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Since the
death of Mayowa Alaran, a Human Kinetic student in the University of Ibadan,
events have been unfolded ranging from protests over his death, Students’ Union
Congress held by the students of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
non-recognition of the Students’ Union Congress by the Dean of Students’ Affairs,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Prof. Alada, who may have claimed that the Students’ Union
Congress was not validly constituted, but further investigations revealed that
the Students’ Union Congress was validly constituted but the students were
scared to append their signatures due to an age-long victimization and
oppression by the University of Ibadan’s
authorities. The students in driving home their points boycotted the Students’
Union election slated earlier this year stating that the welfare of students
was paramount and germane before the conduct of the Students’ Union election.
Issues were subsequently raised at the Welfare Board meeting that was chaired
by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adewole Isaac.
To some, the
boycotted election was actualized by a group of students that had been perceived
as those interested in the Transition Committee for the Students’ Union rather
than a democratic Students’ Union, whereas others believe the boycott was
necessary. After much suffering especially in the aspect of electricity and
water supply, the University management gave a two-week break, and the students
have resumed normal academic activities. Electricity and water supply had
improved greatly in the University, as investigations indicate.
However,
expectations of the students are that the Students’ Union elections should be
held this time since some of the Students’ Union candidates had signed that a
new date be fixed for the Students’ Union election.
Further
findings had revealed that the incumbent Students’ Union President, Odesola
known as Huntersola is uncooperative towards the conduct of the Students’ Union
election, as he has been seen by the students as pro-management and
anti-student.
The event
after the death of Mayowa had shown the unpopularity of the Students’ Union President
who was reported to be in the Intensive Care Unit of the University College
Hospital, University of Ibadan. It was learnt that all efforts to see the
hailing President then proved abortive as many saw his confinement as a ploy
orchestrated by the University’ authorities under Prof. Adewole’s watch, to
douse the agitations for the removal of the Students’ Union President, and the
actualization of the students’ demands regarding welfare, among others.
At the
moment, the Conscience Post learnt that the Vice Chancellor of the University,
Professor Adewole Isaac may have vowed that there would not be Students’ Union
election, any time soon, though it would be recalled that his administration
saw to the resuscitation of the Students’ Union.
Nonetheless,
inquiries by the Conscience Post have revealed the following on the welfare
report submitted by the students concerning the generality of students of the University
of Ibadan, as such reveals the reasons for the postponement of the Students’ Union election.
Introduction
Consequent to
the meeting held with the School management on the 14th of
May, 2015, the Dean of Students requested the students’ representatives to come
up with a list of challenges and welfare issues facing students’ welfare. It
was agreed by both the school management and the students’ representatives that
the report on students’ welfare shall be made available for the deliberation of
the Students’ Welfare Board which would be sitting on Wednesday, 20th
of May, 2015.
Another
meeting of students’ representatives was held on the 16th of May,
2015. This meeting had in attendance all Hall Chairpersons, some Faculty
Presidents, members of the Representative Council, few pressmen and aspirants
for the postponed election. After long, lengthy and logical
deliberations and due reports from various Halls of Residence and Faculties,
those in attendance agreed on the demands below as the challenges facing
students’ welfare on campus:
GENERAL
STUDENTS’ WELFARE
Enough of Manual
Course Registration
The issue of
manual course registration has been a long problem for the students. Manual
course registration takes time for completion with stress both on the students
and lecturers. We recommend and request
that registration of courses should be done online only, as it is done in many
Universities globally, to reduce time spent on registration and the stress that
comes with it.
Improvement in Water Supply
Water supply
system within the school is very poor as students are seen trekking distances
to fetch water as if they are in the rural area. An example can be drawn from
IDIATES who trek as far as Indy Hall and New PG hall while Indy hall travel as
far as Baptist church close to International School Ibadan (ISI) to fetch
water. If this persists, we foresee students travelling to Awba Dam to fetch
water for their domestic purposes. And when Awba dam dries, the students may
seek solace with Eleyele Dam, in Ibadan, Oyo State. The Central water system
perceived to be coming from the maintenance has seized to flow in for a very
long time. We believe if this is rejuvenated and water adequately pumped into
the halls, the problems of water will be half solved.
Erratic and
Irregular Distribution of Power Supply
The
issue of electricity on campus has been a challenge that many administrations
have had to face in the past. We do understand through explanations from the
school management that it may not be feasible to achieve 24 hours of
electricity per day. But, our request is
just to remind the school management of its earlier promise as stated by the
Vice Chancellor during the Town Hall meeting of 2012 held at Trenchard Hall,
where he promised us 18 hours of electricity per day. It should be noted that
if this promise has been kept all along by the school management, we may not
have had cause to bury one of our own recently, in person of Mr. Mayowa Alaran
of the Department of Human Kinetics, faculty of education, University of Ibadan.
We don't need to remind the school management that regular power supply is
fundamental to the progress of scholarship and academic excellence. When there
is blackout or erratic power supply as it has become a norm, practical classes
are suspended and researches are greatly affected. Not just that, classrooms
become oven-like and the learning environment becomes everything but conducive.
We also do not need to remind the school management that many of its lofty
programmes like the Wifi and the Kitchenette system depend greatly on a regular
power supply to thrive. We hereby wish to reiterate our demand for the
fulfilment of the School Management's promise of 18 hours of electricity per
day. And most importantly, a further demand of 24 hours uninterrupted power
supply is achievable and feasible to key into the in-coming government of the
president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari’s agendum of tackling the erratic electricity
supply nationwide. Thus, it would be a great disservice and hardship when we
demand anything less than 24 hours of electricity supply as our demands when
met would be towards dispensation of a new government in Nigeria. We are aware
that the institution ought to have conquered the issue of electricity or power
supply with the existence of departments that could champion other sources of
power, or consolidate on the existing sources. The Faculty of Technology in the
institution is an example.
It
should be specifically noted that the entire Block B in Idia Hall, University
of Ibadan is yet to be graced with power supply since resumption. We also need
to remind the school management that this particular Block is a new entrants’ Block
and this issue has affected the students to the extent that many had to abandon
classes due to unavailability of electricity to perform basic things on daily
bases that affect learning, proper coordination of activities especially
academic activities. The university of Ibadan students are not oblivion of the
facilities their counterparts enjoy elsewhere in Nigeria or abroad, but that
first university in Nigeria, the University of Ibadan could not cater for their
needs is a signal to the failed system, and that the university administration
must as matter of urgency embark on total overhaul of the university without
politics of interests which had affected the general wellbeing of the
inhabitants in the University over the years. The University of Ibadan may as well
be prepared to remove the names of the affected new entrants from the
University of Ibadan’s list of enrolled students. Such students’ battle with
daily survival and adjustment due to gross lack of amenities or facilities, as
it would not be surprising to find many of these helpless students' names in
the ‘Tsunami’ List, the withdrawal list of those students that could not meet
up with required academic grades in the University of Ibadan.
Transportation
The transport
system within the campus is not well-coordinated as there is no even
distribution of movement to places, a problem attributed to drivers and
management of the Intra Campus Transport Committee (ICTC). Some destinations
are not covered at all e.g. from the University of Ibadan’s gate to the
Veterinary Medicine, from the University of Ibadan’s gate to Awolowo Hall, from
the University of Ibadan’s gate to the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, and
the likes. Also, we realized that more often the cab drivers stop work at
around 7p.m, making students to trek from the University of Ibadan gate to
their various destinations. Additionally, most of the cab drivers charge
exorbitant fare from the students. We believe that these issues are predominant
because the ICTC is under the administration of the University of Ibadan. We
request that the ICTC should be fully handed over to Students’ Union,
University of Ibadan, because the students are the majority on campus and we
can better manage the aforementioned routes in the University for Students’
Convenience.
Inverter Situation in
the Halls of Residence
We
hereby wish to state our displeasure at the breakdown of inverters in the Halls
of residence. It will be recalled that these inverters were built about four
years to complement the erratic power supply. The inverters afforded the
students an opportunity to read and find their ways around the halls in times
of blackout. However, barely two years after the installation of these
inverters, what they do now is to decorate our corridors. The situation now is
so bad to the extent that when there is blackout in the halls of residence, all
activities are paralysed including one of the most fundamental activities on
campus, reading. We hereby wish to plead with the University’s authorities to
restore these inverters to ease students' living on campus.
Limited Connectivity
of Wifi Networks
In
the same vein, it should be noted that the Wireless internet connectivity
introduced by Prof. Adewole's administration has also been frustrating
students. As a point of information, many executives of the Halls of Residence
have started installing wireless networks for the residents of their halls at
cheaper prices when they abandoned it when it was learnt that the school had a
similar plan. One year after the installation of the Wireless network, it
gracefully graces our laptops and smart phones with "Limited
Connectivity". We understand that the school has a plan of charging
students for this service, but the school has refused to provide this service
even when the students are ready to pay. We hereby plead with the University
management to restore wireless networks to the halls of residence as it goes a
long way to help students in research and other academic activities.
State of Security on Campus
There has
been an increased incidence of theft across the various halls of residence.
This could be as a result of several factors including the frequent lack of
electricity and inexperienced security personnel around the campus especially
at night. The management needs to take this issue seriously by providing electricity
at night and increasing number of security personnel across the school at
night. Also not more than three security men should be posted to each hall of
residence. This will help reduce cases of theft especially in the female halls
of residence.
Lecture Rooms
Most of the
facilities in our lecture rooms are either not available, not enough or they
are dilapidated. The facilities include: fan, air conditioners, projectors, public
address systems, etc. We urge the management to visit some of these lecture
rooms and identify what is needed for repairs or provision.
Poor Lighting System
Poor lighting
within the campus has been a serious issue. This is because darkness is a haven
for rapists and thieves. Our girls are not safe at night anymore especially
places where darkness has dominated. Example of such places include Faculties
of Science-Technology axis, Faculty of Science-Awo Hall axis. We request the fixing of light along these
axes and other places within the school that need this facility at night. This
will improve security issues around the campus.
Kitchenette
It has also
come to our notice that most of the hotplates with the various kitchenettes
across all the halls within the campus are no longer working. This will push
students back to cooking in their rooms thereby rendering the effort of the
management (stopping student from cooking in the rooms) useless. We urge the
management to look into this and help the students as quick as possible because
there are some students that cannot afford to eat at the cafeterias.
Service Providers
The various
service providers within the campus are not doing enough to alleviate or
eradicate the sufferings of students’ e.g University Health Service Centre,
University Student Lodging Bureau (USLB) and Maintenance Department.
UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICE CENTRE:
·
The
use of Jaja card should be abolished and all student records are to be made
electronic. This will create easy access to student records such that matriculation
numbers only will be needed to check in any student into the clinic.
·
The
staff of the clinic should be friendly to student. Hostile attitudes are not
good for students or any patient in a clinic.
·
More
drivers should be provided for the ambulances available such that we will have
one driver to an ambulance unlike it is currently practised as one driver to
three ambulances.
·
Ambulance
should be located at specific location at all times to prevent the death of our
colleagues. We recommend that an ambulance should be located between Idia-Awo
Halls’ axes, another at Zik-Indy Hall axes and another at the Central Administration
area in the University of Ibadan.
·
Additional
ambulances should be procured for emergency outside the University with regards
to University College Hospital (UCH), University of Ibadan.
·
Proper
vaccination should be given to students as at when due especially students on
clinical duties (Veterinary Medicine and PYTP students). Such vaccinations
include anti-rabies and hepatitis.
·
Adequate
Fumigation should be carried out per semester across all halls of residence.
UNIVERSITY STUDENT
LODGING BUREAU (USLB) AND MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT:
·
The
USLB should adequately attend to students’ needs such that one carpenter, plumber
and electrician each should be allocated to each hall of residence and faculty.
It has been discovered that there are a lot of broken pipes, dysfunctional taps
and bad electrical appliances (especially sockets) within our Halls and
Faculties as no one is available to adequately attend to them even after proper
complaints. Even when those allocated to our halls are called for repairs they
do not respond, if they do they respond after three weeks or a month and most
times never.
·
The
issue of overcrowding has been brought to our notice wherein especially in
female halls a six-man room has turned to twelve-man room: this is evident in
Queen Elizabeth Hall II and Queen Idia Hall in the University of Ibadan.
·
The
issue of plumbing needs to be isolated here, as this has caused serious disgust
within our halls especially the bathrooms where bathrooms have turned to
swimming pool as a result of broken pipes and poor drainage maintenance. Even
in some bathrooms, the deckings are licking thereby producing showers of dirty
water. We demand that adequate care and maintenance be adopted to prevent ill-health
as a result of this.
Reading Rooms
All the
reading rooms within the halls of residence are in a state of comatose as most
facilities are not worthy to be called facilities. Most can now be referred to
as decoration waiting for the dust that passes every day to inhabit them.
Attention need be paid to fans, air conditions, chairs and tables. Some halls do not have sufficient reading
rooms like Idia hall of residence.
Identification Cards
The use of
Identity Cards to gain access within our halls of residence is not acceptable.
The halls’ ID cards are made for security issues not for access to the hall or
a means to intimidate students especially within the female hostels. We must
point out here that this production of Hall ID cards has rendered the
University ID card useless. The question we keep asking is: what is the need of
the University Identity Card if it is not acceptable enough within the campus?
In the Universities like the University of Ilorin, in Ilorin, Kwara State, the
University Identity cards are like ATM cards used in paying the school fees,
hostel fees, making withdrawals as a debit card and some other information
technology-related activities but currently in the premier University, a unit
of the institution has started discarding the University Student ID cards by
going forward to produce separated ID cards. This is a waste on the part of the
University and the students who pay for different ID cards within the campus.
Additionally, there is extortion going on within the girl’s hostels from the
porters with respect to these ID cards. Why collect the sum of #1000 as fine
from us when we misplace our ID cards with no explanation or replacement? We
demand that this should stop.
No to #5,000 Fines
for Late Payment of School Fees
We hereby wish to demand that the 5,000
naira fine of late payment of school fees should be stopped. The University
Officials should note that fingers are not equal. When a student has been
struggling to put his/her school fees together and then, when he/she is about
rejoicing that the money is completed, the school management decides to add a 5,000
naira fine. We hereby wish to plead with the school management to reconsider
its stand on the 5,000 naira fine for the sake of the less-privileged students.
SPECIFIC
CASES
HALLS OF
RESIDENCE
I.
The
Kitchenettes in Mellanby Hall have so far been disconnected from the power
source. Complaints have been made yet solutions have not been provided. This
makes it difficult for students to prepare their food. Needless to say that the
Hotplates in these kitchenettes are not even working anymore.
II.
The
issue of locks being vulnerable to multiple keys should also be looked into in
both Mellanby and Bello Halls of Residence as soon as possible as this has
contributed to the success of many theft cases in the hall.
III.
There's
also the issue of broken pipes in Block B and Block C inTedder and Bello halls
of residence respectively.
IV.
Residents
of Bello, Indy and Zik halls have also complained about the faults in the
wiring systems of the halls. A visit to most of the rooms will reveal students
sleeping and romancing with live wires in the rooms. This issue is of great
threat to students' life if not promptly looked into.
V.
Awo
Hall has been facing the challenges of having pumping machines to pump water to
the topmost floors. Awo Hall Residents will be happy if this can be looked into
as soon as possible as students go through great stress to fetch and carry
water to these topmost floors.
VI.
We
will also wish to request for more cleaners to combat the dirty environment of
Awo Hall.
VII.
There
are cases in Queens Hall where the students directly receive blessed showers of
rain on their heads whenever, there is rainfall as there are no ceilings to
prevent the downpour. This is similar to cases of sunny days that the students
have to tolerate extreme hot temperature in an over-crowded room they paid
for.
VIII.
The
issue of water supply in Alexander Brown hall has been a perennial problem, in
fact, the USLB has come to access and re-access to no avail. Recently, we
witnessed a queue of buckets from A block extending down to C block in ABH. The
effect of this situation on Brownites is so telling that going to class
sometimes could be impossible. Almost everyone fetches from one source. We
hereby demand that a long lasting solution should be implemented as soon as
possible.
IX.
There
are also accommodation issues in ABH and the solution to this as we have
discovered is the construction of a new block. We deem it fit to bring it to
the notice of the school management that a whole new set crosses over to UCH
without provision for accommodation till the existing final year students
leaves the college, a situation that may take six months or more. Eventually,
less than 75% of students in UCH get accommodated. This is most inappropriate
considering the rigors of Medical school. We humbly appeal to the University
management to come to our rescue.
X.
Residents
of Tedder Hall protested a couple of weeks ago against the construction of a
gate inside the Hall. After the school management has promised to look into the
matter, it is saddening to note that work has resumed in the construction of a
cubicle behind the gate. We hereby wish to restate our displeasure on the
construction of that gate and its partial lockage. In Tedder Hall, presently,
there’s only an emergency exit and the construction of this gate will obviously
make the free flow of movement very difficult in the face of stampede. We are
talking about a potential threat to students’ lives here and we hope the school
will make sure that the hall management stop this project.
FACULTY
I.
We hereby request that the road linking the Zoological Garden to the
Faculty of Technology in the University of Ibadan should be tarred as soon as
possible to put an end to the messy situation students get involved in during
the raining season.
II.
The drainage system in the Faculties of Agriculture and Arts is faulty
and this prevents the free flow of water in the toilets which results in
accumulation of water and unpleasant smell.
III.
The issue of inadequacy of classrooms in the Faculty of Technology
should be looked into especially with the 300 level to the 500 level classes.
This situation makes learning very difficult and cumbersome.
IV.
There is also agitation from Faculty of Education students on the need
to decentralise Teaching practice from just Ibadan North Local Government, thus
allowing the students to observe their Teaching Practice program in any school
within the state.
V.
Request to reconsider the exorbitant fee being paid by the students of
Archaeology and Anthropology department. It becomes pertinent to question the
rationale and appropriateness of paying #20,000 naira for field work when the
school levy is just #16,450.
VI.
Another issue of great concern is the welfare of students of European
Studies department in the University. The school needs to be reminded that
these students pay as much as #70,000 naira in case of German students and
#90,000 naira in case of French students for their Year Abroad Programme. It
becomes apparently questionable if these students still have to pay school fees
of over #16,000 naira just because they are made to take 2 electives in the
University. Our demand is that these students should stop paying school fees
and if they must pay because of those 2 electives, then, provisions should be
made for them to take these 2 electives before the commencement of the programme.
We see this double payment as mere extortion and it should be noted that students
from our sister University, Obafemi Awolowo University, do not pay during their
Year Abroad Programme.
VII.
We also need to question the rationale behind the inclusion of #1,000
naira Practical fee in the list of levies of Law Faculty students. It should be
noted that no "practical" in any sense has been carried out for Law
students in that Faculty. We hereby demand for the exclusion of this ridiculous
fee from the school fees of Law Faculty students in the University of Ibadan.
If the exclusion of this fee becomes difficult then, we demand justification
for the payment immediately.
VIII.
The issue of Timetable in the Faculty of Education and Technology should
also be looked into. There are always conflicts in times of classes and these
put the students in a confused situation as to select which of the clashing
courses they will go for. This is an emergency situation that should be
addressed as soon as possible as this has resulted in some students having
extra year in the Faculty.
IX.
Another issue that requires the school's utmost attention is that of
Transcript issues. Students in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine are required
to pay before getting their transcripts. We do not know why the students have
to pay for transcripts when they have already paid dues relating to all these
in their list of levies. It becomes laughable to know that these same
transcripts that the students have to pay for have consistently featured errors
in their calculation. In the same vein,
students in the departments of Theatre Arts and Philosophy have complained
about the non-issuance of transcript. This is a big problem as it becomes
difficult for students who want to use such for scholarship and other
extra-academic purposes.
X.
We also demand that the deplorable state of female toilets be looked
into in the Faculty of Arts in the University of Ibadan.
XI.
We also demand the opening of classes and reading rooms 24 hours daily
and not restricted to 8 am - 4 pm.
CONCLUSION
From the
forgoing, we hereby urge the University of Ibadan authority to immediately look
into the aforementioned issues as matters of urgency in that they form the very
essence of the existence of the University, the inhabitants in the University
of Ibadan. The age-long complaints that
the University may not or cannot provide the basic amenities for the
inhabitants of the University had over the years affected the qualities of the
students being churned out year in, year out. We further admonish the
University authorities to always see the students as integral parts of the
University with the essence of ensuring adequate facilities in the 21st
century in order to be able to compete favourably with their counterparts from
elsewhere. We the students of the University of Ibadan had over the years
suffered either neglect of responsibilities by the University administration or
a total and deliberate clampdown on the voices of the students despite the
existence of the Students’ Union with its reinstatement in 2011.
We demand
full provision of the aforementioned demands which are sacrosanct for our
wellbeing and sense of belonging within the University community. It is with
frown we have come together as concerned students of the University of Ibadan towards
our emancipation from the shackles of oppression from various constituent units
of the University of Ibadan.
We ask that
the University of Ibadan take a proactive step in addressing all these
displeasure as it is glaring that facilities in the University of Ibadan are
still inadequate and dilapidating.
Thanks for
your prompt and favourable response.
*This is the
report of the students’ welfare meeting convened at the SRC on the 16th
of May, 2015.
contact: +2347095987192, theconsciencenews@gmail.com.
