ERC FREE COACHING: APPEAL FOR DONATIONS

2015 ERC FREE HOLIDAY COACHING

Appeal for Donations and other Forms of Support

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) annual Free Holiday Coaching is here again. The commencement date for this year's edition is August 4, 2015. We appeal to members of the public to render whatever support possible to this year's edition of the project. Cash donations and material supports in form of books, writing materials, food and drinks are welcomed.

The Free Holiday Coaching is an annual project of the ERC to enable poor and indigent secondary school students (from SS1 to SS3) who may not be able to afford the cost of private coaching to be able to receive free but quality teaching during this summer holiday. As everyone knows, teaching condition in public schools is so bad that students need extra classes during the holiday especially if they are preparing for external examinations.

Through this project, we also help to highlight government criminal neglect of the education needs of the poorest of the poor living in disadvantaged communities. Our belief in the ERC remains that until government deploys the vast resources of the country, which is otherwise looted, to invest in public education up to the point of provision of free and quality education at all levels, our education sector will continue to be the exclusive preserve of the rich few. This is why together with the free holiday coaching, the ERC is active in the advocacy and struggle for funding of public education.

Since 2005 and at an average of 300 annually, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has provided teaching free of charge to over 3000 secondary school students in Ajegunle community of Lagos State. Many of the beneficiaries are now graduates and in many tertiary institutions across the country.

We could not have achieved this feat without the incredible sacrifices and contributions of our team of volunteer teachers (most of whom are fellow youth with hearts large enough to render their service free of charge). Also crucial to the success of this project is the support of the public as well as organisations like ActionAid Nigeria, media and individuals too numerous to name. This same support and more would be needed for the success of the project this year.

The economic crisis ravaging the country has adversely impacted on low-income and vulnerable families who are the targets of this project. The consequence of this crisis is that poor parents more often than before now have to make a choice between their children's education and how to stretch the family's tiny income to cover food needs for the month. We therefore expect a far larger turnout of indigent students this year.

For this, we are assembling a bigger team of volunteer teachers who can take various subjects. If there are more resources this year, we would like to introduce computer training which has been a dream for years now. Given the conversion of the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to Computer Based Test (CBT), our ability to provide training in computer would be of invaluable help to the students. Therefore, the support of the public in whatever way possible is urgently needed.

Once again we will like to thank all those who have supported us in any way in the past including all those who have visited the coaching to speak at the Friday Career and Counselling Talk or just to see at first sight what we are doing on the ground.

From the ERC team and on behalf of the Volunteer Teachers - Our heroes, we say "THANK YOU!"

For further enquiry, please call 07033697259 or send a message to edurightsforall@yahoo.co.uk

Read below the reports of some of the past editions of the Coaching

2006 ERC: Ajegunle Chapter Holds Free Coaching Classes

2012 ERC Free Summer Coaching Ends withSymposium

2013 FREE SUMMER COACHING OF THE ERC BEGINS

2013 ERC Rounds Off Free Holiday Coaching

2014 ERC FREE HOLIDAY COACHING COMMENCES

2014 ERC COACHING CLOSING

H.T Soweto

National Coordinator

Education Rights Campaign (ERC)

 

ERC CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE OPENING OF LASU

PRESS STATEMENT

 

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) joins the call for the immediate opening of the Lagos State University (LASU) for academic activities to resume. However, the only guarantee of a smooth academic calendar is for the legitimate grievances of the staff unions to be addressed as quickly as possible.

As far as we are concerned in the ERC, there is no justifiable reason to continue to keep students and staff at home even after the general elections which were the ostensible reason given for the closure have now come and gone. We therefore urge the Lagos state government and University Governing Council to order the opening of the University so that academic activities can resume forthwith.

The seemingly unending crisis in LASU that has led to this unfortunate closure is actually a product of two factors: One, the characteristic highhandedness and abuses of the Vice Chancellor Prof. Obafunwa whose style of administration is more in line with the despotic style of running military garrisons than an academic environment and two, the agenda hatched sometimes last year to deal with all those, including students, members of staff and unions, that participated in the victorious struggle for reversal of hiked fees.

Bearing this in mind, we strongly consider as irresponsible and suggestive of complicity, never mind arrogant, recent statements credited to the Lagos State Government through the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Fatai Olukoga in which he claimed that staff and students unions in LASU are the cause of the closure. According to Vanguard newspaper of the 5th day of May 2015, the Special Adviser at a media briefing made the following uncharitable comments: (1) That "The problem of LASU is just overbearance of our unions" (2) That "government would no longer tolerate indiscipline on the part of the students, lecturers and other stakeholders in the institution and (3) That "the delay in opening the school is the fault of LASU unions and Students Union, unless they go back and have a sense of reasoning before the school will be reopened".

LASU is the only University owned by the State government. Therefore we expect that if LASU is rocked by internal crisis leading to its closure as has happened for couple of months now, the Lagos State government would be sensitive particularly to the pain of students and proactive in peacefully resolving the crisis and not by further fanning the flame of disharmony by  such irresponsible comments made by Fatai Olukoga. Moreso that all the issues that has led to this crisis including Prof. Obafunwa's abuse of office and his victimisation of staff have been in the public domain months before now. Indeed ASUU-LASU for instance and the Joint Action Front (JAF) led a rally to Alausa just before the elections to submit petitions bearing allegations concerning the abuses of the Vice Chancellor. Where was Fatai Olukoga then and what exactly did the Lagos State government do to address the grievances of the unions before March 16, 2015 when the workers decided to take their destiny in their hands? We respectfully ask the Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola to caution his Special Adviser if indeed these irresponsible and vexatious comments do not represent the official view of the government.

Unless the Lagos State government becomes proactive over the crisis in LASU with a view to resolving it and ensuring that academic activities resume soonest, the public will be left with no choice than to believe that the reason for the government's inaction is because the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Obafunwa, has so much support at Alausa that he can do and undo anything including victimising members of staff at will and closing a whole University without Senate approval and without considering the suffering of students whose career and future is being jeopardized in the process.

On March 23 2015, without seeking approval of the University Senate, the Vice Chancellor announced an open-ended recess or closure of the University citing the then oncoming general elections as a reason. However the real reason for the closure is the running battle the Vice Chancellor is having with staff unions of the University and especially his victimisation of members of staff and union leaders in the aftermath of the victorious struggle against fee hike in which these staff union leaders played active roles.

These victimisations were targeted particularly at individuals and unions that came together in fraternal solidarity last year to prosecute a struggle that ultimately compelled the Lagos State government to reverse the highly outrageous and anti-poor tuition regime of between N193,750 to N348,750. First the Students Union was attacked, the union's elections illegally postponed and one of the student presidential candidates dragged before disciplinary panels because of his roles in the struggle against fees. Next the staff unions came under fire. For instance, Prof. Tunde Fatunde, a 62 year-old academic was placed on half salary primarily because he wrote an article published in some National dailies last year calling on Governor Fashola to reverse LASU fees. Notably, fourteen (14) members and leaders of the LASU chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have had their PhD certificates withdrawn by the University Senate on grounds suggestive of a witch hunt. One of the affected lecturers is the chairman of the University's ASUU, Dr. Adekunle Idris. Aside ASUU-LASU, members of other staff unions like the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) are also facing victimisation and undemocratic attacks. For instance, at least five (5) members of SSANU-LASU were interdicted by the University administration.

It was all these issues that culminated in the mass protest by staff unions on March 16, 2015 which led to the Vice Chancellor being sent out of the University. Having lost his authority, the Vice Chancellor apparently in order to diffuse the mass opposition towards him especially given the growing call for his removal decided to close the campus indefinitely using the excuse of elections.

The continuous closure of the Lagos State University (LASU) even after the general elections is not only illegal but also another indication of the flagrant abuse of power and despotism characteristic of the University's Vice Chancellor Prof. Obafunwa and for which his tenure has seen more crisis and disharmony than academic excellence and progress.

The ERC demands immediate reopening of the University for academic activities to commence. For a stable academic calendar, we also demand an immediate halt to victimization of staff and students. This requires that all punitive measures taken against members of staff be immediately reversed.

                                                                                          

Hassan Taiwo Soweto                                         Michael Ogundele                           

National Coordinator                                         National Secretary

BUHARI'S VICTORY:A NEW DAWN FOR THE EDUCATION SECTOR?

DSM Students' Wing Holds National Meeting on 17th April, 2015

By Ayoade Adedayo

The Students' Wing of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) recently held its National Meeting on 17th April, 2015 as part of the National Committee Meeting of the DSM that held between 18th and 19th April, 2015. The meeting, held at the National Secretariat of the DSM, started with a lead off given by Oluwole Olubanji (Engels) on  Buhari's victory: A new dawn for the education sector?

Oluwole Engels explained that the presidential election that was held on the 28th of March 2015 which led to the emergence of Buhari was based on the support garnered from the broad layers of the working people including the politically active youth. He also stressed the fact that there were layers of youth and working people which were apathetic to the elections as they were alienated by the character of the elections which presented no clear choice for the working people. 

He further clarified that the true change we desire in the education sector will come from neither PDP nor APC, but only a break from the rotten capitalist system can fundamentally fulfill the desire of the mass of Nigerian students. This is given the fact that the rot in system does not only reflect in the education sector but encompasses all the major sectors of the economy. 

He maintained that although the APC has been in "opposition" for a while under different nomenclature - AC, AD, ACN and now APC- it has launched severe attacks on students like the PDP and it is keen on taking quality education out of the reach of the poor masses. This is reflected in the APC-controlled states such as Lagos, Ogun, Osun etc., where astronomical fee increments were introduced. This is a confirmation of the true character of the APC towards education. In fact, on a visit to Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife some months back, Babatunde Fashola, the Lagos State APC governor, responded to students who raised the question of free education saying that; "even ignorance is expensive, education cannot be free". In other words, he means that fee hikes and other anti-poor neo-liberal policies are the only methods that they are capable of putting in place to sustain provision of education. This does not mean that as conscious ruling class elements that they are ignorant of the fact that education is a major sector or are not aware that it must be adequately taken care of in a developing country like Nigeria. However any desire by these elements to really do something comes up against the barrier of what is possible at a time of capitalist crisis.

Oluwole further argued that socialists must warn student activists against having illusions in the emergence of Buhari as the genuine alternative to the moribund education sector. Notwithstanding, Buhari who ruled during the country as a military dictator between the 1983 and 1985 led attacks on the living conditions of students including the scrapping of the cafeteria system. 

He stressed that dwindling oil revenue will eventually lead to some cuts in government expenditure, introduction of taxes and possible increase in tuition in the education sector which will affect the working masses. He also raised the need not to foreclose the possibility of the APC, in their traditionally populist character to embark on cosmetic programs, especially when faced with rising popular anger and struggles. This has been demonstrated in the some of the cosmetic social programs like the distribution of one egg per day in primary education to on the basis of ameliorate malnutrition by the APC-led Osun State government or the importation of opon-imo (computer tablets) for secondary school students meanwhile without paying salaries to their teachers or equipping the laboratories. 

The DSM will work to mobilise students against attacks on education and for improvements. While serious struggle can win reforms Oluwole explained that our role in the coming period is to link these battles with the challenge of overthrowing capitalism. He added that the new period we are entering requires strengthening ourselves with the correct slogans and perspectives in surmounting the daunting challenges ahead.

At the end of the lead-off, there were comments and contributions, in which they concurred on the historical collapse of the student movement and the need for socialist activists under the banner of the ERC to draw programmatic lines of action and draw lines between responding to spontaneous actions and intervening in raising consciousness of the mass of students prior to events.

At the second session on organisation, Lateef Adams, the Deputy National Coordinator of the ERC, gave the Secretariat Report, where he highlighted the activities that the ERC had undertaken. He reported the campaign that has been built around the attacks on the ERC activists who are under victimization in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and recently at The Polytechnic, Ibadan. He reported that the case of Sumbo Badmus, the DSM Coordinator in Ibadan Poly, requires urgent solidarity actions from all the branches as he was handed a two semester suspension on the basis of the statement issued by the branch calling for improved academic and welfare condition on the campus. 

Michael Ogundele, the National Secretary of the ERC in his lead-off on Tasks Ahead highlighted the need to deepen the activities of branches in the coming period in intervening in the new period of illusions that the Buhari's victory has heralded. He noted that an ERC National Symposium for June 16, 2015 is being planned alongside other programmes to mobilise education workers, students and youth for the need to build mass fightback against imminent neo-liberal and austerity attacks on education

Reports from branches were taken after which comments on the state of branches followed. The major discussion that bore out is the uphill challenge of registering branches of the ERC or the DSM and the unending wave of attacks by managements across the campuses. The meeting ended on the note of stepping up the fight against attacks on democratic rights, public education and linking it to the struggle for the building of a mass genuine political alternative in the coming period.

PLANNED VICTIMISATION OF ERC MEMBERS AND ATTACK ON DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS AT THE POLYTECHNIC OF IBADAN

Call for Solidarity Actions

*We call on trade unions including the staff unions in the polytechnic, civil society organizations, radical student unions, youth organisations and socialists, locally and internationally, to prevail on the management to halt this attack on democratic rights*

On the Wednesday, 11 March 2015, two members of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) were unlawfully arrested by the Polytechnic of Ibadan security officers and handed over to the Nigerian Police at the instance of the Dean of Students' Affairs Unit in connivance with the leadership of the students' union of the institution.

The affected members of the ERC are: Ogundele Michael, Oyo state coordinator of the ERC who also double as the ERC National secretary and Olasumbo Badmus, an HND II Student of the department of Business administration who is the Secretary, the Polytechnic of Ibadan branch of ERC.

The two ERC members were arrested because of a statement which was signed by Sumbo Badmus and issued by the branch at the resumption of the ongoing academic session of the institution. This was considered as one of many means through which the branch hope to propagate its idea and objectives within the polytechnic community with a view to win the best layer of change-seeking students and workers towards it.

This statement painted the gloomy picture of the deplorable nature of the Polytechnic Ibadan owing largely to the problem of poor funding of the education sector by the successive governments in the state. It also urged students to be more active in the day to day running of their union so as to be able to build a union and leadership that can promote and defend the interests and welfare conditions of generality of students as a step towards building a national campaign for adequate and proper funding of the polytechnic education.

Few weeks after the issuance of this statement, precisely on Monday, 16 February 2015, Comrade Sumbo Badmus was served a letter inviting him to a meeting at the Students' Affairs Unit of the institution. This letter failed to state the basis for the invitation. 

In spite of this, Comrade Sumbo went ahead to honor the invitation without any knowledge that the so called meeting was a panel set up to interrogate him over the statement issued by the ERC. The panel ridiculously alleged that the statement was capable of inciting students against the school management and the state government. The panel also claimed that the ERC lacks the legitimacy to issue statements since the branch is yet to complete its registration process within the institution. 

Based on these erroneous allegation and claim, the panel went ahead to force Comrade Sunbo to sign an undertaking prohibiting further activities of the ERC on campus and also threatened to place him under surveillance. The panel also threatened to invite him before Students' Disciplinary Committee (SDC) should he fail to comply with the undertaking. The height of the anti-democratic decision of the panel was to pronounce the termination of the ERC registration process which was before this time ongoing with the office of the Students' Affairs Unit.

At the receipt of this panel's anti-democratic decision which is reminiscent of the inglorious era of military dictatorship, the Oyo state Chapter of ERC wrote a letter to the office of the Dean of Students' Affairs and copied the students union and workers' unions on the campus. The purpose of this letter was to debunk the allegation that the ERC was inciting students against either the school management or the state government and also to appeal for the reversal of all the anti-democratic decisions taking by the panel based on the said allegation and claim. In this letter, emphasis was laid on the fact there was no portion of the ERC statement in contention that encouraged any act of violence or unpleasant behavior that can make such to be tagged inciting.

Unfortunately, at the point of delivering the copy of the letter meant for the SUG, after a successful delivery of the copies meant for the office of the Dean of Student Affairs Unit and workers unions on campus, Comrade Sumbo was apprehended and taken to the school security post at the instance of the leadership of the Student Union Government (SUG) which declined the receipt of the letter under the claim that they were criticised in the ERC statement earlier deemed inciting by the panel set up by the polytechnic management. Comrade Michael Ogundele, who later went to meet him at the security post, was also arrested at the instance of one Rtd Captain Ayo Vaughan, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the institution, immediately he realized that he was the one who signed the letter written by the Oyo State Chapter of ERC. Subsequently, the Dean of the Student Affairs Unit ordered them to be handed over to the Nigerian Police. Interestingly, on getting to the Sango Police station, the DPO disregarded the management false claim that the ERC statement in contention was inciting. He went on to affirm that there was nothing incriminating in the two write-ups. As a result he ordered the release of the arrested persons.

However, not satisfied with the decision of the Police, the Polytechnic Management went ahead on Friday 14 March, 2015 to issue a fresh letter to comrade Sumbo inviting him to a Students Disciplinary Committee (SDC) slated to hold on 17 March 2015 over an unspecified allegation of gross-misconduct. In responding to this false allegation, ERC through its legal counsel in Oyo State, wrote a letter to the school administration through its Deputy Registrar demanding the detail of the offence that constituted the said allegation of gross misconduct leveled against comrade Sumbo as well as enough time that will enable him to be able to adequately prepare for his defense. Up till the early hours of the day the SDC held its meeting, the Polytechnic authorities failed to respond to the letter even though its receipt was adequately acknowledged.

 In the absence of the management response to this letter, Comrade Sumbo went ahead as a sign of respect for constituted authority to appear before the SDC not to make any defense but to urge the panel to comply with the request of the lawyer's letter that he should be furnished with details of the allegation of gross-misconduct leveled against him and given adequate time to prepare a defense for same. The panel was reportedly infuriated by this position and as such asked the security operatives to walk him out of the panel. 

Going by this background, it is very important to state that the Polytechnic administration's game plan is to make comrade Sumbo a scapegoat so as to intimidate and create undue fear in the mind of change seeking students of the institution who are increasingly becoming dissatisfied with the state of things on the campus and are seeking for a way out. Many students are also becoming more interested in and attracted to the ERC and its radical ideas which is greatly becoming a big threat to the pro-establishment disposition of both the school administration and the rightwing leadership of the SUG. This is the major reason the polytechnic authorities and the leadership of the SUG went into an alliance to ensure that further activities of ERC on the campus are prohibited. In the last four years, members of ERC have been carrying out different open activities on campus. Aside holding regular meetings, members have organized several activities like tabling (staging of a public stall) in which thousands of leaflets were circulated openly among students and workers. During the last industrial action embarked upon by the members of Academic Staff Union of the Polytechnic (ASUP), the Polytechnic of Ibadan branch, no fewer than six thousand copies of ERC leaflets were produced and circulated within the polytechnic community as a form of lending support and solidarity to the striking workers. 

Throughout the period of carrying out all these activities, ERC was at no time challenged with the issue of non-registration. In any case, long before now, the ERC has commenced the process of registration by writing a letter to the office of the students' affairs through which intention to register the ERC was first expressed. Upon the approval of this letter, which means that ERC is being considered for registration, certain requirements needed for the registration were given most of which the ERC has met.. We hold that ordinarily, the registration of organization on campus should not be more than a means through which the school administration compiles the list of legitimate and democratic organizations on campus just for a record purpose. 

We hereby call on trade unions including the staff unions in the polytechnic, civil society organizations, radical student unions, youth organisations and socialists locally and internationally to help prevail on the management of the Polytechnic of Ibadan to stop the planned victimization of Olasumbo Badmus, refrain from prohibiting ERC activities on the campus and halt the attacks on democratic rights of students of the institution. 

This can be done by organizing activities like solidarity actions and or sending protest letters or messages to the following principal officers of the polytechnic:

The Rector: rector@polyibadan.edu.ng, +2348055300789

The Dean Student Affairs: student_affairs@polyibadan.edu.ng, +2348023262204

The Registrar: registrar@polyibadan.edu.ng,

The Chief Security Officer (CSO): +2348055268927

By Michael Ogundele

National Secretary ERC