By Femi Adebajo and Joshua Olamide (ERC UNILAG.)
After several years of agitation for the
restoration of the students' Union at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), the
management of the institution has now decided to inaugurate a constitution
drafting committee to draft “a suitable constitution" as a step for reinstating
a central students platform for the university.
Meanwhile the composition of the
committee is undemocratic as all its members were selected by the management
without any opportunity for the mass of students to have a say. Also observers
are not allowed into the meetings of the committee.
It could be recalled that the Students’
Union of UNILAG was proscribed about a decade ago. Since then the students have
been without a platform to fight for their rights on campus. However, with
several outbreaks of protests in the university in the past few years, it soon
became clear that a platform of students is urgently needed to defend students'
rights on campus.
The decision by the school authorities to
begin the process of returning the union at this period cannot but be related
to the series of students' protests in the recent time. Starting with the
protest against the arbitrary change of the name of the university to Moshood
Abiola University by President Goodluck Jonathan on "democracy day"
in May 2012, to the protest against inflated prices of commodities in the
university community in 2013, which was also followed by a protest by Theater
Art students against harassment, and lastly the recent protest against
extortion of students over late course registration. These protests have something
in common which is that they were effective but lack leadership, and students
had however used each protest as an opportunity to agitate for the return of
the students' union.
However while conceding to the growing
mood for the return of the Union, the management has other agenda. From all
indications, it seems clear that the management is scheming to install a union
that will be pliant, pro-management and unable to defend students interests.
For instance, the management has been pushing for a model known as the
Students' Representative Council (SRC) to be adopted as an alternative to the
students union.
To us in the UNILAG chapter of the
Education Rights Campaign (ERC), we have openly condemned this model in our
statement released on campus. Our argument is that this model is meant to
detach the mass of students from having full and direct control of the union
and the leadership. The proposed structure of the SRC being pushed forward by
the management is nothing different from the current Council of Faculty
Presidents, the only difference will be to increase the number of the members.
Under this model, only a select few elected into the SRC will run the Union
while the mass of students will be no more than spectators. Also this model
will allow the management to easily interfere and control the union.
However before the UNILAG students’ union
was proscribed, it had an SRC but the SRC as well as the Executive and all
other arms of the union were answerable to the Congress. The congress allows
all matriculated students of the University to control their union, discipline
any erring officers and formulate the activities, programs and direction of the
union. This alternative model which the ERC is pushing forward is the best way
to ensure that the new UNILAG Students Union will be independent of the
management and capable of defending students interests.
The university authorities also informed
the general public that they sent some delegations to countries like Ghana,
South Africa, Russia among others to study the mode of students’ unionism and
according to their reports, the SRC seemed to be the best that UNILAG should
adopt.
No doubt, the authorities ventured into a
wasteful voyage looking for a model for UNILAG students when the solution to
the problem is here at home. Indeed there is no need to go to the moon. The
starting point of the work of the constitution review committee should be the
old constitution of the proscribed UNILAG Students Union. This constitution
still exists. It is our conviction that if the same constitution successfully
guided the UNILAG Students Union for decades before its proscription, then
there is no reason why the same constitution cannot be adopted for the new
union waiting to be restored.
To raise the consciousness of students on
the plan of the management to impose the SRC model, the ERC produced thousands
of leaflets and circulated them in various hostels and faculties calling on
students to agitate for reinstatement of the students union. Our leaflets have
drawn students support towards us and we believe it is also part of the reason
some members of the committee called congresses days ago ostensibly to take
students views on the model they want.
The congresses took place at the Faculty
of Art, King Jaja hostel, Eni-Njoku hostel and Shodeinde hostel. Members of the
ERC participated fully at all the centres except Shodeinde hostel because our
members there were yet to resume. We participated alongside our leaflets and
Socialist Democracy (paper of the Democratic Socialist Movement). At all the
centres, where we intervened, our position was made clear and we urged students
not to have illusions that the union would be restored on a platter of gold but
it would involve relentless mass struggle. This point is very important because
this is not the first time the Management has embarked on constitution review
and nothing came out of the previous exercises. In 2008, a constitution
drafting committee was set up which at the end of its work submitted a draft
constitution but till this moment the management has failed to inaugurate the union.
The ERC calls for a mass-based,
independent and democratic students union whose leadership is answerable to
students and positioned to defend students and workers interest. We also call
for a union whose leadership must derive its legitimacy from the mass of the
students through a free and fair election devoid of management's interference.
Our position for a constitution that defines the role of the central executive
alongside the parliament, judiciary and Congress as organs of the union was
widely supported by students. At the end of the meeting, students moved to our
stall to get copies of our papers. 4 copies of the Socialist Democracy were
sold and 3 students put down their names to join the ERC.
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