Just as any patient would resort to a health center to have their ailment treated, the Students’ Union leadership of the University of Ibadan is sick and needs medical attention. A patient is said to be sick when they are not in a good state of health. Figuratively, they can be said to be sick when they are alive but not kicking. That is exactly the present reality of our Union.

The Union leadership, which ideally exists to shield students from imminent, oppressive policies, unsolicited control by management, and any other anti-student or institutional weapon targeted against them, has shamelessly become a shadow of its former self, losing sight of its core mandate.

Without sacrificing truth for sentiment, all student representatives who currently occupy or have occupied the Kunle Adepeju Memorial Building in the past four sessions have undermined the essence for which our Union was founded, often to the detriment of the students.

By their unrepentant indecision to challenge the high-handedness and nonchalance with which the University management administers student welfare, they betray the trust reposed in them by the students, leaving them to their own devices like sheep without a shepherd.

History and records reveal how students have suffered irredeemably in the cold hands of complicity by their representatives. In several cases where student leaders past and present should have acted as intermediaries between management and students in favor of the latter who put them in office, they chose to dance to the tune of the former.

For example, during the tenure of the Bolaji Aweda-led Students’ Union Executive Committee, students were compelled to go on an unsolicited three-week break. This came after they protested against the fee increment and poor conditions that put their academic endeavors in jeopardy. The students held a general meeting, best referred to as Congress, where they resolved on a total reversal of fee hikes and the amelioration of their poor welfare. Rather than projecting their binding demands, Aweda Bolaji and his ilk in office allowed the University management to have its way against the outcry of those they represented.

The trend also persisted in the tenure of the Covenant Odedele-led administration. Odedele even went as far as projecting NELFUND as a panacea to the high cost of public education, a stance that was condemned by the critical mass of the student community who held the strong conviction that the government is obligated to fund the education sector to make education accessible to all and sundry.

More troubling was the fact that Odedele’s administration demonstrated mutism regarding the unjust suspension of the duo of Aduwo Ayodele and Mide Gbadegesin, who engaged in a peaceful placard protest against the indifference of the University management toward a plethora of student concerns, among which was fee increment, on May 13, 2024. As Union leaders, one would ideally expect them to stand with and shield the duo from the oppressive hands of management, yet they failed to be on the side of justice.

The pattern has also manifested in the current administration led by Adeboye Temidayo. The Achilles’ heel of the Temidayo-led administration began with its arrogant failure to show solidarity toward the UI3 by attending the court proceeding at the Federal High Court in Ibadan, which ordered their reinstatement. Worse still, Temidayo, in defending his unpopular action, would later argue that the Federal High Court order was not binding, citing that the second party, the University management, was not present at the court proceeding—despite the latter being represented by its hired litigator. This, of course, is not only a betrayal of student trust but complicity with the management.

It is important to note that the reason for all these cringeworthy anomalies by our Union leaders is not far-fetched. It is because the Students’ Representative Council of the University has failed in its primary duty of serving as a check on their counterparts against the imminent abuse of office. It is pathetic and disgraceful that the law-making Council has reduced its duties to budget approval, thereby delivering little to no dividend of representation to students in various constituencies who put them in the corridors of power on the basis of a social contract.

True leaders are known for addressing problems or issues affecting their people. They are known for providing their people with better welfare by attending to their yearnings and implementing impactful policies. But UI student leaders have proven to be the opposite of these noble principles. By persistently failing to prioritize the outcry of the students, it suffices to establish that their motive to vie for the positions they currently hold was not built on the intention to serve student interests, but to seize the personal, selfish opportunities that come with their respective offices.

 Justice for the Students 

To advocate or demand that our Union leaders change their approach to student unionism is not too much to ask. Student unionism should be based on conviction and not on the betrayal of student trust or complicity with powers that tend to mess with the welfare of the students.

Our union leaders need to understand that they are public servants and their offices are funded by the basic dues paid by the students. The essence of allocating funds to their respective offices is to make it easy for them to deliver the dividends of student democracy. Hence, it is high time they arose from their administrative slumber and addressed the reality of the students.

It cannot be overemphasized that students deserve more than what they experience in an institution that takes pride in being referred to as the first and best. Issues around erratic electricity, poor living conditions, substandard learning environments, and the untold victimization of students can only be addressed if our Union leaders continually raise these concerns and take resilient measures toward bringing them to a halt.

More importantly, students must also rise above being spectators and begin to see themselves as stakeholders in this 77-year-old tertiary institution. They must learn to demand accountability from their representatives and the University management by actively participating in Union activities. As stakeholders in the University, they must ask critical questions about how they are governed, such as interrogating the income and expenses of the institution.

They must understand that, when utilized well, the Congress, which is the apex decision-making body of the Union, provides them with wherewithal to not only have their say but their way in matters affecting them. 

Given that the Executives and members of the SRC have failed the students times without number, it is time for the UI’SU Judicial Council to be constituted. And when it is constituted, it should be given the autonomy to adjudicate and perform its duty of administering justice with all sense of fairness and restoring sanity to the Union. For the putrefaction that trails our Union system to be abolished, all hands must be on deck. Until then, our Union will continue to be one that is alive but not kicking.