Reflections on the SU/Management Meeting

UCJ EDITORIAL

12/06/2017

"You must fight others. But through peace, through dialogue and through education"—Malala Yousufzai"

It's still baffling to note that the Student Union is yet to make an official Press Release on the outcome of the highly publicised stakeholder's meeting between Union officials, student leaders, and the university management. What many have seen on social media have been bits and pieces of information which bothered on the controversial GNS 312, GSE 202, courses among others. What about an SU-endorsed Press Release?

The SU, as of duty, still owes UNILORIN students an account of the resolutions reached at the said meeting regardless of the disclosures made from other sources. The focus of the SU seems to have shifted from the much anticipated Press Release to the forthcoming Leadership Summit and its concomitant publicity stunts which purports to bring a Nigerian Senator whose personality is allegedly disapproving to most Nigerians.

Going forward however, this editorial seeks to give a concise analysis of the basic issues that took centre stage during the high powered meeting.

Never has it been recorded in human history that the aftermath of war was devoid of regrets and collateral damage; many conflicts resulted due to impatience of either parties stricken. So, when the deed is done and losses are been counted, warring parties come to a round table discussion to fashion out suitable means of resorting to peace—a move that could have averted the conflict in the first place.

To this end, laudable and commendable are the efforts of the UNILORIN Student Union and the presidents of faculties who rose from their domain to engage the university authority in an interactive session to proffer lasting solutions to issues bordering on the welfarism of students on campus. One must also commend the university authority for creating a room for such interactive session—a rare case in most Nigerian University as of late.

As promised, the SU leadership laid down their complaints and demanded for swift action from the University Management. The management of the University on their path, promised to take necessary steps to correct some of the inadequacies pointed out and ensure that students do not have any cause to suffer.

All the issues raised during the meeting could be summed up in the following points:

1. Carrying Capacity Higher Than Available Facilities.

The University of Ilorin has gained more popularity in recent years as the most sought after university in Nigeria. Many thanks to the uninterrupted academic calendar the University has enjoyed over the years.

The last JAMB admission exercise saw UNILORIN recorded over a hundred thousand applicants (indeed, the most sought after varsity). While about fifty thousand of them might merit admission, only a little above 10,000
can be accommodated into the current capacity of the school. The lecture Theatres on ground currently can't accommodate the students using these theatres. Just few weeks ago, a case was recorded of a female student who fainted due to the overpopulation (about 700 students) in LT1 (500 capacity). It took the timely intervention of the medical team at the school clinic to revive the victim. Such cases (of overcrowded classrooms) are countless across faculties. 

While the University management promised that work was already ongoing as to construction of new Lecture Theatres, we will like to reiterate that admission of students should not be beyond the carrying capacity of the school. If more students must be admitted, then more class rooms, lecture halls and Theatres must be built accordingly. A duly matriculated student of the University should not be made to sit on the floor, podium or stairways due to an overcrowded class.

2. Poor Maintenance Culture:

Another complaint raised was the non functionalities of some of the facilities provided in Lecture Theatres, Laboratories as the case may be. Some of these include; Non functioning Air conditioners, Projectors and smart boards, Lack of bulb (in some) LTs, non-functioning Wi-Fi facilities, poor state of public toilets amongst others. These problems were due to the poor maintenance culture of both parties, the Management and students. Students are expected to use these facilities with proper care before and after use.

However, the university authority ought to have a maintenance team that will inspect these facilities from time to time to ensure they're being applied for the right use and report their state of functionalities to the University management. The facilities shouldn't just be installed and left to the mercy of students without being checked. Typical cases are lecture theatres lacking electricity supply (NSLT II), cases of sockets burning and not being replaced in time leading to illegal connection by students, outdated toilet facilities etc.

We urge the University management to not only refurbish/replace these facilities with new ones but also set up an inspection monitoring team that will see to the supervision of how well these facilities are functioning. With this, the school management will have first hand information on the state of the facilities they Install.

3. Bureaucracy

Also known as the 'Red Tape System,' bureaucracy is one of the greatest innovations in public administration. It helps to ensure due process is followed, and checks and balances in a corporate establishment. Having said that, the system has its own good and bad sides.

As revealed during the meeting, one of the challenges bedeviling timetabling for CBT tests and exams is the late response of faculties in notifying the CBT Directorate on clashes of courses in the provisional timetable. Consequently, the CBT Directorate is usually left with no choice but to work with available information at its disposal.

This is just a fraction of other situations that have suffered the snail-like approach of public officers in the Nigerian civil service. The Better by Far is not left out on this.

As against the old order of doing things, an efficient and effective system should be put in place to avoid such hiccups in future. Deans of faculties should report cases of clashes in the timetable, and must do so in good time in order to avoid a situation where students may take three CBT papers in a day.

4. Uncivil Behaviour of Students.

The level of civility of an individual goes a long way to determine the command of respect he'll pull amongst well meaning persons. Such is expected of a student that passes through school and allows the school to pass through him.

However, the behavior of some of our students sometimes put to question if they really understand the "Probitas Doctrina" the school upholds as her motto. The height of uncivil behaviour is largely recorded either at the CBT center or at the park, where population is usually denser than other parts on campus. Courtesy demands that a queuing process be employed once the supply ports for demands are limited. Yet, some students instead of standing in queue prefer to jump queue all in the name of not having luxury of time. Nobody have the time to spare, but it is expected of students to maintain a high level of civility when they find themselves in such climes. It doesn't make you stupid. Instead, it makes you more cultured.

Civility also come with respect of other persons irrespective of their age, race or gender. Cases of verbal abuses have been reported at some quarters on the part of both members of staff and students. It is imperative that both parties be schooled on the necessity of adopting civil conducts wherever they may be. This goes a long way in sustaining peaceful coexistence.

In cases of verbal or physical abuse, Victims should report such cases to the appropriate authorities for proper actions to taken. Both staffs and Students are urged to adopt high level civility while engaging within one another, to sustain the lasting utopia the University community currently enjoy.

5. Poor Communication Gap

Poor communication gap on the part of the University Management has its own fair share of some of the lingering challenges besetting students in particular. For instance, the indignation that greeted the delay of PC tablets December last year was doused by a press release by the Corporate Affairs Unit of the school. That memo gave the rationale behind the delay of the tabs, and indicated a precise date as to when the PC tabs would be in a deliverable state.

Alas, the above press release was made as a sequel to an online protest by most students such that the whole world knew what was happening in the Better by Far varsity. The school management should extend its scope of information dissemination to cover social media, not just the school website. Better still, when it comes to sensitive issues such as those that triggered the move to have a stakeholder's meeting, such meetings should be held regularly, say quarterly as the case may be.

A look at the facial expressions of most student leaders after the meeting, it was obvious that the meeting had produced a win-win outcome even though most expectations were not met. While resolutions were reached on some issues, such could not be said about others like GNS 312, GSE 202 etc.

It is instructive to state at this juncture that the Student Union gave maximum representation of the student populace before the university management. As against the traditional interface between the SU Officials and the University management, other stakeholders took place in the decision making process. Worthy of mention was the SU President spoke fearlessly and diplomatically— an attribute that characterises his persona. Also, the submissions of Mario and Solution, among others were brilliant and straight-to-the-point. Mario deserves a special commendation in this respect.

One can only hope that such meeting will be held regularly. As the saying goes, 'two wrongs can't make things right.' Communication remains the key to understanding challenges which is a step towards resolving conflicts. Conversely, conflict ensues when there's communication breakdown. We need more of such stakeholder's meeting whenever the need arises. For to dismiss the plight of students amounts to sitting on a keg of gunpowder. Maybe this is one of the reasons UNILORIN is said to be Better by Far. We can't argue any less.

This is an editorial of the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ), University of Ilorin Chapter, Ilorin, Kwara state.