Management of Kogi State University (KSU), Anyingba, a fortnight ago, directed that lecturers henceforth should obtain permission to use lecture theatres. With an unstable Students Union (SU) and a proscribed Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of KSU, hope now seems to rest on a thread. AROGBONLO ISRAEL AND JACOB SIMON report.
Kogi State University (KSU), Anyingba has a reputation for controversy. In recent times, the institution has been plagued by a series of crises, such as cultism, workers-management face-off and strikes, among others. It seems there is no end to the controversies.
Last month, there was a directive by the school management that lecturers should obtain permission before using lecture halls.
Against this backdrop, it will be a herculean task for the student to have their lectures, tutorials and group studies under the trees, on benches and other places within the campus rather than the lecture halls.
Established over two decades ago with the motto: Knowledge for self reliance, the institution has over 19,000 students. It also has about 30 departments spread across eight faculties that offer diploma, bachelor’s and post-graduate programmes.
According to information gathered by CAMPUSLIFE, only the Faculty of Social Sciences is exempted from the measure. CAMPUSLIFE learned that the faculty is the largest and the commercial nerve of the institution, hence, the concession.
Though the directive was given via a memo by management last month, CAMPUSLIFE gathered that most of the lecturers were not informed because of the proscription of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of KSU. A committee of some key principal officers, headed by the Dean of Social Sciences, Prof Ogideolu Adesola, was reportedly set up to supervise the process.
Students are already lamenting the after effects of the new measure. Although management has made a verbal promise to open the classrooms from 7am to 6pm daily, students and lecturers took the promise with a pinch of salt, because of such unfulfilled promises in the past.
What informed the directive?
The measure, according to the management, is aimed at checkmating the mismanagement and abuse of classrooms by students. It would equally stem the tide of illicit and immoral activities perpetrated in the classrooms in the guise of reading.
Besides, the policy would also make indolent and playful students get ready for lectures between 7am and 6pm stipulated time.
Some students admitted to CAMPUSLIFE that their action may have triggered the management’s decision.
Further checks by CAMPUSLIFE revealed that long before the directive, students took advantage of the free access to lecture halls. They often damaged electrical equipment, messed up the halls or, worse still, engaged in sexual intercourse and other vices at the dead of the night in the lecture halls.
Christian organisations also conduct their fellowship in the evening, with some dragging such gatherings into midnight, a situation the management felt was not healthy for them.
What the directive states
The measure requires that a lecturer must personally apply for keys from either the Head of Department or non-academic staff. The lecturer then signs in for the collection of keys and also signs out upon completion of lecture.
Lecturers react
Due to the proscription of KSU ASUU, some lecturers who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE pleaded that their identities should not be disclosed.
A source from the Faculty of Arts, who said the measure was not helping scholarship, lamented that students now received lectures under trees. The source said the classrooms were always locked, leaving the students with no choice than to look for venues for group study. The source said the directive has encouraged indolence among many students who found it difficult to study in their hostels due to distractions.
Another lecturer from the Faculty of Social Sciences countered his colleague.
The source recalled how students indulged in sexual activities at the Idachaba Twin Theatre, one of the prominent theatres in school. “The classrooms served as a meeting point for students at night” said the source.
“They (students) claim to come there for studies, but in the real sense they come only for ungodly activities. They litter the classrooms with dirt so much that lecturers who come in the morning will have to wait for cleaners to sweep all the rubbish. It is that frustrating. Some come there with the intention to charge their phones, classrooms are meant for lectures and not reading. If they want to read, the library is there.”
One of the lecturers from the Department of Mass Communication, Mallam Muhammed Onakpa, doesn’t see much issue with the measure, as long as his colleagues can comply to the rule.
“Lecturers can get key at any time as long as it is within the time provided by the management. The classrooms are usually opened between 7am and 6pm. I think the whole idea of this policy is to sanitise the system.”
‘We want a review of the policy’
One of the student-leaders, who identified himself as Michael, from the Department of Sociology, threw his weight behind the management.
He said: “As you can see, we are all waiting for lectures because the classroom is closed due to the students that often gather there.
Actually, this (measure) has not been in existence before. When I gained admission into the university in 2016, the lecture theatres were always opened, and no law was in place that a lecturer or student must sign in and out before a lecture must hold. Recently, it came to management’s attention that some students were involved in unethical conducts in the guise of coming to read for exams. Also, holding of fellowships at the various classrooms in the school was causing distraction to students and lecturers. These, among other reasons, brought about the implementation of this policy to help guard against unethical activities.”
Another student from the Department of Natural Sciences believed the management was wrong in its decision.
“KSU is a very large school with many lecturers, so, giving them a few keys to share would be very difficult,” the source said.
He continued: “Just imagine, how can you allocate four keys among 28 lecturers; this will just cause division among them. What I’ll advise is that since the security unit is active, a security officer should man each door of classrooms and provide the key. Anytime they need to use the classroom, the security is there to always attend to them. You don’t expect a lecturer to be looking for a cleaner because he wants to use the classroom.”
Umar Tahi from the Department of Geoplanning said the situation required that students pour into the streets in protest.
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“Though we the students are meant to abide by every law enacted by the management because they are superior to everyone. In spite of this, I think we need to protest against this policy.
“For instance, one may have a lecture for let’s say 7am. He gets to the venue only to discover the venue is still under lock, even when the lecturer is ready for the class. I am not happy with this policy and if there are other provisions to change that, I would really advise the management to do so in good faith.”
Vice President of Mass Communication Students Association, Dorcas Alafiya Ojonimi, said securing classrooms for lectures had been herculean until this week when things began to take shape. Nonetheless, she said she could not guarantee how committed management was this time going by past episodes.
Said Ojonimi: “As at last two weeks, we went for a lecture at the Department of Mass Communication, but no classroom was opened. We heard the management set up a policy to streamline the usage of facilities in the classrooms.
Some were even of the opinion that it was as a result of the students using the venue for fellowship on Fridays. I was even saying the management should have left the classrooms open for other days of the week if that’s truly the core reason for such policy.
“There was an occasion where we supposed to have a class in the morning, which was later cancelled because there were no available classrooms for use. But things are beginning to gradually normalise. I even had meeting with some of my executive members in one of the classrooms.”
Students Union reacts
The Public Relations Officer of Kogi State Students Union, Oluwafemi Yinka, said the new measure was affecting their members; yet, there was little the union could do because it had been compromised over the years by its predecessors.
In a chat with CAMPUSLIFE, Oluwafemi said the students were affected by the new policy as a result of the bastardisation of the union by the previous governments.
“The (Students) Union has long been bastardised. How do I mean? Before I was involved, the union has often failed the very students who elected them into offices either because they were too scared to offend the management or that the rules were made by their godfathers.
“Also, there seems to be no synergy between the union executives, hence, they can’t even come together to deliberate and reach a consensus on how to address such issue,” he said.
Efforts made by our reporter to reach the union president over the issue were futile.
Management: policy will be reviewed
Dean of Students Affairs, Prof Arogba Samuel, told our reporter to go through the school Registrar, declining to speak on the matter.
Also, Prof Adesola refused to comment when asked about the policy. He insisted that the management has not given him the audacity to speak to the press.
All efforts to reach the Registrar proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the Acting Vice Chancellor of KSU Prof Taiwo Oluwagbemi, has urged the students to bear with the management, saying a committee set up to that effect would soon submit its report.
According to him, the new measure is to encourage students stay in class within the stipulated period, adding that extracurricular activities can then be held thereafter.
“I am very much in touch with the situation in the Faculty of Social Sciences. What is happening now is temporary,” he said.
“The essence of the policy is to put things in order and a committee has been set up to handle that.
“The policy was enacted to encourage students stay in class from 7am to 6pm, while they are allowed to have their lectures outside the slated time. You can get more details from the Dean of Students Affairs.”
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