UNN Shut As Students Riot Over Fees Hike

[Okwy Okeke]

The mayhem at the UNN By Luke Onyekakeyah THE student demonstrations at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) over the weekend, which led to the shutting down of the institution is uncalled for and most regrettable. What kind of universities are we running in Nigeria that can't have peace for two consecutive months to do the work for which they were established? The crisis at Nigeria's first indigenous university is most disgusting. UNN ought to be a leader at that level of academic enterprise in Nigeria. But sadly enough, that is not the case. Must all of us grope in the dark without anyone to set a good example? Whatever was the provocation, the destruction of property at the VC's lodge is condemnable. Coming at a time when the University, like the other public universities in the country, is struggling to cover lost grounds to the recent protracted Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, the crisis is most unwelcome. It has effectively disrupted the ongoing second semester examinations of the 2008/2009 academic year. Everything should be done to resolve whatever matter is at stake to get the University back to work. Already, the 2009/2010 academic session, which under normal circumstances should have started last September has lost five months. If this crisis is not resolved immediately to enable the institution re-open to complete the disrupted examinations and start the new session, the University might lose one academic year to avoidable disputes. That would be most unfortunate. According to reports, business and academic activities came to a halt at the UNN last Saturday following a fierce students demonstration that led to the destruction of property worth millions of naira at the Vice Chancellor's Lodge. The rampaging students vandalised the VC's official residence with 10 newly acquired exotic cars and security equipment. Though no deaths were reported, over 10 students were said to have been injured while the police arrested scores. The mayhem followed alleged plan by the University authorities to hike fees. There were two fronts in the crisis. The first involved the secondary students of the institution who were protesting arbitrary fee hike by their school from N30,000 to N60,000. Letters reportedly signed by the principal, Mrs. Ebele Erojikwe and issued to the students earlier on Wednesday sparked off the violent demonstration on Thursday. Thereafter, the University students who opposed the alleged introduction of exorbitant fees by the institution's authorities staged the most devastating demonstrations. According to reports, fresh undergraduates were billed to pay N85,000 excluding sundry fess, which altogether amounts to N125,000. In rage, the students marched up to the Opi Junction on the 9th Mile-Obollo Afor Expressway, where they harassed innocent motorists to join in the demonstration. The Vice Chancellor, Professor Bartholomew Okolo reportedly alerted the police about two days before the rampage but the police failed to respond promptly. That gave the students leeway. The question is what gains have been recorded after the demonstrations? What about those who allegedly instigated the mayhem, what is their gain? Everyone is at a loss. The institution has been shut down and students chased out. The examination is disrupted. The students have continued to lose by prolonging their stay in the University. The new academic year can't start as planned. While the injured have been hospitalised the arrested students may be charged to court. That effectively would disrupt their academic programme. It is interesting that the Vice Chancellor has debunked the insinuation that the University was planning to hike fees. According to him, a hike in tuition fees by the management of the institution did not cause the violent protest. As a matter of fact, he said at a press conference in Enugu at the weekend that the institution was not planning to hike fees. He said if such were to take place, the Students Union would be duly carried along as laid down procedures would be followed. Prof. Okolo blamed his detractors in the academic community for instigating the riot. He said, "It was a shame that university professors and members of the academia could be involved in the incident". Those who failed to clinch the Vice Chancellor post; those who don't want the school to stabilise or progress, who want to give the impression that the school is not working, according to the VC are among the culprits in the mayhem. If this is true, it means that the students were simply used as pawn by the disgruntled professors and lecturers to achieve their selfish ends. When the news broke that students were on rampage at Nsukka over fees hike, the question many asked was whether the UNN was running a different system from the other federal universities. There was curiosity on whether the same fees were being hiked at the University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria among the other federal universities in the country. If there was no hike in fees at those other universities, why hike it at UNN? We know that all the federal universities in the country operate on the same framework. The federal government funds all its universities across the country. That is the existing order until that is changed. The difference lies on how the funds are managed by the institutions. It is good enough that the Vice Chancellor flatly denied any plan to hike fees at the University. Not even at the University secondary school would fees be hiked arbitrarily without authorisation from the federal government, which funds the schools. It is on that ground that the UNN chapter of ASUU opposed any fee hike. The UNN authorities should resist the temptation to join the state universities in the South-East that arbitrarily hike fees. There are three categories of universities in the country. These include the federal universities, the state universities and the private universities. Both the federal and state universities are public institutions but there are differences in many aspects. In terms of fees, the federal universities don't charge tuition fees as such but pay minimal accommodation and other sundry fees at departmental and faculty levels. The federal universities are affordable to most families. Some state universities charge tuition fees, which comparatively is also affordable to many families. The private universities on the other hand charge exorbitant fees that only the rich families could afford. What it means is that before one decides on which university to send his/her ward, he must have checked his or her pocket to know what is affordable. Though, the facilities at the public universities are poorer, those who chose to send their wards to those universities do so largely because of affordability. It would therefore be out of place for any federal university to arbitrarily hike fees without taking the students and their parents into consideration. It would be a different thing if the Federal Government decides to introduce tuition fees and that would affect all the universities in that category. The onus is on the UNN authorities to seek a quick resolution of the crisis in that University's interest. At the same time, those political professors and academic who prefer to do politics in the classroom instead of at Abuja should think twice. "The evil that men do lives after them", says the veteran Shakespeare. Worldwide, the university is known as a place for breeding and nurturing knowledge, which drives the human society. It is not a place for playing destructive selfish politics. You don't go fishing in the sea and then turn around to play football there. It can't work but will only lead to the sinking of the boat because the boat is not made to be football pitch. Once you're at sea, you concentrate on fishing. In the same vein, if you find yourself in the university, you should do the bidding of teaching and research for which the person signed up. Experience shows shat our public universities have been turned into political platforms where disgruntled elements fight over issues to protect various interests. And it is the lazy professors and lecturers that have time to play such campus politics. This is partly why half-baked graduates are churned out yearly from our universities because those paid to teach them are busy chasing shadow. The lecturers are busy with senseless politicking. This is evident in the senseless manner the professors fight over the post of Vice Chancellor. There can only be one VC at a time. Sanity demands that the rest of the professors support whosoever is on the post. It is madness for a professor to pursue shadow while leaving what he professes to suffer. As for the students, they shouldn't forget the old saying that where two elephants fight, the grass suffers. The professors have reached the peak of their life achievement. They can afford to have the university closed ad infinitum. That gives them the opportunity to do other businesses and make money at the expense of the students. And, at the end, they're paid for doing no work. The appalling state of affairs in the country and the deplorable condition of life in the universities should compel the students to hurry to graduate and think about their future rather than being used by unproductive lecturers on campus.           http://thewillnigeria.com/breaking/3457-RIOT-UNN-Shut-Students-Police-Clash.html   RIOT: UNN Shut As Students, Police Clash   San Francisco Jan 16, (THEWILL) – One of Nigeria’s premier universities, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka was on Saturday shut down by the school’s authorities following the destruction of properties by rampaging students who were protesting the new hike in their tuition. The institution’s Registrar, Mr. I. Okonta in a statement directed all students to vacate their hostels till further notice. THEWILL investigation revealed that tuition was increased form N25, 000 to N70, 000, convocation fees was increased from N6, 000 to N35, 000 while acceptance fees was hiked from N6000 to N25000. The Vice Chancellor, Professor Bath Okolo whose official residence was destroyed during the riot was reported to have triggered the conflict when he told the Students’ Union executives that had waited for hours to meet with him to dialogue on the issue that he had no time for meetings with them. The executives who left in anger promised to take their destinies in their hands and started mobilizing fellow students from the popular Ziks flat hostel accommodation before they marched to the Vice Chancellors residence on Saturday morning. At the Vice Chancellors residence the students reportedly went in ransacking the entire residence before destroying the building and vehicles in the compound. Their action prompted the authorities to invite the police from the Nsukka Division who managed to chase the students out of the school to the streets. Eyewitnesses said the students went on rampage again on the streets destroying vehicles and burning tires. They barricaded the Adani and Obollo-Affor road and marched to Opi Junction near the 9th mile-Oturkpo Highway where they disrupted vehicular traffic for a while before they were dislodged by mobile policemen and soldiers.   Several students were allegedly shot during the riot by police and they are receiving treatment at the Bishop Shanahan hospital near the school. A female student, Onyiye Ngwu of the department of nursing who was shot in the leg is being treated at the schools medical centre.   Enugu Police spokesman, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu confirmed that the police arrested many students in relation to the riot but was not sure of the exact number.   The University of Nigeria has two campuses; one is located in Nsukka and the other is in Enugu.   http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/the-raging-fire-in-unn.html The Raging Fire in UNN (published on Jan 16, 2009) By Anyanwu Nzenwe   The current VC of the University of Nigeria- Prof Barth Okolo just declared a serious war on poor people and the University community at large. Make no mistake: his war is neither against poverty nor the extensive deterioration within the campus. I bet you, those who graduated from the University of Nigeria around the eighties and thereabout can hardly believe the present level of rot that has absolutely overtaken the institution. ZIk’s flat- a hostel that houses more than 2000 female students is a waiting disaster. The buildings would collapse soon but what we can’t say with certainty is when this disaster would occur. The roofs are blown off, the walls are visibly cracked; the sewage system is a great nuisance to the inmates of the halls and the surrounding households. It is difficult to explain why the authorities at the students’ affairs department of the school still allows innocent girls to risk their lives in these buildings while no effort at renovation is being made. The other students’ halls are in no better shape especially those in Franco. Those at the Enugu campus are in worse shape than those of most refuges camps.  Imagine having to place six human beings in one room and how anyone can comfortably inhabit and study in such environment. That exactly is the case in the male hostels in UNN. The females live four in one room. If you think this inhuman condition comes at a low price; then you’re greatly mistaken. Each student who lives in any of the male hostels pays as much as ten thousand naira as hostel fee! The girls pay close to fifteen thousand. Then we ask: why do students pay heavily to live under such inhuman conditions as the UNN hostels where they spend as much as three hours each morning queuing up to fetch a bucket of water for their morning bath (in UNEC, you buy your water at a costly price), use dirty, unwashed toilets, baths in disease infested bathrooms. The railings are all gone and last year in Eni Njoku hall, a certain third year mechanical engineering student identified as Mathew fell off the railings while trying to lean. We shall spend less time talking about the dilapidated classrooms which often is over-crowded with very few seats leaving majority standing. The situation is not worth talking about. All these have culminated in welling up streams of bottled up anger in the students who have had the misfortune of being led by criminal elements thrown up by the previous Ositadimma Nebo regime as union leaders and currently by the Bartho Okolo administration. These students’ “leaders” from Mama Collins to Fortress Nwoye down to the worst of them all- Okechukwu Kingsley whose bizarre reign ended ignominiously last June and threw up another slumbering figure- Peter Andrew from Vertinary Medicine who has shown real moronic leadership tendencies.  The current rage that would surely tear the school apart in the next couple of days is the provocative increment in tuition and hostel fees in the university. One may ask: what informs the decisions of the current VC- Mr. Barth Okolo? Why does he want to destroy the university? Why is he aggressively pursuing policies that would reduce the institution to rubble? Why is he in a certain haste to reduce the revered institution to the puny size of his mentality? So many questions and yet few answers. Ask: why did Barth Okolo hurriedly raise the fee for advert form from six thousand naira to ten thousand naira; the acceptance fee paid by fresh student from six to twenty five thousand? The latest is that he arrogantly raised the school fees paid by students of the university secondary school from twenty thousand naira to sixty thousand and accommodation fee in same school to fifty thousand without any prior announcement. Also worrisome to members of the community is his rumored intention to throw out students (majority) from average homes-(those from poor homes don’t go to school in Nigeria) out of the school by hiking the tuition fee to a hundred thousand naira at minimum and accommodation to fifty thousand! He is not stopping at that; the insensitive vice chancellor according to my source who is a second year student in one of the departments in social sciences plans to chase the food vendors out of campus and impose his choice of food hawkers who likely are to be persons from his village or associates. It is heartwarming that students of the University Secondary School Nsukka rose today (14/01/2010) to say no to this act of callous insensitivity by Mr. Bartholomew Okolo whose ascent to the position of the University Vice Chancellor was informed by Mr. Chinedu Nebo’s nepotistic and atrocious calculations. Together, these young minds lifted many a spirit when they massively ignored security threats to protest the unjustifiable hike in their fees. They carried placards calling for the VC’s resignation and a quick reversal of the increment. They pulled down the university gates and injured a security operative who tried to stop them from exercising their constitutional right. Most interesting is their threat to continue their protest till the VC and his cohorts are forced to rescind their evil decision. One now may ask: how are students of the university who are threatened with a more callous hike planning to resist the VC’s plots? The answer is neither here nor there. The SUG government is dead and gone for good. The guys who masquerade as union officials do not represent the students. They were imposed by the authorities and cannot present the legitimate concerns of the students to their paymasters. Listen to this: the SUG officials have been bribed according to an insider in the SUG office, each of the officials have been offered five million naira each to keep mute in the face of the increment. The SUG “president” according to this source, who has operated in the students ’ union politics of the school in the last couple of years, got twenty five million naira as “gift”. Truth is- the guys cannot function as they have been completely bought over. The only salvation that can come the way of the enraged “lions and lionesses” is massive protest from the real students across departments, faculties and hostels; this one of them assured me they would do-“we are already mobilizing and what the secondary school guys did today would be too insignificant compared to the level of destruction we would cause in the days ahead. The VC hardly listens to anyone as he ignored members of our house of reps and senate and that has left us with no choice than to talk to him in the very language of violence as that may be easier for him to understand”. Is any one paying attention? Bartholomew Okolo is faced with a straight choice here: act in the interest of good reasoning and quickly change your disastrous ways before eventually you are consumed by them. He should never forget that he never came from a very rich background. An advice: stop this present war against poor students. It is a war you are going to loose and loose woefully. Anyanwu Nzenwe Okigwe; Imo State.