Ilaro Poly: Students, authorities bicker over bum shorts, others

Students of Nigerian tertiary institutions usually give reasons each time they protest against any policy of the authorities of their schools.

This scenario played out last Thursday when students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, in Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State, embarked on a protest.

As early as 7.30am on the fateful day, the institution's Students' Union Government led by Moshood Saheed, mobilised students for the 'struggle' against the management of the school led by the Rector, Olusegun Aluko.

They took over the school gate from the private security guards. No one was allowed into the school and none was allowed out of the place. Crowds of students milled around the Ilaro-Oja Odan Road situated in front of the school. Vehicles were also not allowed into the school.

Saheed told our correspondent during the protest that year one students paid for the 2014/2015 students handbooks at the beginning of the session.

He added that after two months to the end of the session, none of the students had got the handbook which contains guidelines of courses including the regulations for every student of the institution.

The students' union leader also said the union met the authorities on the matter but did not get any encouraging response.

According to him, each of the students paid N1,500 for a copy of the handbook.

Saheed also described Internet access on the campus as nothing to write home about. He alleged that the students do not get value for the N6, 000 each of them paid per year for Internet services.

He said," Each time the union meets with the management on the handbook issue, it keeps assuring us that it is making some amendments to it. It is now two months to the end of the session. Some of the students fell victim of some offences which if they had the handbook, they would not have committed. Also, each of the students paid N6,000 annually for Internet access yet the network is nothing to write home about.''

He further accused a male porter in the institution of entering a female hostel without permission and considered it inappropriate.

However, the rector denied all the allegations levelled against the school authorities, noting that Saheed was only trying to test the will of his administration.

Aluko, an architect, said the protest was uncalled for, claiming that what the students were protesting against was the situation on ground in the school before he became the rector in October.

He explained that the school once published a handbook, containing rules and regulations which covered areas such as dress code, examination malpractice and behaviours in the hostels among others.

Aluko said extracts were distributed to the students who Saheed said paid for the handbooks without getting them. He said the extracts were made pending the arrival of new handbooks.

The rector noted that the students were impatient because the 2014/2015 students' handbooks were delivered to the school by the printer last Friday.

He said, "It is true that we made some amendments to the old handbook, but the printer delivered new copies on Friday. It is only the Ordinary National Diploma I students that are yet to get theirs. All other students have the handbooks. The protest is beyond the handbooks."

He said the president and other members of the union came to him and made some 'mischievous' demands like allowing students to wear whatever they prefer on campus ranging from base ball caps, bum shorts to dark goggles.

According to the rector, the students' union members resisted wearing of identification cards on campus and also demanded to be on the school's Academic Board.

The rector stated, "The leadership of the students' union and other members came to my office, asking the management to allow the students to wear base ball caps, shorts, bum shorts and dark glasses. They also do not want to put on identification tags. They just want to dress anyhow on campus. I do not know which authorities of any higher institution will allow such. The SUG President said I was treating students like secondary school pupils. He even said members of the union should be allowed to be on the school's Academic Board."

He added that Saheed had appeared before the school's disciplinary committee on a number of occasions, received letters of warning and had written an undertaking to be of good behaviour.

The rector, who showed our correspondent a file containing the letters to buttress his point, accused the students' leader of 'loading' 23 students of the institution into a hired 15-seater bus from the school to Ota for a victory party shortly after he emerged the union leader.

He said Saheed's action was against the rules of the school, adding that the vehicle which conveyed the students was involved in an accident which left some of them with injuries.

"In fact, I drove to the spot of the accident to rescue some of the victims and took them to the hospital," he stated.

On the poor Internet access on campus, Aluko explained the school uses the services of two Internet service providers; Glo and MTN.

Besides, Aluko said the school has a full-fledged Information Communication Technology centre where students can make use of Internet services. He, however, did not deny the fact that there had been cases where the services were poor.

The rector also faulted the allegation that a male porter entered a female hostel in the school without approval. He said the male porter was only assisting the chairperson of the hostel who is a woman.

Aluko added, "A woman heads the female hostel, but the man is there to complement her roles. Assuming that the occupants of the hostel see a rat and raised the alarm, the man can assist them to kill it. Moreover, the man is an old man. I believe what the students' union president was capitalising on was a case in which one of the students in the female hostel poured water from the window on the man. And when the man asked the lady what she poured on him, the lady replied that it was urine. The situation led to a disagreement between the lady and the porter. The matter was eventually settled. I learnt that when the union leader heard about the case, he mobilised some people who went after the porter."

But Saheed denied organising any victory party at Ota. He explained that he was in Ota to attend a convention of the Junior Chambers International on the day of the accident, adding that he had not become the president of the SUG then.

He said 21 of them that attended the convention appeared before a disciplinary committee who warned them not to embark on such a trip again without permission from the school authorities.

On their proposal to the school authorities that the students should be allowed to wear base ball caps, shorts, bum shorts and others on campus, he said, "We only said the school authorities should allow students to wear base ball caps, shorts and dark glasses on weekends. And on Wednesdays when we have sports, students should also be allowed to wear sportswear."

Aluko said as a father, he desires the best for the students and the employees of the institution.

He explained that he increased the course content, improved on staff welfare and embarked on infrastructural development of the institution after he became rector.

"Since last October when I became the rector, I have made some achievements. I added six new programmes (courses), which are agricultural engineering, insurance, taxation, library information science and system operation for HND students.

"Apart from this, I regained accreditation for hospitality management and civil engineering. The protest was getting out of hand because hoodlums hijacked it. They even threatened to locate the headquarters of the National Association of Nigerian Students in the school since many institutions were on holiday for the Eid-el-Fitri celebration," he added.

Aluko said he initiated new projects such as the building of a 500-seater auditorium, 250-seater conference centre modelled after Barcelona Artiva, and a studio and workshop for entrepreneurial studies, while the mass communication department was ongoing.

He said, "In addition to all this, we bought a luxury bus for the students to ease their movement from campus to town and from town to campus. I also bought an 18-seater bus for members of staff and five official cars for the Deans of schools."

He said he could not understand why the students would embark on a protest considering his plans for them and the institution as a whole.

Meanwhile, it is not certain when the school will re-open for academic activities. After its emergency meeting on Tuesday, the Academic Board inaugurated a committee to look into the immediate and remote causes of the protest.

According to a statement released on Wednesday by the Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Lasunkanmi Bolaji, all academic activities remained suspended.

The statement read in part: "The Board after exhaustive deliberations set-up a committee to look into the remote and the immediate causes of the uprising and make recommendations to the Academic Board.

"Consequently, the Board decided that: All academic activities remain suspended and students remain on recess until management resolves all issues surrounding the uprising."

Source: punch
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