ERC'S POSITION ON UNILAG STUDENTS' UNION CONSTITUTION REVIEW

The Chairman,

Constitution Drafting Committee

University of Lagos

Dear Sir,                                             

                                                                        OPEN LETTER

PROPOSED CONSTITUTION FOR ULSU

OUR RESERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

We are glad by the opportunity to contribute our opinion and recommendations to the draft constitution being proposed by the Constitution Drafting Committee for the running of the much-awaited University of Lagos Students' Union (ULSU).

We have perused the new constitution and have some reservations and recommendations.

Ordinarily, we believe there was no need for writing a new constitution. A new constitution would have been appropriate if a Students Union was to be created for the first time. However in this case, a Students Union existed up till about ten years ago when it was proscribed and its constitution, tradition and norms are still very much in existence. As with all cases of proscriptions, a reversal should logically and legally mean the restoration of the status quo ante.

To us rewriting a new constitution is a wasteful exercise if the resources, time and energy invested in it are considered. It also lends credence to the suspicion that there is a conspiracy to limit the effectiveness and power of the much-awaited Students Union through constitutional provisions that would make it a dependent, undemocratic and bureaucratic union run by a selected few.

Having said the above, we shall proceed from here to highlight the main provisions of the proposed constitution that we strongly believe if not amended could pose serious threat to collective aspirations for an independent, democratic and mass-based ULSU.

We shall start from the congress which we believe is the most important organ of any union and the nature of the congress will ultimately determine the nature of the entire union.

Article 6: ULSU CONGRESS

Section 2: Composition of the congress

"The Congress shall comprise all the registered and matriculated students of the University of Lagos. However, congress members whi shall have voting rights shall be:

(a) Two Class Representatives (across all levels including DLI)

(b) Departmental Association Presidents and general secretaries

(c) Five representatives each from Faculties of Law and Pharmacy

OUR OPINION:

By virtue of the above-quoted section, congress membership is conferred on all "registered and matriculated students of the University of Lagos" but they have no right to vote. This means that the mass of students of the University will be reduced to the position of spectators while decisions that would affect their education, career and life are taken by a few "wiseacres".

By this section alone, the constitution has alienated the mass of students to vote on issues discussed at the sitting of the congress limiting it only to a few number of students referred to as the "congress Men and Women" who "shall be inaugurated by the vice-Chancellor of the university".

This to us in the ERC is a calculated attempt to put the congress (which should be the highest authority of students to formulate tactics, strategies and actions to promote and defend  interests and welfare of students and hold union leaders accountable) in the hand of the school management. If this section is allowed to fly, it means that the management will have control over the union which negates the principle independent unionism We challenge this section of the constitution and urge students to agitate for its removal from the constitution.

RECOMMENDATION: The taste of pudding is in the eating. To effectively play the role of congress members, all registered and matriculated students of the University of Lagos must have speaking and voting rights at the ULSU CONGRESS. We therefore recommend that Article 6, section 2 of the proposed constitution be amended accordingly.

Article 2, Section 3: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

OUR OPINION: The aims and objectives of the union stated in the constitution do not point to vital issues affecting students on campus and in the wider society. Issues such as the exploitation of students, injustice to students, fee hike, education commercialisation and underfunding should be clearly stated as the activities the union officers will challenge. More so, some of these issues have been the major problem students are facing in the recent period and many of these issues may still occur in the nearest future. The aims and objectives of a responsible union should be wide and extensive enough to anticipate and accommodate all possible developments now and in future which the union may need to respond to.

RECOMMENDATION: We urge the committee to accept and add the following to the aims and objectives in the draft of the constitution:

- That the union shall defend students rights to provision of decent hostel accommodation for all students

- That the union shall campaign against any anti-students policies on campus such as exploitation, injustice, late or non-release of results, victimisation, fee hike and education commercialisation.

- That the Union shall campaign against sexual harassment of students and uphold the right of every female student to an academic environment free from sexism, rape and other gender-based negative practices.

- That the Union separately and in collaboration with other students unions, staff unions and other progressive groups shall campaign from time to time for improvement in the funding of public education starting from the UNESCO recommendation of 26% budgetary provision side by side with democratic management of resources to include the elected representatives of education workers and students

- That in accordance with our belief that Nigeria's resources if judiciously and democratically managed can ensure the provision of free and quality education at all levels, the union shall vigorously campaign for the Nigerian state to provide free education at all levels.

- That also to this extent, the Union shall separately and in collaboration with the genuine platforms of the Nigerian people also campaign for the justiciability and implementation of all provisions of Chapter 2 of the 1999 constitution (amended).

Article 5: ULSU LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Section 2: Composition of the House

The House shall comprise members who shall be:

(a) two (2) non-executives and one (1) executive member from each faculty

(b) three (3) members from DLI

(c) Nine (9) members from the College of Medicine and

(d) Three (3) members from each Hall of Residence

OUR OPINION:

Our first observation is that the idea which runs through the entire constitution that being a faculty or departmental executive or class representative automatically confers a seat in any organ of the union is dangerous. The mandate and requirement of faculty or departmental executives and class representatives are obviously not the same. Someone may be a good class representative well loved by his or her colleagues but becomes a crass opportunist or incapable of functioning once they get to a post of responsibility at other levels.

If this arrangement which we may liken to a "caste system" is sustained, the kind of union that would emerge from such an arrangement would most certainly be a bureaucratic union based not on the mass of students but on a few bureaucrats whose qualification is not their ability to defend students' rights.

Secondly,  no clear means or process by which the other proposed members of the House from DLI, College of Medicine and Hall of Residence would emerge is stated. Who will select or elect them? Is it the Vice Chancellor or the mass of Students?

RECOMMENDATION:

The "automatic" or "caste system" should be expunged from the constitution. We recommend that all proposed members of the House be elected. Any faculty or departmental executive or class representative who wants to hold a seat in the house should seek a fresh mandate from students. This is the best way to erect a solid measure of check and balance into the union to guard against its deterioration.

Article 7: ELECTION MATTERS

Section 1 (a): "Election into the ULSU Executive Council Shall be conducted through an Electoral College".

(f) The Electoral College shall compose of 10% of the total University population with

- 5% equal representation from each faculty

- 5% to proportional representation bases on the population of each faculty.

OUR OPINION: As everyone is probably aware, election is not just the most important part of a democracy, it is its soul. Where the rights to vote are severely curtailed, what will emerge will not be a democracy but a dictatorship. It is a complete injustice to UNILAG students to propose a constitution that would banish 90% of them into the status of spectators in the running of their affairs. As bad as Nigeria's democracy is and despite the military-imposed 1999 constitution, voting right is not restricted to this extent.

A University is supposed to lead the rest of society onto the highroad of progress not push it back into antiquity. Indeed is it not going to be an absurdity that while "all registered and matriculated students of the University of Lagos" are able to participate in general elections to elect political office holders at the Federal, State and Local Government levels, they are curtailed from electing leaders of their own union? Their rights to vote is to be exercised by their own colleagues who are in all probability not more brilliant, knowledgeable or better than them. We can go on and on. However the last point we will like to make is that democracy by proxy is a fraud and should not be entertained in a University of the stature of the University of Lagos.

RECOMMENDATION: Electoral College should be scrapped. A genuine Union can only function through direct, unrestricted democracy. We therefore propose that all officers of the union especially members of the ULSU Executive Council be elected by "all registered and matriculated students of the University of Lagos".

ELIGIBILITY

SECTION 2:

(i) The candidate must have at least a 3:00 C.G.P.A to contest for any ULSU Executive positions as shall be established by the result of the preceding Semester.

(iii) Any candidate found guilty of misconduct in contravention of the University rules shall not be eligible to contest.

(iv) Any person previously convicted for an offence by; or having a criminal case pending in; any recognized court in Nigeria shall also not be eligible to contest in the Students Union election.

OUR OPINION: To start with, nobody should have a problem with this section which seeks to ensure that the best of students academically and morally, not unserious students and felons, are those eligible to lead the union. However we believe that these provisions can also be seized on indiscriminately by the management to disqualify radical students who already have proven record of uncompromising defense of students' rights.

For instance on the basis of subsection (i) above, people can be deliberately failed to make them ineligible. Also using subsections (iii) and (iv), radical students who are at the forefront of agitations against exploitation and worsening hostel conditions can be dragged before a disciplinary panel and declared guilty of contrived allegations. They can also be arrested, detained and convicted on contrived charges by the Nigerian Police acting on the recommendation of the University management.

Recently, protests broke out at some halls of residence over issues of welfare condition. Two years ago, UNILAG was agog with mass protests against the unilateral change of the University's name by the Federal Government. These protests were led by students radicalised by their condition on campus. We observe that the management could use these provisions and invite radical students (especially those identified to be "ringleaders" in the mobilisation for protests) to a disciplinary panel with aim of victimization. We therefore hold that these provisions cannot help in any way to free UNILAG students from the shackles and manacles of oppression  they have been under since the union was proscribed. We think this provision if sustained as it is will discourage students from mobilising against exploitations and bad welfare conditions on campus because of the fear of disqualification from elections. This would not be a progress but retrogression for UNILAG.

We urge committee should try and look at the experience of unions on other campuses especially the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile - Ife to know how managements could use provisions like the one above to cripple the union.

RECOMMENDATION

We propose that there should be no academic requirement for eligibility to contest elections save for evidence of registration and matriculation. As much as academic qualification is important, the paradox of Nigeria; a country whose president is a PHD holder yet wallows in such wanton level of poverty in the midst of inestimable oil wealth shows that leadership is not so much a function of the appropriate CGPA or certificates.

We also propose that subsections (iii) and (iv) be amended in accordance with our opinion expressed above.

ELECTORAL COMMITTEE 

SECTION 3

a) The Electoral Committee shall consist of the following:

i. Supervisor who shall be a Staff Adviser recommended by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos shall oversee the election process and announce Election results.

ELECTION PETITION COMMITTEE

SECTION 4

i. There shall be an Electoral Petition Committee set up by the Dean of Students Affairs.

OUR OPINION: If these two sections are passed, ULSU will be the only union in the University of Lagos which allows non-members in this case officials of the University Management to organise its elections. We respectively ask the committee, do ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT chapters operate with the same arrangement whereby the Vice Chancellor recommends the chairman of the electoral commission and the Dean of Students Affairs or DVC Administration heads their Electoral petition? If students are not capable of organising their own elections, then they would not be capable of running the union by themselves.

However running through this provision is the implied degenerate opinion that young people cannot be trusted to organise themselves without crisis so older people have to step in. The paradox of this backward opinion is that elections in the general society are organised by elderly people. Yet this has not prevented general elections in Nigeria since 1999 till now from being rigged by equally elderly politicians who have vested interests. Indeed if the youth have had any role to play in electoral violence, it is often as foot soldiers employed by elderly people who have the means and interests to subvert democracy.

The interest of the UNILAG management here is to maintain a grip on the means to elect the officers of the Union so that only preferred candidates who would not "rock the boat" would emerge.

There is a recent example at the University of Ibadan. During the last Students Union election, the chairman of the electoral commission was a Dr. Soola who occupies the highly exalted position of the Deputy Registrar (Students) of the University. After the elections, the runner-up in the Presidential race having observed some irregularities decided to approach the Election Petition Committee to seek redress. But unknown to him, the same Dr. Soola, Deputy Registrar (Students) who organised the disputed election happened to  also be the Secretary of the Election Petition Committee while the Dean of Students Affairs Prof. Alada was the Chairman. Of course every reasonable person can easily imagine what would the outcome of the petition. Suffice to say however that none of the numerous of witnesses who were ready to come out to give evidence before the commission showed up and for good reasons too: they had been contacted by the Election Petition Commitee and threatened. We have no doubt that it is this kind of injustice and absurdity that would also happen in UNILAG if these sections are sustained.

RECOMMENDATION

We respectfully urge the Constitution Drafting Committee to expunge these two sections. We also propose that members of the Electoral Committee and the Election Petition Committee should be elected at the ULSU Legislative Council and they must all be students.

CONCLUSION

These are our humble submissions. We hope they would be received in good faith and the understanding that they are motivated by the need to ensure that what is restored is a union that can effectively discharge its duties and defend its members.

Once again we are grateful for the opportunity,

Thank you

Adamu Lateef                                                 Julius Samuel

Coordinator ERC UNILAG                       Secretary ERC UNILAG

08032251230.                                                 08189511758

Cc:

Press club UNILAG

All Notice Board

EDUCATION AND ANTI-POOR POLICIES OF APC GOVERNMENT IN OGUN STATE

FOR UNITED ACTIONS OF WORKERS AND STUDENTS

Few months to the 2015 general elections, subtle electoral campaigns are already being undertaken by political parties across Ogun state. To this end, an appraisal of the performances of the APC’s led government in education sector becomes very necessary. This is because education due to its central and indispensible roles in the lives of the citizenry has become a major campaign item for political parties seeking electoral advantages from the electorate. This being the case, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as it then was, had  exploited the genuine desires of the good working masses of  Ogun state, during the 2011 general elections campaigns while soliciting for votes,  promising to make education accessible when voted to power.

More than three years in the saddle, it has been tales of woes for education at all levels in the state. Education is under serious attacks. This perilous state of affairs in the sector notwithstanding, the Ibikunle Amosun led APC government has oiled its propaganda machines, and the general  public  are already being inundated with stories of the “wonderful changes” the government has wrought in education in the state.

It is the obsession with propaganda by the APC government in the face of complete lacks of performance in critical sectors in order to secure electoral advantage that has prompted this piece.

PAYMENT OF 27.5% TEACHERS PECULIAR ALLOWANCE AND N18,000 MINIMUN WAGE

It should be recalled, that Ogun state government still remains one of the state governments across the country that have refused to pay the 27.5% Teachers Peculiar Allowance since 2011, and N18, 000 minimum wages to both its primary and secondary teachers till date. This has once attracted strike and protests by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) which was undermined by government with various tactics such as police harassment, polarization of the NUT, etc. The threat of strike by the NUT still looms large in the state, as the government has refused to meet the demands of teachers satisfactorily.

These vexing issues with serious consequences on the smooth running of both primary and secondary schools in the state, are yet to attract a proactive measures by the government, despite repeated threats of strike protest by the teachers. Other demands which the teachers have consistently echoed, but gained no hearing by the state government include: the continuous late payment of teachers salary; the refusal of the state government to positively address the  payment of 30% Christmas bonus of year 2012 and 2013 to  primary school teachers; nonpayment of promotion arrears of teachers in the same primary school till date; deliberate stagnation of teachers on the same salary grade level in primary and secondary schools; inability of the government to harmonize salaries of teachers in both primary and secondary schools to correct the difference in promotion prospects; and the continuous  withholding of deductions from teachers salary, meant for cooperative,  and other scheme planned towards retirement.

In addition are the collapses of infrastructures in many of the schools across the state. In fact, since the beginning of this administration, no single newly built structures have been added to majority of primary and secondary schools in the state, save for the ones under Millennium Development Goals (MDG) projects, executed by the federal government, in spite of increasing enrolment of pupils yearly. This situation has led to overcrowded classrooms, where school pupils learn under trees, sitting on used tires, when the weather is favorable. While flood takes over many schools during raining season and pupils go on forced holidays! Appalled by these dangerous developments, many parents organized under Parents’ Teachers Association (PTA) have had to donate blocks, cements, woods, roofing sheets etc, to some of these schools, after appeals by the school heads. A good example of “Promoting Partnership for Participatory Programs” of free education! The cumulative effects of this lackluster performance of the government in primary and secondary schools in the state are now manifested in the consistent poor performances of primary and secondary pupils in both internal and external examinations.

IRREGULAR PAYMENT OF SALARIES OF LECTURERS IN TERTIARY SCHOOLS

The education workers in Ogun state tertiary institutions have been battling with irregular and late payment of their salaries, harsh working conditions, highhandedness by the vice chancellors, rectors and provosts; lack of research grants; backlog of unpaid earned allowances amongst others, since the beginning of this administration. Frustrated by this seeming callous attitude of the government towards education, the lecturers at different times have had course to embark on protest rallies, and in some instances outright strikes to draw the attention of the state government to their plights, but the government has remained adamant and nonchalant to the legitimate grievances of the lecturers across tertiary institutions in the state.

This ugly turn of events has since seen the lecturers of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, embarked recently on a protest march. The lecturers took off from the institution’s mini campus, and trekked a distance of 7km ,a journey of about an hour to the university permanent site, where they delivered a protest letter to the Vice Chancellor for onward transmission to the government. Several months after, the government has refused to accede to their demands till date. As a result lecturers have continually threatened to embark on strike.

This is no isolated case. The lecturers of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun, and Tai Solarin College of education, Omu,Ijebu, have also gone on strike on a number of occasions, since the beginning of this administration, on issues bordering on poor funding;  lack of enabling teaching and learning environment; poor remunerations; late and irregular payment of salary; and poor and inadequate  infrastructural facilities. At the Ogun state College of Health Technology (OGCOHTECH), Ilese, and Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY),Ojere, the lecturers have  had cause at one point or the other to embark on strike, since the inception of this administration to demand government attention on issues equally centered on backlog of unpaid salaries; poor working conditions; decayed infrastructure; and above all, what they termed government deception in its avowed commitment to education development. The trend cuts across all other institutions of higher learning in the state, and the government, from all indications is least bordered by these sad developments in education sector.

FEES HIKE IN OGUN STATE TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS.

A series of agitations and protests by students at different institutions in Ogun State as well as the fear of its anti-poor fees regime on the prospect of APC in 2015 elections has made the state government to announce fees reduction across the institutions with effect from next academic session. But this reduction has been largely marginal and cannot fundamentally relief the burden of students from poor and working class families. For instance, in OOU the fee of medical students has been reduced from N301, 610 to N176, 596 while students of the Faculty of Arts would be paying N81, 112 instead of the current fee of N126, 540.  This marginal fee reduction has therefore been rejected by students especially OOU students who greeted the announcement with a protest rally in Abeokuta demanding N50, 000 fees across board. Now the school has been shut down by the government as a result of the mass protest by the students.

It is also instructive to stress that serious harm had been done to the career of a number students before this recent “political” reduction of the fees which were originally introduced by Gbenga Daniel regime. The current outrageous regime of fees, which is it in force until next session, was maintained by Amosun for more than three years into his administration despite the promise of drastic reduction during his electoral campaign ahead of 2011 election. This anti-poor policy and official deceit has led to loss of studentship in many institutions in the state.  

For instance at OOU, the students – who were used to payment by installment or deferred payments, were given just barely a week notice to pay up these new fees last session. As a result more than 3,500 students cutting across all departments at different levels including final year, who could not complete their payments, had their studentship terminated by the school management against all entreaties by well meaning Nigerians. They were later asked to reapply through Direct Entry (DE) and in order to be admitted to 200level regardless of their original levels, save for 100levels students!  

At TASUED, over 2,000 students most of them in final year were excluded from the just concluded first semester examinations because they could not complete their payments. Incidentally, not all the students that were prevented from writing the examination defaulted. Some did pay their fees to the designated banks, but they were denied receipts by the commercial banks, who claimed lack of access to the school’s e-portal, which the colluding school management had surreptitiously closed. Yet, the authorities shamefacedly made the bank receipt a pass into the examination halls.

The authorities at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) forcefully migrated over 3,000 fresh fulltime students- both ND and HND, to part-time programs, when the students could not complete their payment of school fees

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) in a statement supports the demand of students for further reduction while it believes that only full reversal of all hiked fees and a commitment by the State government to improve funding to all the tertiary institutions together with democratic management of the schools can guarantee affordable and accessible education for all students in Ogun State. ERC argues that against the background of the recent successful struggle of LASU students, the lies that fee hike cannot be fully reversed have been defeated.

It is instructive to note that the joining of the struggle against fees, which had been started by students, by the academic and non-academic staffs in LASU helped pile more pressure on the state government to totally reverse the fee. This is lacking in OOU nay Ogun State at the moment. It is therefore imperative for joint actions of all staff unions and students in the state higher institutions in support of the struggle against fees and with demand for adequate funding of education and democratic management of the institutions to include elected representatives of staffs and students.    

PANACEA FOR DECADENCE IN EDUCATION IN OGUN STATE  

In spite of high fees paid by students there were no physical developments in the over three years of Amosun administration in any of the schools. For instance, at OOU apart from the fact no single building projects have been executed, the abandoned uncompleted buildings inherited by this government remain in the same conditions till date. In fact, it was just about two months ago, some chairs were taken out from the dilapidated lecture theatres for repair works! Till date, the institution’s Faculty of Agriculture is still being accommodated by a secondary school at Ayetoro community after several years. At TASUED, nothing has changed. The institution remains largely a glorified college; with constant threats by the government to merge it with OOU to saves cost. The conditions at the Ogun state Cooperative College, Ijeja, will not pass for a modern poultry farms in civilized society!

This is not accidental; it is a logical consequence of neo-liberal capitalist policies against public education which is not however peculiar to the APC government in Ogun state; it is the policy thrusts of all the ruling political parties in Nigeria.

This then brings to the fore, the question of working class political alternative, which will completely defeat these attacks on education and other sectors of the economy on a permanent basis, and that will equally be committed to the needs of all, as against profits for a few. This is why the ERC supports the formation Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) as a striking example for workers, youth and masses in the absence of a mass working people party at the moment. SPN is unrepentantly committed to free and quality education at all levels, which is publicly funded. Using resources liberated through nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy, including banks and other financial institutions, democratically managed and controlled by workers themselves, in a centrally planned economy the party in power will ensure provision of basic needs such as education, health care, water, infrastructure, etc for the benefit of vast majority.  Workers, farmers, market women and men, artisans, and students are invited to join and build SPN in their various domains.     

 Eko John Nicholas

A Farmer and Member of Education Rights Campaign

Ijebu Ode, Ogun state.