By Olu ‘Remilekun (Contributor)

“Part of our educational process: must be the involvement of all sections of the University on the governing bodies, the case for student representation is unanswerable. It is inevitable.” – Jimmy Reid

“An unjust law is no law at all” –  Saint Augustine

Jimmy Reid’s 1972 University of Glasgow Rectorial Speech affirms the age long ideological quest for representation and social justice in the conflicting and deteriorating socio-economic conditions as continuously orchestrated by profit driven capitalist hegemony. His outcry about the state of education and the imperative for it to transform to the need to prepare students for life and not for work continues to resonate with the staggering decline of education in Nigeria. The demand for an independent Student Union in the University of Ibadan is not just an avenue to have students govern without accountability or enjoy the privileges of offices. The demand is an indispensable factor if the University is truly set and genuinely committed to supply its own future and the future of the country with leaders prepared to take responsibilities. Education has to translate to responsible leadership and the consciousness to transform Nigeria into a peaceful and prosperous state. All these are wishful thinking without the right system put in place. For students, the functional system is an independent student union with statues that are respected and protected by students and the University through its institutions.

“RECOGNISING the need to consolidate ourselves into a truly active and progressive association in order to protect the rights of our students and discharge our responsibilities as informed members of the society, subject to the authority of Senate.

REALISING the need to support by all lawful means the fundamental freedom of thought and expression, association and movement.

APPRECIATING the problems of our society and the role we must play in the maintenance of a democratic, open and progressive educational system whereby every Nigerian citizen shall have equal opportunity to education.

COMMITTED to harnessing the enthusiasm of students for dynamic, purposeful, political, socioeconomic and technological development.

DEDICATED to the total liberation of our fatherland (Nigeria) from all forms of domination and the attainment of Nigerian Unity.

DETERMINED to engage our members in the national scheme of social progress aimed at the total mobilization of the Nigerian Students towards realizing National ideals and to draw attention at all times and in all places to any form of exploitation, discrimination, oppression and any other social vices among the students, and to work for the realization of peace in our community.”W

While institutions make and condition men, they do not fall from heaven. Institutions are designed and sustained by men. Benedit Anderson’s words capture these thoughts. He says “Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity or genuineness, but in the style in which they are imagined”. The present consciousness of students in UI can be explained by the books and laws that the institution of the Student Union is built on. The constitution and its deliverables are results of the imaginations of those who wrote it. Aduwo Ayodele, during the occasion of the 2024 student protest, consistently reiterated that the three weapons fashioned against students in the quest for a proactive and responsive Student Union are fear, ignorance and arrogance. While students can be blamed for their apathetic disposition to the Student Union, like the national dilemma which has expressed itself in the less than 15% of the voting population participate in Nigerian General Elections, the actual problem is alienation. Jimmy says, “Alienation is the cry of men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It is the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision making. It’s feeling of despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping of determining their own destinies”.

This description of alienation is what makes Nigerians, both old and young resign to fate when it comes to governance and social justice. Students in the University of Ibadan, both Undergraduate and Postgraduate students feel and believe that their actions and participation does not count. This is much more ingrained in the excuse of postgraduate students who use research as an excuse not to participate in student politics. How can young people be so indifferent about their own union? Apart from the irresponsible and anti-student student leadership that has continuously betrayed the trust of students in the Union, the systemic and fundamental fault is in the constitution of the Union, written for and imposed on the Student Union after the reinstatement of the Union in 2017.

The preliminary remarks of the constitution introduced inequality in the union where students have equal financial stakes. While it states the desire of the University to have student unionism and its highlighted one of the quality control measures which says,

“Towards this end, and in order to have responsible and visionary student leadership, the authorities have put in place a number of quality control measures for those who are aspiring to be student leaders. One of these measures is that such students must have made a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.5.”

This statement sets the foundation for inequality among students. It means that students below the cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 3.5 cannot make responsible and visionary student leaders. To what end is this? It also indirectly means that the university washes itself of any responsibility to students’ academic performance in the environment and system it manages.

Further in the document, among other flaws that characterizes it, the most undemocratic feature in it is the provision for the Electoral Commission in ARTICLE XI No (2) which makes the Deputy Registrar (Students) the chairman of the commission. When the chairman of a University Student Union Commission is the Deputy Registrar, it begs the question of the need for elections at all. This tactic of control can be traced to the Military Regime’s imposition of a Constitution on Nigeria for democratic governance. The system reproducing itself. The University management also fall for the temptation of doing what can be done rather than what should be done.

Student leaders have turned union leadership to offices that guarantee certificate and a ladder of opportunities. As students and young persons, great expectations are not far-fetched and part of it is that student, especially leaders, reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt their critical faculties to all that is happening around them, that would caution silence in the face of injustice. For those who cannot meet this expectation, Jimmy reveals that “That is how it starts and before they know where they are, they have become a fully paid-up member of the rat-pack. The price is too high, it entails the loss of their dignity and human Spirit, Or as Christ put it, “What doth it profit a man he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”

The height of the loss of dignity and human spirit is the beggarly response of the student community to the unjustified hike, led by the Students’ Union Executive Council on social media in the face of the world. It looks like what the disillusioned fourth and best can produce. A University Students’ Union begged for alms to sort the school fees of her arbitrarily selected members. While the mother led the disgrace, faculty and departmental associations followed suit. Yoruba says “A ma n pe gbon ni, a kii pe go” which translates to, we form unions to wisdom and not to folly. Students have suddenly been raised transform citizens to beggars. The education of the Bolaji Aweda led Student Union created beggars of students. The leadership that disrespected the congress and falsified her resolutions have done more harm than good in salvaging the situation of hopelessness in the Union. Rather than build trust and uphold responsible leadership worthy in character and sound judgement, they have built on the precedence of deceit handed over by Samson Tobiloba (Host) and predecessors, after 2017.

The clamour for an independent Students’ Union seems far-fetched and impossible to some students while others do not understand it at all. The independence of the Student Union does not threaten the peace of any University that pursues this charter,

“Vision

To be a world-class institution for academic excellence geared towards meeting societal needs.

Mission

To expand the frontiers of knowledge through provision of excellent conditions for learning and research.

To produce graduates who are worthy in character and sound judgement.

To contribute to the transformation of society through creativity and innovation.

To serve as a dynamic custodian of society’s salutary values and thus sustain its integrity.”

In fact, the honest pursuit of this vision and mission requires that the Students’ Union be run independently because it is the platform for students to exhibit the knowledge mined and encountered in the University. If students are raised with the intension of meeting societal needs, it is counterproductive to spoon feed them by running the basis of democratic leadership for them. Where else should students learn how to democratically create and sustain institutions if not through their own union? Are we raised to simply fit into the corrupt society and undemocratic political system we have in the country? Are we trained to maintain the status quo that created poverty and sustains it through an increase in the number of out-of-school children and students? If we cannot manage our own elections and adequately run our union and associations without the interference of the University management, Faculty Sub Deans, Deans, Heads of Departments and Wardens in the Halls of Residence what kind of leadership do we expect for the future of the country? Students are supposed to be taught to obey the laws of their associations, not shown how to disregard and get away with such actions. This is certainly not the ways to produce graduates who are worthy in character and sound judgement because they have not been put in the position to do it for themselves not to mention doing it for the society outside the walls of the university.

The independence of the Union is what creates the platform for students who have been tested worthy in character and sound judgement, not the puppet student leadership that has no autonomy of the resources of the union they lead. While we assume that the University teaches students character and sound judgement, members of the faculty, persons in the university management have consistently encouraged students and student leaders to disrespect and disregard the constitution that governs their associations and the union. The irresponsibility of student leaders in the University would not have persisted if the system does not allow, encourage and reward it.

Does this mean that the management does not have a duty to guide and ensure the sustenance of ideals of leadership and academic excellence? Not at all. The much-dreaded Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC) that instils fear in the students should be used by the management to curtail student excesses and misconducts, not even before the students have used the internal judicial measures of the union. This however raises the question of what an entire Faculty of Law contributes to the Student Union. SDC should be the University’s measure of engaging issues that students are unable to resolve. It should be the body that represents the best interest of the University, not any individual, not even the Vice Chancellor. It should also be a platform where students are represented adequately if they are indeed raised towards meeting societal needs.

Is it profitable for lecturers who are occupied with both academic and administrative responsibilities due to inadequate personnel to also take up responsibilities that students should best maintain for themselves and the collective interest of the university? Does taking up those responsibilities contribute to research and innovation among lecturers? What are the benefits in monitoring and usurping the responsibility of students? Is the management scared that students will demand more accountability when they find out about the flow of resources? Are the students so irresponsible that they cannot manage their own affairs in the halls and faculties?

A critical and more patient look at the system that creates irresponsible and reactionary student leadership on campus shows how the system that governs the community shapes and produces the leadership and apathy of followership we have among students. Is this without a cause? The University admission process remains the most transparent and rigorous in the country and it ensures that the best heads are offered provisional admission to study. This means that all students gained admission on merit and are aware that they will graduate on merit. This also makes it more plausible to impact knowledge while upholding the ethos of character and learning. University of Ibadan Students are logical in their choices and they make them based on the plausibility of options available to them in the system. What are the options that are daily reinforced in the conscious and subconscious minds of the students? Is it the fear of SDC or the infinite possibilities of character and learning in an environment where they take responsibilities, make mistakes and are corrected without being denied the education they have worked tirelessly for? What are the platforms for law students in the University to apply knowledge and skill towards a just and peaceful society on campus if not a Student Judicial Council? What do students across faculties and departments contribute to their own union through their training? If they cannot do it here, where else should they? Do we expect researchers committed to pushing the boundaries of knowledge when the oath they pledge is to the Vice Chancellor and not the University, not even to knowledge, even God?

As if Jimmy Reid was speaking to the assembly of University of Ibadan community, towards the end of his speech, he stated,

“To unleash the latent potential of our people requires that we give them responsibility…I am convinced that the great mass of our people go through life without even a glimmer of what they could have contributed to their fellow human beings. This is a personal tragedy. It is a social crime. The flowering of each individual’s personality and talents is the pre-condition for every one’s development.

Universities must be in the forefront of development, must meet social needs and not lag behind them…Part of our educational process: must be the involvement of all sections of the University on the governing bodies. The case for student representation is unanswerable. It is inevitable.”

The University Management and students are not and should not be ignorant that an independent Students’ Union prepares students for effective and responsible leadership while it is also an indispensable measure towards the total liberation of our Nigeria from all forms of domination and the attainment of Nigerian Unity. He who pays the piper dictates the tune, they say. Who owns the Student Union? Whose resources sustain it? In whose interest are the activities of the Student Union coordinated? To what purpose are students trained in the University? Is it fear or ignorance or arrogance that keeps us so small and unproductive? What is the bane of an independent Student Union if it is the platform to raise leaders worthy in character and sound judgement? Whoever and whatever stands in the way of an independent Student Union stands in the way of a viable and prosperous nation.

AUTHOR

Olu ‘Remilekun is a student of the University of Ibadan. He is social justice advocate and a stern believer that Nigeria can be fixed.