For
a Public Probe into the Activities of ABUAD
Press
statement
The Education Rights
Campaign (ERC) calls for the unconditional release of 31 students arrested on
account of the February 7, 2016 protest that occurred at the Afe Babalola
University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD). ABUAD is a private university established by the
legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN).
We
call for a public probe into the activities of the institution especially going
by various allegations of highhandedness and victimization on the part of the
administration. This call becomes important because ABUAD is a seriously
autocratic institution lacking any respect for democratic rights and having an
administration that routinely employs rogue methods characteristic of corporate
mafia to cover up the truth, whip students and workers into line and silence
critics.
The
ERC feels strongly that the February 7 protest is not merely a demonstration of
a few disgruntled students “with poor academic performance” as the University
would have us believe. Rather it is a product of students’ pent-up rage and
frustration as a result of the various anti-student policies of the
institution’s management.
While
we do not condone violence, the ERC feels that the allegation that students
destroyed university properties raises the need for ABUAD to allow for
independent Students Unionism through which students can convey their opinion
and displeasure to the administration without resulting to violence.
However in spite of the
fact that the ABUAD’s founder, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) is a respected legal
luminary, his private University does not allow Students Unionism to operate in
clear violation of the provisions of the 1999 constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (As Amended).
The
crisis in ABUAD proves the failure of private Universities as a solution to the
crisis of tertiary education. Not only are these private institutions
established solely for profit, they are run in such a shady and undemocratic
manner that they are unable to truly serve the interest of the public neither
are they accountable to anyone except the founder. If the truth must be told,
the way ABUAD is being managed is not in any way different from a farm estate
where the founder, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), is the lord of the manor and
students are the farm hands who must be diligent, loyal and obey all rules even
if those rules are nonsensical. Dissent opinions, when expressed, are routinely
clamped upon so viciously like a wild lion charging a stray goat.
We
recall for instance last year that the University suddenly hiked the fees of its Clinical students
(400 Level medical students) from the already whopping sum of N1.7 million to a
stupefying sum of N2.6 million. When the students attempted to protest through
social media and also contacted radical groups like the Education Rights
Campaign (ERC), the University immediately swung into action by clamping down
on them with reports, though unverified, that some were victimized in the
process. The result was that the agitation for reversal of the hiked fee
stopped while the online campaign disappeared.
Only
public-funded and democratically-managed academic institutions can guarantee
quality education that can be of benefit to the people and not a rich few while
also respecting democratic rights and dissenting views.
Hassan Taiwo Soweto Michael Ogundele
National Coordinator (07033697259) National Secretary
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