Students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, on Monday protested the attempt by the institution’s management to prevent their colleagues that had not complied with the regularisation policy from sitting for the Harmattan Semester Examination, SEGUN OLATUNJI reports
The decision of the management of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, to disallow students who have not complied with the regularisation policy of the institution to sit for the Harmattan Semester examination scheduled to start on Monday has thrown the institution into a violent protest.
The examination, which was scheduled to start on Monday, had been postponed thrice at the instance of the students who pleaded for more time to enable them to comply with the policy. The policy was aimed at helping students to confirm their studentship through the presentation of receipt for the payment of tuition.
The Ogun State Government had, on Sunday, said only students of the state-owned institution who had fully complied with the directive to regularise their records would be allowed to sit for the 2012/2013 Harmattan semester examinations. The regularisation policy was a directive of the National Universities Commission that requires each institution to submit the data of its students with a view to knowing the exact number of students in the nation’s university system
Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, had warned all the students of OOU who had yet to complete the registration formalities or fully paid their school fees to stay away from the university’s campuses. Adeoluwa, in the statement, noted that there were three levels of students in OOU namely those who have fully paid their tuition; those who pleaded for payment of tuition on instalment, basis and those who he described as professional students. Those that belonged to the last set are not students of the institution, as they have no matriculation number. Adeoluwa stated that all the students should regularise their studentship otherwise they would not be allowed to sit for the examination.
But before the examination commcenced on Monday, hundreds of students of the institution had trooped to the streets of the university town to protest the decision. They made bonfires on major streets, hampering vehicular and human movement. They blocked the main entrance to the institution, thus preventing principal officers, lecturers, workers and some law-abiding students from entering the institution. But for the quick intervention of the police, the action could have led to another round of students versus host community clash, as the rioters attempted to forcefully seize commercial vehicles from drivers.
However, some students escaped death when policemen deployed to quell the riots fired teargas canisters into the midst of the protesting students. This led to a stampede which caused injuries to some students. No death was recorded as at the time of filing this report. Unconfirmed sources said some vehicles and property belonging to workers and the institution were damaged by the rioters.
Our correspondent gathered that appeals by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Mohammed Abdulkadri and the Ijebu Area Commander, Usman Alabi, were rebuffed by the protesting students who demanded that the OOU management should rescind the decision to bar them from the examinations.
The institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Saburi Adesanya, later told newsmen that the regularisation process was in line with Federal Government directive through the National Universities Commission, which requested all the universities in the country to provide a comprehensive student audit within the next six weeks.
Adesanya added that the only way to achieve this was to compile the list of bonafide student, who have been duly registered through payment of school fees.
“The protesting students are those who failed to meet the deadline of Friday, May 17, to comply with the instruction. The deadline has, before now, been shifted for more than three times to allow them complete their registration which some of them refused to do,” he said.
The Vice-President, OOU Students’ Union Government, Ajayi Oyindamola, said they had been discussing with the institution’s management in the past three months for an extension of the deadline for regularisation of records.
Ajayi said although the students acknowledged the steps taken so far by the institution’s management regarding the issue, the closure of the school portal for payment and generation of receipt made things difficult for them.
She added that the SUG even pleaded on behalf of the affected students who have not paid their school fees for the 2010/2011, 2011/2012,and 2012/2013 academic sessions for more extension due to the present economic situation in the country, but this did not go down well with the school management.
The vice-president confirmed that some of the students had spent between four and six years or more in the institution as a result of their inability to pay their tuition fees.
She confirmed that though the protest was disorderly, no student was shot by the police.
The police boss, Abdulkadri, however, confirmed that 10 suspected rioters had been arrested, while two buses had been seized from the students.
The students who were chased away from the scene of the protest later regrouped inside the Ago-Iwoye town and made bonfire along major streets, disrupting vehicular movement.
The state government said it was in support of the university management because it had warned all students who have not completed the registration formalities or fully paid their school fees to stay away from the university.
“We have compelled the university authorities to postpone the Harmattan semester examination three times in the past to allow all students to regularise their records,” the SSG who spoke on behalf of the government said.
He noted that having given the students enough time to resolve all outstanding issues surrounding their studentship and qualification to sit for the examination, it would support any action taken against those caught while participating in the protest.
-- Punch
March 24, 2014, 02:05:18 PM