“To say, be accountable, must never be another crime” – Anonymous
Transparency and accountability are the lifeblood of any strong institution. Without these invaluable principles indicating honesty, institutions are bound to crumble. In a bid to achieve financial transparency among federal higher institutions in Nigeria, Education Minister, Tunji Alausa directed all federal tertiary institutions to publicly disclose their financial records and academic capacity before May 31, 2025.
This important directive also required federal tertiary institutions to unveil details about their research grants, funding, and student population. Repeating the point, Minister Alausa noted in his many briefings that this initiative was geared toward promoting financial accountability across Nigeria’s higher education sector.
A report by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) on June 1, 2025, after the statutory deadline, revealed that only 34 out of 195 federal institutions complied with the directive. Compliant tertiary institutions include the University of Lagos, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Alex Ekwueme University, Federal University of Technology, and others. Very notably, the University of Ibadan, also known as Nigeria’s premier university, was not among the complying institutions.
Such charismatic disregard was not the first instance. The premier institution has a questionable antecedent in defaulting on such federal government’s cold-blooded policies. The Guardian newspaper reported in 2019 that the Nigerian National Assembly issued a directive prohibiting federal tertiary institutions from charging students an acceptance levy. Despite public campaigns against such a practice, the University of Ibadan management has only maintained its old-known strategic silence to obfuscate the facts.
Recently, a separate report by Sahara Reporters revealed that the University of Ibadan spent no fewer than ₦358 million on refreshments and honorariums, compared to just ₦23 million on laboratory equipment. No official correspondence, despite the long hand of the publication, has dislodged the report and its provable facts. The rhetorical silence of the University management suggests a misplacement of priority and a vermin at the bottom of an underrated crisis.
No one will be committing a crime by asking for the receipts of the university’s income and expenditure. Ignoring this or employing the worn-out strategy of silence only adds to the gloating doubts on accountability that should be the fabric of the university as a system. To say the least, this subject reminds the university as a whole of the multitude of challenges facing students, persistently ignored.
The inflated tuition fees policy implemented by the University authority has made accessibility to public education nothing but wishful thinking for many students. The University, without economic sensitivity to the ripple effects of the high cost of education, increased tuition fees to as high as over ₦200,000. Its consequences are known. Some students have had to defer their admissions. Even worse, some female students reportedly resorted to selling their reproductive organs just to meet their needs. Some who were offered admission could not continue their education as a result of not being able to cope with the inflated fees, despite toiling hard to pass required admission examinations. The deliberate act of ignoring “social accountability” in the making of this particular policy has not been more evident than in the bandaged student loan scheme.
The concern about accountability does not leave out public hostels, most of which remain in unacceptable conditions. With toilets in a deplorable state, many rooms are infested with bedbugs, and overall living conditions are poor. Instead of improving these hostel facilities and building more public hostels, the University leases land for private hostels that only the haves can afford, despite the booming housing crisis affecting the greater percentage of students.
We all know about the unfashionable trend of erratic electricity, rendering learning and living conditions challenging and unproductive. The consequence of the aforementioned issue has seen students flock to locations, including Access Bank UI, en masse, to power up their gadgets, especially during examination periods and lecture weeks. Worth adding, there is no clear explanation for the wide variation in hall accommodation fees. While some students pay ₦60,000 for accommodation, others, believed to be earlier admitted, pay ₦45,000, despite being assigned to the same room. This unfair fee structure started in the 2022/2023 academic year, and not even one statement of accountability or justification has been made for it.
Learning conditions are also far from what can be described as “absolutely fine.” Many lecture theatres contain broken chairs, poor ventilation, and no public address systems. Of course, the university is broke. But to what extent? If it is difficult to know what sum has been appropriated or expended, it is harder to believe that the institution needs as much as it portrays.
Pointing to another elephant in the room, the University of Ibadan charges students for services they do not receive. Some departments require students to pay studio fees even though they don’t use any studio facilities. Students who have their identity cards pay yearly for services they already own. By implication, the university management has left students with more doubts.
The University also makes policies that affect students without their consent and without recourse. For instance, on August 31, 2024, the University declared an unsolicited three-week break in a bid to frustrate the peaceful agitation against fee concerns, which was in accordance with series of resolutions of the Students’ Union’s highest decision-making organ, the Congress, which consistently opposed the increment. In the same way, the university management demolished the old Heritage Park in November 2024, without carrying the student body along. We mean to say, the least involvement of students in such decisions undermines any sort of regard for students in the broader scheme of things.
Another worrying issue is the way the University suppresses student voices. There have been several incidents where students were assaulted for peacefully opposing the University’s policies. And even assault on ordinary students. For instance, Akanni Oluwasegun and Olanshile Ogunrinu were reportedly manhandled by campus security personnel while exercising their journalistic duties during the inauguration ceremony of the Students’ Union leadership on March 7, 2025. The security officers responsible were not sanctioned for their misconduct. Similarly, on May 13, during the inauguration ceremony of the Students’ Union Executive Committee and Students’ Representative Council, to be led by the Aweda Bolaji and Busoye Matthias administration, Aduwo Ayodele, Mide Gbadegesin, and Nice Linus were beaten and handed over to the operatives of the Nigerian Army for holding placards that read “#FeesMustFall.” Worse still, Nice Linus was stripped of her mandate to represent her constituency (Obafemi Awolowo Hall) at the Students’ Representative Council by the University’s Registrar, T.I. Musa, on the grounds of a pending disciplinary case. The lack of accountability in this case is evidenced by a lifestyle of impunity, where students who have not been found guilty of any misconduct are treated like criminals.
The University has consistently demonstrated a lack of regard for accountability of the conscience. Even the Students’ Union election, an exercise that should be independently organized and conducted by students, has always been under the total control of the University management. The electoral process has been anything but transparent, with election results being announced by the Deputy Registrar on behalf of the University, rather than by the student electoral commissioners themselves.
Our Recommendations
Just as it claims to uphold values of character and learning, the University of Ibadan, under the headship of Professor Kayode Adebowale, must re-evaluate its pattern of accountability to the University system, while also giving due focus to students’ welfare, a mandate and responsibility it is saddled with. As directed by Nigeria’s Education Minister Tunji Alausa, the University should treat the disclosure of its financial records, research grants, and academic capacity as important.
Our universities are funded by the public through direct and indirect taxes, and so they should be used to improve student welfare and better the country, rather than on a frivolous agenda. New public hostels must be seen to be built, and the inflated fees should be reversed to restore accessibility of public education to the common man.
The repression of student voices must end, those who perpetuate this high-handedness must instead be sanctioned, and students’ learning environments must be improved. It is not too late for the University to regard the student populace as stakeholders. To say, be accountable, must never become another crime.
