When Professor Olayinka stated in his speech to the university community after he became the vice chancellor of the university announced that staff are his priority, we all envisaged that his statement would birth more harm to the university community than good. Just quickly after the letter was released, porters in Idia and Queens Hall wasted no time in making the content of the letter a reality. Queens were mandated to pay a general fine of 500 Naira for no specific offence. The ugly act of some quarters of UI staff calls for this week’s editorial. For some time now, many Idiates have been falling victims of unjust punishments by porters in the hall.
Idiates are currently facing social and intellectual injustice from the authorities of the hall as many have been fined for questionable offences like not laying their beds, (Room A44), having a dusty table (Room B30), not making the floor of their rooms clean (B27, B25, B87-B97), not having a unified carpet to cover the floor, having too many buckets. (A44)
These punishments could have been neglected by UCJUI if they had been results of real offences but silence on this issue means harm to the future. Idiates are women, prospective mothers and stake holders of the Nigerian Future dream. If they are silenced unjustly for frivolous offences like not laying their beds today, they may grow up to become problems for our societies as they may never raise a voice when they are oppressed.
It is important to note that the punished Idiates were not only issued fines, they were also threatened to be issued SDC letters if they fail to pay the fines in time. One would ask if SDC letter is now the negative reinforcement tool of UI management to call every black sheep to order. This is obviously a crime against humanity, God and in fact, the future of Nigeria. How on earth would a student be threatened with SDC letter because she didn’t sweep her room or lay her bed? This is equivalent to a Policeman arresting a driver for not cleaning his vehicle. Is he a V.I.O officer or Health Sanitation Worker? They paid 14,000 plus some stipends for the rooms they live in, what they do with their bed spaces and how they lay their beds is not a business of the management. Even if cleanliness is close to holiness, it still does not justify the act of privacy intrusion by porters of Idia Hall.
Another annoying aspect of the story is the fact that these fines are not paid to UI Bursary Department. This calls for the question what the fines are meant for exactly. No one should mention development of the hall as none of the “offences” the affected Idiates tilts towards the damage of school property. The hall management should be probed on what the fines are meant for and what they are used for.
“For a mind that knows is a mind that is free” UI anthem says but as far as University of Ibadan of 2016 under the leadership of Prof Idowu Olayinka is concerned, a mind that knows is a mind doomed for extra semester, a mind that knows is a mind that will be served SDC and query letters the way a landlord serves eviction letters the way he likes to his tenants, in fact, a mind that knows is a threat to the “peace” of the University of Ibadan community and therefore must be silenced or terminated by every means. If the education we receive doesn’t liberate us, only god knows what will.
Obviously, staffs know that they are our VC’s priority therefore they oppress students. The female halls since last semester seem to be the major focus of this oppressive campaign. However, they must be reminded that their livelihood depends on students’ school fees. Should students decide to not pay school fees, the university may soon shut down. The porters especially must realise that they are paid for their services therefore students should be accorded every necessary respect. The relationship between students and staffs should be seen as and treated as a customer-service provider relationship. No MTN staff will harass or insult a customer because he knows that this may lead to the end of his career as a staff at MTN. We are in Africa no doubt so, the notion that the elders are always right may want to manifest but “The Fount” says it all; “for a mind that knows is a mind that’s free”. A Yoruba adage further make things clear; Omodegbon, agbagbon la fi da’le Ife which literally means; “the creation of Ile-Ife was a collective effort by both the old and young”. If UI management really wants the development of UI, students must be seen as important part of the development process.
Since the genesis of this victimisation of students by staffs especially porters is the statement of Prof Olayinka that staffs are his priority, UCJUI calls on the Vice Chancellor to help restore sanity in UI by revoking his statement. If revoking it is impossible, we advise that a seminar on human relations should be established by the school and that all staffs must be mandated to attend. Departments like CLA, Psychology and Guidance and Counselling can be consulted to help make this a reality.
As the staffs get their portion of criticism, students also will not be spared. The inability of many to show any iota of protest despite being victimized is highly condemnable. The school is obviously on a mission to create a generation of “sit down look”, “mumu” and intellectually imprisoned citizens. Folding our arms and pretend all is well when all is not well will make this possible and the future and even history will not forgive us for being cowards when we should fight.These anti-students acts will never cease to manifest if students do not rise to save the day.
