state, not only against this nefarious education commercialization policy but against all anti-poor, pro-rich policies of the state government. It is unfortunate that virtually all the structures of NANS (from national to state) have collapsed ideological and practically as most of them have become pawns in the chessboards of the government and the university management. Notwithstanding, Nigerian students must come together, and join force with workers’ union in the education sector to defend properly-funded, democratically-run public education. Nigeria’s resources, if judiciously used, aside funding developmental projects, could provide free and quality education for all without tears.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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