The Nation Newspaper

Tag: campuses

  • Rising tide of decadence on campuses

    It is crystal clear that most of our tertiary institutions have become theatres and hubs for desecrating pristine societal values, cherished moral principles and enduring ideals of our founding fathers. Indeed, our schools are now sanctuaries for immorality and heart-wrenching oddities, which ordinarily, should trouble the sane mind.

    In the recent times, disturbing tales of prostitution, examination malpractice, cultism, rape, substance abuse, armed robbery, embezzlements and ‘sex-for-mark scandals emanating from our Ivory Towers are constant topics in the media.

    One strong conviction is that, indecent dressing and sexual promiscuity by students are the most glaring aberrant behaviours epitomising moral decadence on campuses. Students cannot be exonerated from the aforementioned vices.

    ‘Sagging’ of trousers, an old-fashioned, albeit immodest style of dressing associated with drug addicts and prisoners, is now a vogue among youths on campus. Nose piercing by females, together with hair-plaiting, dreadlocks, and male students dressing like women, are few other ‘fashionable’ ways of trying to appear cute and adorable by students.

    Ladies seductively flaunting their cleavages and bosom by wearing skimpy clothes are common sights in our schools. They relish engaging in these immoral acts in the name of fashion.

    The lust for materialism together with peer pressure has aided the blossoming of prostitution among students. What about rape? It is alarmingly becoming regular occurrence that girls are ambushed by rapists on campuses and they are being sexually abused.

    The other day, it was a lecturer that shamelessly exchanged conversation with a student to have carnal knowledge of the latter. Though, females are the usual preys, there have been instances where male students bore the agony of being turned to sexual slaves by their lecturers.

    Examination malpractice is still happening in our tertiary institutions and nothing suggests this scourge is going to wane. Lazy students dream about sound academic successes, but resort to cheating during examinations. For them, hard work is not enough to have an enviable academic feat. The dexterity of these lazy students is noticeable when they write answers on their thighs, or in scientific calculators, and buy question papers; all in their bid to perpetrate examination fraud.

    Is it disputable that student-leaders on campus have grossly demonstrated lack of capacity in steering the affairs of their various unions? In recent times, we witnessed mind-boggling graft in Students’ Union Governments (SUG) and other students’ associations.

    Not until recently when one professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, was exposed for seeking intimacy with a female student, not many believed that sex-for-mark still thrives in our tertiary institutions. Unless by divine intervention, methinks female students would (under duress) still be compelled to trade their body for marks if they must “brilliantly” pass a course or even graduate from their schools.

    They may not be amongst the notable vices on campuses, but smoking and substances’ abuse are more than capable of impairing students’ mental health. It is only a few years when Yahoo-Yahoo (Internet fraud) being perpetrated by desperate young people hit the limelight, but dozen of indolent students have been the poster boys for various vices.

    Studies have shown that a myriad of factors are responsible for the rising wave of moral decadence and aberrant behaviours among students. Absence of sound parental grooming, among others, is assumed to be the primary cause of this immorality. There is also the overbearing influence of friends and peer pressure. If their insatiable appetites for ill-gotten money and luxury items are not tamed, covetous students are likely to be inducted into the ignominious club of burglars, armed bandits and fraudsters. Lenient punitive measures spelt out by schools for misdemeanour can only embolden students with the mindset.

    To shape the future of our youths, proactive measures should be taken in prioritising value re-orientation. Parents should not abdicate their role as the first agent of socialisation. To this end, they should be alive to their responsibility of inculcating good virtues on their children from infancy.

  • Disturbing gale of victimisation on campuses

    Tertiary institutions are regarded as the backbone of the society. They are like a furnace where ideas are conceived and nurtured. But, in Nigeria, it is an irony that our higher institutions have become places where ideas and dreams are killed.

    It is shocking to witness the impunity and manner with which authorities of tertiary institutions expel students they see as radicals. School authorities trample on students’ fundamental human rights at will and introduce draconian regulations to whip students into line. Any student, who opposes or falls out of the line, is dubbed radicals.

    It is sad to see the authorities of our higher institution adopting iron-fist regulations to manage our Ivory Towers. Victimisation of students school authorities see as radicals seems to be the order of the day. The only sin committed by the victims of this official high-handedness is their courage to stand against poor welfare in our Ivory Towers and fight tyranny on our campuses.

    This has become observable feature on many campuses as students are now being rusticated and victimised for protesting against bad decision of school managements, either physically or through the social media.

    Nigeria is said to be a democratic nation that espouses the ethos of freedom and human rights. I doubt the import of this statement, because the spirit and the supremacy of our Constitution have not been observed. How can a student be rusticated r expelled because he wants a good welfare? Even the 1999 Constitution says in Section 14(2)(b): “The primary purpose of government in a country is to provide a good welfare and security for the people.”

    A university is meant to be the most dogged defender of democratic principles. It is supposed to be  place where people uphold democratic values. But, contrary is the case in our varsities where we have scholars of different hues becoming tyrants by adopting fascist style to devaluate democratic norms and hallmarks of human rights.

    President Donald Trump, in one of his speeches, acknowledged the fact that peaceful protest is one of the hallmarks of democracy. A society or institution that frustrates or stops a peaceful protest and cannot withstand criticism does not deserve to exist.

    The gospel of rustication and expulsion is the order of the day our tertiary institutions. Number of victims increases by the day. At the University of Lagos (UNILAG), one Olorunfemi Adeyeye was rusticated because he wrote an article that was critical of the manner the management handled welfare issues. This is the same university where a lecturer asked some of students to kneel down before the whole class, as though they were in secondary school.

    At Kwara State Polytechnic (KWARA POLY), a student who has finished his final year project was expelled by the management for leading a protest for the welfare of the students.

    We have seen students being victimised in Ekiti State University (EKSU) for registering their opposition to a fee hike. At the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), students are forced to pay to register courses after registering online. Education is now seen a business enterprise.

    Nigeria Constitution in Section 38(1) says: “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference.”

    In Section 40, it says: “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of association, including freedom of assembly.” Note, this is not in the case of secret society.

    As we may have seen, there is no basis for high-handed actions against students who exercise their constitutional rights to protest. But, authorities of schools just feel like oppressing students, because of the weak judicial system.

    Truth be told, no student has gained any meaningful thing from this system of education. We go extra mile to develop ourselves, even after leaving school.

    As we fold our arms and watch tyranny prevailing on our campuses because of fear of the unknown, we must know that students are being oppressed and suppressed by those managing our tertiary institutions.

    The only way forward is getting rid of this crippling tyranny is to embark on reforms in our education and its institutions. Draconian style employed by managers of school is not the best to take our education out of its current challenges. If authorities are doing well, there would be no need for students’ protest.

    If this tyranny continues in our citadel of learning, we will only be successful in educating robots and people with low intellect.

    Students must be united in speaking up against this tyranny. An injustice to one is a crime against all. If a student is expelled today, we should not see it as his fate, because nobody knows who would be the victim tomorrow.

     

    Olaitan is a student and member of Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-liberal Attacks (ANSA)

     

     

     

  • AJEBO TAKES ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN TO CAMPUSES

    AWAY from being a laugh merchant, celebrated comedian and On Air Personality, Emeka Erem, aka Ajebo will be touring Nigerian campuses with his comedy and music concert, Ajebo Unleashed. However, the comedian revealed that this time, he is taking with him a message of hope and inspiration.

    Sponsored by Minimie Chinchin in partnership with Wow Production, his production outfit, the comedian, who is popular on YouTube for his animation series, House of Ajebo, revealed that the aim is to give back to students.

    “We are going with two hash tags. One of is #DontDoDrugs. No matter how much it has been said, we will not stop talking about it. Drugs kill. As an entertainer, I can stand here today to tell you that I didn’t need to take any performance enhancing drug to perform on stage,” he said.

    According to him, the second hash tag, #SurviveOnCreativity is geared towards letting Nigerian youths know that their future is in their hands.

    In addition to all that, Ajebo revealed that he will also be giving out a cash gift of N100, 000 to one lucky student.

    “All they have to do is to shoot a one minute video of how they break the boredom on campus tag his Instagram handle, @ajebothecomedian using the hashtag, #minimiebreaktheboredomchallenge. Also on campuses, we will be giving out cash prizes to three lucky people,” he added.

    The campus tour is set to kick off at the University of Abuja on March 8. On the 10th, it will berth at the Nasarawa State University while also stopping over at Babcock University on March 12, UNILAG on March 15, Lead City March on March 24 and UNIBEN on the 6th of April.

    Among comedians will be following him on the tour are Seyi Law, Akpororo, Elenu, Acapella, Pencil, Kenny Blaq, MC Shakara, Kilnt de Drunk MC Galaxy, Osama, Ambassador Wahala, Chucks de General and others.

  • Turmoil on S/African varsity campuses

    •High fees spark riots quelled by police in a manner reminiscent of apartheid era

    They were like scenes straight out of the benighted era of apartheid in South Africa.

    Unarmed demonstrators chanting songs of protest and defiance of that era were clubbed and beaten and kicked and tear-gassed by riot police who seem to be holdovers from the apartheid years, executing orders from above.

    But the protesters were not challenging the apartheid state and the brutalism that was part and parcel of its ideology; that era ended more than two decades ago

    The protesters, most of them black, were demanding free tuition in the country’s tertiary institutions, and those seeking to disperse them with main force were the law-enforcement agents of the post-apartheid state.

    This was the grim reality that the international news media captured splendidly and relayed across the world in recent weeks.  The wheel has turned full circle in South Africa, pivoting on the pernicious legacy of apartheid, which is likely to endure well into the present century.

    In its rawest form, apartheid education policy was designed to equip the majority black South Africans               with just enough knowledge and skills to fit them to be dutiful servants for the minority whites.  More by force of circumstance than by design, the policy changed gradually to widen educational opportunities for blacks, but not significantly.

    The state spent at least six times for the education of a white child than it did on the education of a black.  At almost every level, blacks received an inferior education.  The state had enough wealth to give all South Africans quality education.  But that would have gravely undermined the supremacist underpinning of apartheid.

    Just as the apartheid authorities did not believe in sharing power, they also did not believe in sharing opportunities.

    It took the solicitude of Oprah Winfrey, the African American television show host and media entrepreneur to build and operate the first world-class secondary school for black and so-called coloured girls in South Africa.

    The end of apartheid opened up opportunities hitherto closed to blacks.  It witnessed, across the educational landscape, an explosion in numbers and demand that the new South African government has been struggling to cope with. Today the student population in South African tertiary institutions has grown three-fold since the end of apartheid.  But official grants to the universities have not grown correspondingly.

    To meet the shortfall the South African government permitted the 26 public universities to raise tuition fees by a little under 10 per cent and promised to cover the increase for students from low-income families, comprising some 75 per cent of the student population.

    But the students will settle for nothing less than free tuition, and took to protests that at times turned violent and drew violent police response.  They are also demanding the appointment of more African professors to the faculty, and reforms to make the curriculum more focused on Africa, and on the problems of what they call the subaltern, the less privileged in society.

    To cater fully for those staggering numbers as the students are demanding cannot be an easy task for the South African government, especially at a time of economic contraction.  Demand in other areas that also suffered cruel neglect during apartheid — especially health, housing and electricity —is just as compelling, as the government has pointed out.   Besides, the government said, the repayment rate on student loans, an important component of the funding structure, has been abysmal.

    The crisis has resulted in a stalemate, with many campuses shut down and the possibility that an entire academic year may be lost.

    As Bishop Ziphoziihle Siwa, the respected president of the South African Council of Churches has suggested, a return to the negotiating table, with an impartial mediator, is the first step toward resolving the crisis. Different models for funding tertiary education will have to be explored.

    This crisis is further testament that apartheid as official state ideology may have died, but its pernicious legacy endures and will constrain and haunt the post-apartheid South African nation for long.

  • The spread of cultism on campuses

    In almost every tertiary institution of learning in Nigeria, there is hardly any academic semester without cult clashes and related activities, often leading to the death of students and at times lecturers. Even records have it that as at September 2003, at least not less than 5,000 persons including students and lecturers have been killed in cult-related violence. Cultism has continued to be a very embarrassing problem facing tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

    According to Wikipedia, there are over 90 different cult groups on campuses in Nigeria, with each perpetrating its nefarious acts to cause mayhem on campuses. Academic calendars of tertiary institutions are constantly disrupted because of cult clashes which end up bringing academic activities to a halt abruptly. Even worse still, lots of students, who could have contributed meaningfully to the nation’s growth, have encountered untimely death because of the desire by some persons who think they are free to do anything they want on campus without anybody or authority to question them. As a matter of fact, the possible effects of the continued clashes of cultists cannot be completely exhausted as they increase on a daily basis.

    A key feature of these confraternities is the fact that they keep their activities secret and they have different forms of attires and symbols or signs which they use in self-branding. In addition, cultists carry out their activities at the dead of the night but in recent times, they have grown more barefaced. Also, their meetings are often held at bizarre places like thick bushes around campuses, uncompleted buildings, cemeteries, graveyards and others.

    Hence, in an article entitled “Menace of cultism in Nigeria tertiary institution: the way out”,   Haastrup Ekundayo et al, defined cultism as “a ritual practice by a group whose membership, admission, policy and initiation formalities as well as their mode of operations are done in secret and kept secret with their activities having negative effects on both members and non-members alike.”

    Historically, cultism on Nigerian campuses can be traced back to the pre-colonial era in 1952 when the Pyrates Confraternity was created at the foremost Western University of Ibadan now University of Ibadan. The founders of the Pyrates, who were known as “the magnificent seven”, comprised Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, Prof Olumuyiwa Awe, Ralph Opara, Tunji Tubi, Daign Imokhuede, Pius Olegbe and Olu Agunloye. The group was created with noble and selfless objectives and its activities were open to the general public. The group never had any hidden or secret agenda as most cults now have.

    The Pyrates came on board at a time when Nigeria was at the verge of gaining independence and there was need for heated agitations to wrestle freedom from the colonial masters. In view of this, the Pyrates took as their objectives the abolishment of conventions, the eradication of racism, the promotion of Nigeria’s culture, the termination of tribalism and elitism among Nigerians, the revival of the age of chivalry and so on.

    It should however be stated that the group was made up of members with intellectual prowess because academic intelligence was part of the criteria for joining the group. As a result, splinter groups emerged because intending members could not meet up with the rigorous demands of the Pyrates. According to Wikipedia, there are at least over 90 cultist groups in the country. Some of the groups are the Vikings, Black Axe, Buccaneers, Black Brassier, Black Scorpion, King Cobra, Brotherhood of Blood and many more.

    Even the initiation and recruitment processes of most of these cult groups are very bizarre and questionable. In the process of recruiting members, cultists try several means in getting students on campus to join them. Students who are generally unsuspecting and excessively lustful end up falling victims. However, cultists, at times, are interested in students with well-built body physique. Once they have succeeded in luring would-be cultists in joining them, they carry out the initiation process for them. The initiation is one of the worst things about cultism. At this stage, the level of courage and resilience of would-be cultists is tested by being beaten, forced to take in some deadly concoction which may be made up of the human blood which serves as the sign of the oath. But the question begging for answer is why do students still join cultist groups despite the inhuman process of initiation?

    In recent times, cultist groups across campuses in Nigeria have been very deadly and gruesome in their attacks, causing so much destruction to the already-ill academic structure of the country. The first secret cult violence was reported to have occurred at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1985, involving a clash between a cultist and a non-cultist over “snatching” of a girlfriend. Thereafter, there have been numerous cases of violent clashes. A foremost among them is a gruesome clash that occurred at the Obafemi Awolowo University killing at least ten students within a day.

    Towards combating this menace of cultism in Nigerian institutions, there is a need for the government to beef up security in higher institutions in the country. Higher institutions in the country lack adequate security which gives secret cults the leeway to perpetrate their evil acts.

     

    Damilola, 300-Level Mass Comm., AAUA

  • Campuses’ ‘killer-dressers’

    Campuses’ ‘killer-dressers’

    Higher institutions are waging war against indecent dressing. But many female students keep wearing skimpy attires exposing vital parts of their bodies. They dress in breach of the dressing code, which they claim is an infringement on their right. AFEES LASISI (200-Level Political Science, Obafemi Awolowo University) reports.

    Students enjoy a lot of freedom and many have come to take it as a licence to misbehave. When it comes to dressing, many female students have gone weird. They wear skimpy dresses, exposing vital parts of their bodies. It is not that the men are better. They dress shabbily, provoking comments whether they are really students.

    The reign of skimpy dresses has turned many campuses to fashion runway.

    “Dress to kill” is now a popular slogan in lecture halls.

    Worried by this trend, managements of higher institutions introduced dress codes. While some higher institutions may have succeeded in implementing the rules, others have not.

    Besides, some students have been penalise by their authorities because what constitutes indecent dressing is not clearly spelt out. What is indecent dressing? Students differ on what constitutes this.

    Ayomide Fatumbi, a 400-Level Mechanical Engineering student of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said: “Indecent dressing is an immodest and improper way of dressing that negates the code of dressing design by God. I dress the way I was brought up, and as students, I believe we should not only be taught how to read and write in schools, but also how to promote our culture and traditions in a decent way.”

    Mode of dressing is way of expressing freedom, said Sope Oyeniyi, a Food Science and Engineering student of LAUTECH. She said: “Everyone is free to dress the way he or she likes without hindrance from anyone or authorities. Restricting the way one dresses is unwelcomed and unacceptable to humanity. It is our right to dress the way we want. No one should compel others to dress in a particular way but if authorities believe they are not satisfied with the way some of us dress, they can instruct the security men at the school gates to disallow whoever dresses shabbily into the campus.”

    A lecturer at the Department of Local Government Studies, The Polytechnic Ibadan (IBADAN POLY), Mr Caleb Arulogun, said some dresses offend the ethics of the society. He noted that indecent dressing remained one of the causes of crisis in education sector.

    Arulogun said: “Higher institutions are not secondary schools where there is uniformity in dressing. Anyone who is admitted into higher institution is believed to be mature and to be able to differentiate his right from left.” He added that parents needed to teach their children morals, while institutions must strengthen its rules against indecent lifestyle.

    Olamide Sanusi, a final year student of Banking and Finance of IBADAN POLY, said there is a connection between dressing style and religious belief. “To me, I dress the way my parents do at home, and sometimes, it depends on the kind of friend people keep. Most students dress well at home, but when in school, they join bad company in ‘advertising’ their body,” she said.

    To prevent students from dressing shabbily while they study, regulators of some professional disciplines such as law and medical science have introduced a regulated dress code. While law students put on white shirt and black trousers or long skirts, medical students wear white lab coat on any clothes they have on them.

    Lawal Sulaiman, a 400-Level Mechanical Engineering student, LAUTECH, said: “Indecent dresses pose a danger for our society as we have witnessed many cases of rape and assaults of our female students. This type of dress promotes criminal acts.”

    A parent, Mr Omolewa Yunus, said school managements must ensure culture and tradition are preserved on the campus, saying students’ background contributed to the indecency pervading campuses.

    He said: “Most improper dresses start from home. Though some students change when they got admission but it should not be left only to the government and school authorities. I will support the implementation of dress codes for all students irrespective of their courses.”

    Corroborating Yunus, Adedoyin Akorede, a 200-Level Medical Rehabilitation student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, said the dressing style of students showed the kind of upbringing they had, adding that peer pressure and environment also contributed to the indecency on campus.

    “The way I dress most times speaks more of my upbringing. Though, there is pressure from friends on campus, but I can never bow to such ungodly dress of most female students put on,” she said.

  • Group condemns homosexuality on campuses

    The Nigerian Fellowship of Evangelical Students NIFES, a faith-based indigenous non- governmental organisation and student ministry has condemned homosexuality in tertiary institutions.

    The National Director of the group, Bala Usman, addressed reporters in Abuja in preparation for the Mission’s conference tagged ‘WITNESS’ with the theme: The Ambassadors,” schedule for October 28 – November 3, 2013.

    Bala, however, praised the National Assembly for standing against homosexuality.

    He said: “We are in no doubt that our youths are facing crisis today. Crisis of what to believe in, crisis of confidence, crisis of capacity, crisis of unemployment, crisis of faith in themselves and in our country, crisis of ungodliness, crisis of unpatriotism, crisis of ignorance, crisis of morality and warped social values.

    “It is in line with this that NIFES strongly commends the National Assembly for prohibiting homosexualism and lesbianism through the passage of the gay rights Bill in spite of external pressures.

    “NIFES, particularly, wishes to commend the Senate President’s position on this matter and are glad for the strong courage displayed in this regards. NIFES has strongly campaigned and stood against gayism and lesbianism which seek to ravage our youth and their future. To us this is the zenith of immorality and immoral impunity which should not and never be allowed in our nation. We therefore call on the president not to delay his assent to that Bill.”