Analysing Ogun State Government's Press Release on OOU Closure

The Press release issued by the state government on the closure of OOU is filled with lies and half-truths; something that has become a regular occurrence whenever this government is concerned.

It is true that the Ogun state government met OOU in a bad way; a result of the mismanagement and havoc wreaked by the Otunba Gbenga Daniel regime. Under OGD, the university was neglected, funds of cooperative societies were 'borrowed', swallowed and never returned, lecturers were sacked massively and core courses were on the verge of dis-accreditation, tuition fee was jerked up. But then, in 2011 while campaigning, Governor Amosun promised that if he was elected, he would effect a 50% reduction in the fees. Before OGD increased the fees, indigenes of the state were paying 50, 000+ and non-indigenes were paying 70, 000+, after the increment, indigenes started paying 120, 000+ while non-indigenes paid 150, 000+.

Now, after winning the election, Governor Amosun failed to effect that reduction. It was after the Oyeyiola Joel-led OOU SUG agitated and threatened to storm Abeokuta that the Governor appeased the students by implementing a 10% reduction. The reason why students agreed to the 10% reduction then was that he appealed that he was 'rebuilding' the state owing to the reign of terror and mismanagement unleashed by the OGD government. He however promised to fully implement the 50% reduction. Till date, he has failed to do that.

Like his predecessor, Governor Ibikunle Amosun has neglected the university in terms of funding and infrastructural development. The tradition in OOU is that the State will give the university 70% funding while the university will generate the remaining 30% money needed for the running and development of the university. But Governor Amosun has failed woefully in this regard. He claimed that his government pays 600 million to OOU monthly as subvention. What a lie! OOU's wage bill is 250 million. Where then did he pay 600 million? The accreditation panel that visited OOU recently dis-accredited some core courses in the university due to the state of infrastructural decay in OOU. The recent nfrastructural developments in OOU are due to the interventions of ETF and as a result of the funding released by the FG which was a result of ASUU's last struggle.

Let it be on record that out of the ten (10) tertiary institutions in Ogun state, OOU is the only one that has been agitating for a reduction in fees. The reason is that other schools pay below 100, 000 with the exception of TASUED that pays slightly above 100, 000. OOU pays as high as 290, 000. The OOU SUG started agitations for a reduction about 3 months ago. The reason is that the number of students that applied for leave of absence (dropped out) this year alone triples that of the last 2 years. In the faculty of science alone, more than 90 students dropped out because they couldn't afford the astronomical fees. Other schools kept mute because they pay peanuts.

Announcing a reduction in the fees of all tertiary institutions therefore is a political move. While we do not care about the political undertone of the reduction, we care that the announced reduction does not meet our demands and even more, that it wouldn't be implemented this session, but next session; after the 2015 elections. Who wants to trust this government again? It becomes a case of fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

The state government said Lagos state government could afford to reduce the fees to 25, 000 because their IGR is more than ours in Ogun state. Let us not forget that as worse as we all say OGD's regime was, for 7 of the 8 years he spent in power, OOU didn't pay more than 100, 000. It was when he was nearing the end of his 7th year when he was showing his evil colours and was at the height of his power drunkenness that he jerked up the fees. How did he manage to run OOU for those 6 years with OOU students paying 50, 000 despite our IGR? Governor Amosun and his cronies should stop looking for hiding places because there is none.

The lockdown of OOU only goes to show a lack of focus and responsibility on the part of this state government. Rather than sit up and respond to the demands; they are bent on spreading propaganda and using students to fight students. They have claimed we are being sponsored by opposition. If that is true, we ask them to publish the names of the sponsors, the student leaders involved and the evidence. If they are convinced that our cause and demands are political, let the Governor announce the reduction we want and implement it this session and see if we will still talk or protest. Until they can do that, let them tuck in their lips.

We expect all the propaganda; you can't fight government and expect them to sit back and relax. They will fight back with their might. We are determined however to fight this till we win. We are convinced of the genuineness of our course and our students have an unbreakable belief in us, they have refused to travel home in spite of government's threats. Our students are prepared to fight this no matter how long it takes.

We are also aware that they are planning to bring together some sponsored 'professional parents' in a Parents Teachers Meeting and show them on OGTV. The 'parents' will tell you that they are happy with Governor Amosun's work and praise him for the good work. The parents will denounce the protesting students as political agents and sponsored people claiming their children are not there. Fellow Nigerians, my mother is yet to get her own invitation to the meeting. None of our mothers are being invited. The state government is manufacturing mothers who are not ours to discredit this. They are not our parents, we do not know them. When they show them, do not believe them. It can only be shown on OGTV, a station renowned for falsehood and lies.

We are not one of those schools that will go and prostrate to anybody to reopen our school. Truth is on our side, we are convinced of the correctness of our cause and as such will fight the government with everything we have until we achieve the reduction and achieve it this year.

We are not sponsored! We are genuine students fighting a genuine cause. Let the public beware and refuse to swallow the lies of this government.

James Ogunjimi
CDHR Coordinatorr

Do you people realise that over 90 % of the people are not university students or lecturers ?
Do you realise that money expended somewhere is money denied in other sectors and vice versa.
Do you realise that good quality education is not cheap ,and you cannot be complaining about the bad state of education ,and at the same time ,be arguing about 250,000 naira school fees ?
Why is it that we only hear from folks when you want to blackmail the government ?we never see you folks when serious state or national issues are involved .
If you guys are truly from a citadel of learning
And you want to be taken seriously ,the lecturers and students can make alternative budget on how much should be allocated to the different sector of the economy .
But my verdict is that the public service of that country has become self serving .it does not serve the people anymore but itself. .you put forward arguments without strong basis for those arguments .

oduastates: Do you people realise that over 90 % of the people are not university students or lecturers ?
Do you realise that money expended somewhere is money denied in other sectors and vice versa.
Do you realise that good quality education is not cheap ,and you cannot be complaining about the bad state of education ,and at the same time ,be arguing about 250,000 naira school fees ?
Why is it that we only hear from folks when you want to blackmail the government ?we never see you folks when serious state or national issues are involved .
If you guys are truly from a citadel of learning
And you want to be taken seriously ,the lecturers and students can make alternative budget on how many should be allocated to the different sector of the economy .
But my verdict is that the public service of that country has become self serving .it does not serve the people anymore but itself. .you put forward arguments without proof.

.
God bless you for the comprehensive clarification! Maybe the SUG Nairaland Rep will hear. The question is, who feels the impact of the closure, governor or students?

oduastates: Do you people realise that over 90 % of the people are not university students or lecturers ?
Do you realise that money expended somewhere is money denied in other sectors and vice versa.
Do you realise that good quality education is not cheap ,and you cannot be complaining about the bad state of education ,and at the same time ,be arguing about 250,000 naira school fees ?
Why is it that we only hear from folks when you want to blackmail the government ?we never see you folks when serious state or national issues are involved .
If you guys are truly from a citadel of learning
And you want to be taken seriously ,the lecturers and students can make alternative budget on how many should be allocated to the different sector of the economy .
But my verdict is that the public service of that country has become self serving .it does not serve the people anymore but itself. .you put forward arguments without proof.

Do you realize that we've been paying over 200K and the quality of education is still gibberish?
Do you realize that we've been neglected for the past 3 years b4 the governor announced his election-induced reduction.
Do you realize that the governor is an accountant? So your suggestion on alternative budget doesn't hold water. If there's a will, there's a way. This has governed man's existence for a long time.

We don't want to blackmail the government, I don't know where you manufactured that from. Neither are been used by any party. I was playing football that Wednesday evening when SUG came to rally for donations to transport students to Abeokuta for the protest. I later learnt that market women at isale-oko part of sagamu raised over 5,000 naira for us. Take a trip there and ask. If we were sponsored, we'd not need such stress and the protest that saw 3,000 people at Abk would have seen about 10,000 people. It's easier to believe the govt propaganda tho, so I don't blame anyone. Buh looking from the wide angle, he hasn't handled this crisis well. I agree SUG might have been childish buh they've refused to shift grounds. The governor has deceived us countless times after so much neglect.

He claimed he didn't know we were in our first semester and pleaded for one week to effect the reduction.. Now, he said some prattle things on OGTV yesterday..

I'm not happy to see that even the public has failed to identify with our plights in this struggle. Well, that's who we are. I'm sure you hypocrites would have done worse if you were in our shoes.

adeoladrg:

Do you realize that we've been paying over 200K and the quality of education is still gibberish?
Do you realize that we've been neglected for the past 3 years b4 the governor announced his election-induced reduction.
Do you realize that the governor is an accountant? So your suggestion on alternative budget doesn't hold water. If there's a will, there's a way. This has governed man's existence for a long time.

We don't want to blackmail the government, I don't know where you manufactured that from. Neither are been used by any party. I was playing football that Wednesday evening when SUG came to rally for donations to transport students to Abeokuta for the protest. I later learnt that market women at isale-oko part of sagamu raised over 5,000 naira for us. Take a trip there and ask. If we were sponsored, we'd not need such stress and the protest that saw 3,000 people at Abk would have seen about 10,000 people. It's easier to believe the govt propaganda tho, so I don't blame anyone. Buh looking from the wide angle, he hasn't handled this crisis well. I agree SUG might have been childish buh they've refused to shift grounds. The governor has deceived us countless times after so much neglect.

He claimed he didn't know we were in our first semester and pleaded for one week to effect the reduction.. Now, he said some prattle things on OGTV yesterday..

I'm not happy to see that even the public has failed to identify with our plights in this struggle. Well, that's who we are. I'm sure you hypocrites would have done worse if you were in our shoes.

permit me to ask please do you pay SUG fee, if yes why would your SUG rally round to raise funds for his own people to travel to the state capital by road, or did you all travel to the state capital by air.
if your SUG cant manage you all what more would you expect?

@OP, this battle is a lost one. Amosun will lose nothing by closing down the school, you students will. Concerning election, only OOU students cannot rock his boat, at least he did not add to your fees, OGD did.

binie:

permit me to ask please do you pay SUG fee, if yes why would your SUG rally round to raise funds for his own people to travel to the state capital by road, or did you all travel to the state capital by air.
if your SUG cant manage you all what more would you expect?

Our sagamu campus consists of medical and pharmacy students.. It's different from the main campus at Ago iwoye. We don't pay SUG fee.