The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Usmanu Danfodiyo University

  • Exploits of child labour

    Exploits of child labour

    Small boys and girls called Yaro Yarinya  flock the Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto (UDUS) daily to fetch water and wash clothes for students for money when they should be in  school. HALIMAH AKANBI (200-Level Law) and IBRAHIM JATTO (400-Level Zoology) write.

    •The Yaro Yarinya menace hits Sokoto varsity

    THEY are a sight to behold as they move around the university campus in search of menial jobs. With bowls of different sizes tucked under their armpits, they look hungry and tattered. Called Yaro Yarinya, meaning small boys and girls, there is a ready job for them on the campus of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University in Sokoto (UDUS), where they wash students’ clothes and run other errands.

    These kids, who are between the ages of four and 17, are residents of the university’s host communities. They wash plates, fetch water and clean their ‘masters’ rooms for money.

    Some of them hawk dabino (date fruits), gyada (groundnut) and other petty items. They leave their houses early for the students’ hostels. They swarm the Halls of Residence like bees, chanting akoi ayki (is there work?).

    Many of them feed their family members from the money they make.

    Do they have hope of going to school? Not really. They believe they only need to get Islamic education, which they call Madrasa. A few of them attend conventional schools only to learn how to speak turenchi (English).

    Mallam Umar Shama whose child visits the campus regularly to work said he could not feed his family with his meagre resources. “When a father wakes up in the morning without enough money to give his family, not to talk of sending the child to school, the kids have no choice than to fend for themselves through petty trading and running errands for anyone willing to give them money,” he said.

    On why she allowed her children to do menial job instead of going to school, Hajia Hadiza Mai Kayan Gaju, said: “The issue of child education is not really a priority here because these children are the ones supporting us financially and also helping us to do the farm work.” Asked if she would allow her wards go to school if they get a sponsor, Hajia Katan Gaju said: “Anyone willing to take our children away from us to school should also be ready to join us to work on the farm; taking them away will make life miserable for us.”

    Students, expressed divergent views on the phenomenon. While some blame the kids for their fate, other criticised their parents for not doing much to secure their future.

    Shukurat Lawal, a 300-Level Education Chemistry student, blamed the parents for failing in their responsibility to fend for their children. “I will blame their parents. They are subjecting their children to child labour and using them as a means of livelihood.”

    Bello Garkuwa, another student, said: “I am one of the students, who send Yaro Yarinya on errand. They wash my plates and clothes…” Asked if he was not enslaving the kids, Bello said: “I think it is the fault of the kids because they don’t want to acquire education. I have asked some of them if they would go to school, they were courageous to reply that they did not have interest in education. So, I think the kids want themselves to be enslaved.”

    The management should do something about the phenomenon, Tawakalt Bakare, a 400-Level Biology student, said: “In my opinion, management should stop the children from entering the campus because they are stealing our belongings. The grown ups among them can attempt to rape female students at night. I am urging the authorities to act fast and send them away.”

    Instead of watching while the kids are sent on errands during school hours, Zainab Ahmed, a 100-Level English Language student, believes the management can engage the kids and make them see opportunities in going to school.

    A hall president, who did not want his name mentioned, said security has been beefed up around the hostels to curtail the excesses of the Yaro Yarinya. He said: “We are ensuring the security of lives and properties of the students, which is why we demolished hamlets around the hostels.”

    Despite measures to restrict the movement of the kids in the hostels, there seems no end in sight to the phenomenon.

     

     

  • Danfodiyo varsity closure: Causes and lessons

    Nigeria is a land of surprises. Most events of the past weeks have done more than enough to prove that. Is it not amazing that a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory has not been able to find a job for his two daughters, who hold Master’s degrees, despite his influence?

    We should rather find it astonishing that some of our leaders, who have, over the years, manipulated elections in which millions of voters participated, find it an arduous task conducting one that involves just 35 voters. This is definitely a country that leaves one wondering what the next comic relief would be like.

    Still talking about surprises, an event that left me dazed is the indefinite closure of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), which according to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof R.A Shehu, was arrived at after a careful study of the security situation in the university following a violent demonstration by students. In the process, the VC’s residence was attacked by the protesters.

    The abrupt closure of Nigerian universities should not be a surprise. It is part of education to have our schools shut either because of the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) or their non-academic counterparts over wages and welfare package. What should surprise us is how violence results to the closure of a university that prides itself as the most peaceful in Nigeria.

    The UDUS authorities are proud of that fact that the university is peaceful. Little wonder then that peace is the first message to visitors to the university’ website. Apart from this, the institution is well-known for its students’ good moral value and decency. Funny enough, students are thought to be timid and scared of the authorities, which makes them to be compared to primary or secondary school pupils. If students live in fear, what then led to the anarchy that led to the shutting down of the school?

    The cause of the violence is as a result of days of blackout a few days to the varsity’s second semester examination. Students could not study in the situation which was compounded by harsh weather condition. The atmosphere on the campus was tense and all what the students needed was a vent to express their displeasure.

    They got this from the Dean of Students’ Affairs when he announced that there would be no water in the school for weeks, advising students to come and get water from water tankers contracted by the management to bring water to the campus. The Dean also told the students that the generator that supplied the hostels would not be put on that night.

    With the announcement, students, it appeared, had enough reason to stage a protest. Peacefully, they moved to the VC’s quarters to express their displeasure. On getting to the residence, the protest took violent turn, which led to the destruction of the VC’s apartment.

    Judging from the foregoing, who is to be blamed for the crisis? The Vice-Chancellor exonerated the management, according to his interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), stating that the university ranked high with regards to students’ welfare compared to other institutions in Nigeria. He also buttressed his point by stating that in every 18 to 20 day, 22,000 litres of fuel was always purchased to light the campus.

    According to the Vice-Chancellor, the management had done so much for students, which should not have warranted any complain and so the school should not be blamed. Hence, the violent protest was not justified.

    But should the bulk of the blame be placed on the students? In opinion, I will say no. Nigerian situation should be blamed for the violence. Talking from the causes of the protest, don’t we need to find out why there would be blackout on the campus and Sokoto State for more than one week when no explanation was made available?

    Why, as a nation, with resources at our disposal, we still have not been able to enjoy a stable power supply? Is it not a shame that a nation, more than 50 years of independence, cannot yet provide potable water for its citizens? These and many other questions we hope those in authority will provide answers to.

    One question, however, that may be begging for answer is: should UDUS still be called “the most peaceful university” following the violent by its students? Yes, it is still and probably it will remain peaceful until a more peaceful institution is discovered. As the saying goes, in the land of the blind, only the one-eyed that will be the king.

    I am, however, using this medium to appeal to my fellow students to always express themselves peacefully in agitating for their welfare. Violence does not pay; it will only lead to more violence and measure that will affect us academically as seen in the shutting down of the school before ASUU strike compound our woes. This is a lesson to all of us that we need to apply civility when we are agitating.

     

    Sarat, 200-Level Applied Chemistry, UDUS

     

     

  • Pro-chancellor donates to Danfodiyo varsity

    Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Alhaji Bilya Sanda has established a multi-million naira organic fertiliser industry to encourage academic research and generate revenue for the institution.

    The Katsina State-born Sanda, aims to promote academic excellence and standard.

    He has also begun the construction of a befitting 50-student capacity hostel accommodation for the university’s post-graduate school.

    Alhaji Sanda who announced the endowment of a special fund for the university’s Pro-Chancellor, also donated two brand new Peugeot 406 cars to the university for logistics purposes.

    Speaking to reporters in Sokoto, Sanda, who was among the six that bagged honorary degrees of science, laws, letters and philosophy awarded by the University, said his vision was to transform the institution and take it to greater academic heights.

    He said he was inspired by the principles of transparency, prudence, accountability, service to humanity, stressing that philanthropy is imperative in his life.

    He added: “During our inauguration, we all took the oath with commitment that we will conduct our affairs to assist and not to take from the university.”

    He explained that construction work on the factory was at an advanced stage, adding that it will serve as an academic resource centre for research as well as enable the diversification of the institution’s source of funding for the institution.

    “The hostel will soon be commissioned,” he said.

    The Governing Council chair maintained that the industry would source its material locally, pointing out that ”its operations will require phosphate rocks as key raw material which Sokoto has in commercial quantity.”

    He said it is rewarding to assist those in need especially contributing to the advancement of an institution of learning.

    Alhaji Sanda who is involved with a number of philanthropy associations in different parts of the country, said teh state would soon begin to benefit from those associations.

    “It is fulfilling as a humanitarian gesture aimed at creating hope among the hopeless,” he pointed out.