By: Abdullateef Soyomi

The recent increment in the basic due from #3,000 to #4,000 has left the student community of the University of Ibadan concerned. For some students, this development adds to their financial and economic hardship. The increment, proposed by the Council of Hall Chairpersons and Faculty Presidents, and approved by the Students’ Representative Council, suggests the insensitivity of the student leadership to the welfare of the students, which it ideally exists to represent. Despite being aware of the fact that students still struggled to foot the bill even when the basic due was at #3,000, or that many don’t pay, the Students’ Representative Council decided to increase it, in about 72 hours.

The imposition of the basic due on over 41,000 UI students raises concern about the role of Congress as the highest decision-making body of the Students’ Union. It is my opinion that the verdict regarding the hall due should have been decided by the Congress, instead of the Students’ Representative Council.

Most condemnable is the fact that some Halls of Residence in the University charged student residents more than what was sanctioned by the 12th Assembly as the basic due. For example, the Great Independence and Nnamdi Azikiwe Halls of Residence compelled freshers to pay an additional #500, with the unreasonable justification that it was meant to cover the Freshers’ Week expenses, even though the approved due should have addressed that. Despite students being extorted, the Students’ Representative Council and Students’ Union Executive have remained silent, leaving the students to their fate. The Public Relations Officer of the Students’ Union, Adekanmbi Ezekiel, and the UI’SRC, have particularly failed to put the Union’s response on Zik and Indy extortion in the public, despite its importance. This suggests a lack of transparency and fairness on the part of the two Councils that proposed the increment, posing a strain on students who are already battling with financial responsibilities. The increment in the basic due means students will have to bear the brunt of paying a total sum of #12,000 in their halls, faculties, and departments.

The increment could also be described as the shirking of responsibility by the student leaders. It is unreasonable that the two Councils that called for the basic due increment cited the rising cost of administration as a reason for their proposed increase in the basic due. While it is quite understandable that adequate funds are necessary for student leaders to carry out their manifesto plans and promises they made to the student community, students should not in any way be made to bear the burden of financing their administrative expenses by being subjected to paying the increased due. The same reason potentially cancels the argument of the councils that lobbied for the increase.

Campus life at the University of Ibadan is expensive. Students are already burdened with expenses attached to tuition, transportation, accommodation, feeding, and even subscriptions. An increase of #1,000 in basic dues, without corresponding improvements in services or facilities that directly benefit students, is of no use. If anything is henceforth important, students must hold their leadership across all structures stringently accountable.

Again, an increment, coming at a time when students are embattled with transportation costs, accommodation challenges, poor learning environments, systematization of fee hikes, electricity issues, and the lingering strike suffered by medical and dental students, suggests a misplacement of priorities on the part of the student leaders. Persons who have hardly cared for students, sincerely.

For one, it is high time the student leadership here and there reevaluate its essence, which is to address students’ welfare. Increasing basic due, in the midst of all the ongoing neoliberal trends, does more harm than good to the students. Decisions made by student leaders should reflect a commitment to the welfare they represent. Do members of the Students’ Representative Council truly represent and understand the plights of their constituency?

Until student leaders begin to put the interests of students at heart, take proactive steps toward fighting against what puts students at a disadvantage, and come to the understanding that leadership is about sacrifice, students must consistently organize their demands for a Union that aligns with its essence.