Protesting Poor Standards in the Education Sector as Students of University of Ibadan take their grievances to the streets
Posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 at 4:43 AMBy Adeola Adeyemo
As the country groans in silence under the epileptic power supply experienced all year round across every state, every community; students of University of Ibadan, Oyo state have decided not to follow the same path.
The students took to the streets of Ibadan yesterday, protesting the epileptic power supply from both the PHCN and the University maintenance section.
Here’s how Vanguard News reported it:
Pandemonium this morning erupted at the Nigeria’s premier university – the University of Ibadan, as students took to the streets within the university to register their grievances and dissatisfaction over the epileptic power supply both from the PHCN and the university maintenance section.
The protest led by the newly inducted Students’ Union Executives started around 7am resulting to the closure of the institution’s main gate and lecture halls.
The protesters also barricaded the Sango-Ojoo road opposite the varsity main gate.
Motorists and other road users had to take alternative routes along Agbowo and Bodija road to their different destinations.
Meanwhile, anti-riot policemen and soldiers have been deployed outside the varsity main gate and on the Sango-Ojoo road to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
Notice how the news report said ‘Pandemonium’. For the students to have resorted to this action, it must have been really, really bad.
I remember reading in the news some time ago that students of Lagos University Teaching Hospital were planning a similar action to protest poor water supply in their hostels. Sad.
If as University students, basic amenities such as electricity and water is lacking, then how will the students study properly and give a good account of themselves during tests and examinations?
It is no news that students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria study under the worst of conditions. Some students still stand to recieve lectures for lack of seats in their lecture halls; and for others – leaking roofs, broken furniture, dirty surroundings is the order of the day.
Most government-owned Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education are fraught with poor infrastructure and little or no maintenance of existing amenties. Hostel conditions are poor and completely non-existent in some institutions, forcing students to search for alternative and often expensive accomodation.
In another recent development, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said that the Federal Government implemented only 10% of the agreement both parties entered into in 2009. While the union hasn’t said anything about a strike action yet, this has already brought some anxiety to the students.
It is about time the Federal Government pays more attention to improving the quality of education in Nigeria. The standard of facilities at the higher institutions no doubt has a direct impact on the outcome of the students academically and morally, and if they are going to be the leaders of tomorrow, more should be done to get them prepared to take up leadership with diligence. Strike actions, epileptic power supply, poor maintenance of basic amenities, insufficient lecture halls, lack of new technology, poor hostel conditions…… is definitely not the way forward.
News Source: Vanguard News
Tags: PHCN, University of Ibadan
Na wa 4 Nigerian Government oo
Dis is 2 bad! 4 a country like Nig. We av dis material, we own it, y do we av 2 use it 2 depress nd provoke ourselves? Wen d president gt his post dis wer wot he promised 2 luk into, bt nw dat is no more in his burget again. May GOD help us in dis country!
It’s very bad for Naija govt. Our leaders are too greedy & selfish. The only way to stop this oppression is God & revolution. Our Education must come alive again
govt pls hear d cry of d pple…
UI? I thought UI is one of the best universities in Nigeria? Then what’s the state of other uni’s?
I daily weep 4 dis country of ours. Everywhere u turn to each day is fraught wit sad stories of a crumbling system. Yet, all our leaders are ever good at is siphoning the nation’s treasury 4 personal gains. Its soooooo sooooo sad. This is a country dat is so blessed wit the resources to make things work. Yet, the so called enemies of progress in d name of leaders no longer av d spitit of patriotisim in them. The rate at which things are going, a massive socio-political wind of change is imminent.
Why is it sooo difficult for the Nigerian Government to take care of its citizen whereas it is so easy for them to gobble trillions of naira?I just taya 4dis country,seriously.
On the next page on this blog is the Living abroad article/documentary, where people are moaning about moving back to Nigeria because it is the greatest country in the world. sarcastic look.
Hehehehe………..@ madman, you are really mad! That’s hilarious
Ban all public officials from sending their children abroad to study! The President, Governor for Each State and Minsiter of Education specifically. Furthermore, their children MUST all attend State Schools! Do this and watch the standard of education rise in Nigeria………………
My heart weeps for the country when I read articles like this. Don’t the leaders of the country realize that the people are a reflection of the type of leadership they have. Investing in the children of the nation, will benefit the country as a whole!! Without proper education, you can’t expect the country to move forward or compete on a global scale. Does Ngozi want to tell me that her bid to be considered as a contender for President of the World Bank would have been taken seriously if she had received her education at a local Nigerian university? Please we need to stop relying on foreign ideals and build ourselves up as a nation and people. The leaders of developed countries do not have two heads, what makes them seem to succeed is the fact that they are accountable to their constituents and own up to their responsibilities. With the amount of ingenuity and brain power we have in Nigeria, we should not be dealing with issues as simple as constant power and water supply in this day and age. Nigeria we must and can do better!!!
@cutie,thats good.i study educational mgt nd i learnt that a country most important productive resource is human capital.this is gotten when a nation invests in human capital,by educating individuals in varios fields in other to make them productive which will therefore boost the economy of the nation
Is dat not were Tolu got scholorship 2 study law? I mean d girl wit the over all best WEAC result & 2nd best n JAMB?
nope. hers is OAU, Ife
How can some one who live abroad want to move to Nigeria with all this sort of depressing news ? Tell me the list goes on, no light, bad road high crime rate, poor education system, child abused and molestation , 419 squard no good jobs for graduate, corruption of the highest order , bad hospital with poor practices , transport system no go area, one man with 300 wives! = HIV the list does not end. Anything you want you need who no who connection people have limited choices
all these are story the solution o the problem
Please i need to know what are the unfavourable and poor conditions in the standard of education in Nigeria