OOU CLOSURE: PAINFUL BUT INEVITABLE DECISION

In line with The Mission to Rebuild Ogun State as contained in the Five- Cardinal Programme of Senator Ibikunle Amosun Administration, education sector has continued to enjoy topmost priority. It is in the light of this that we are constrained to issue this public statement with regards to certain developments at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU).
Situation at Inception:

At the inception of this Administration on 29 May, 2011, we were confronted with a rather grim state in our Education Sector, with most of the State’s Tertiary Institutions being bad shadows of a once glorious past. Indeed, they had become embarrassment to the fond memories of those illustrious sons after whom some of them have been named.

Academic activities had been grounded to a halt in most of the institutions as some of them were closed as a result of strikes and other prevalent inclement environment. There were backlogs of subventions, running into an average of eleven (11) months, owed the schools by the previous Administration, resulting in unpaid staff salaries. To say the staff were demoralised was to state the obvious.
Academic traditions and ethos had been jettisoned, academic calendars were in abeyance and even students were ostensibly progressing from one level to the other without completing the requirements of previous levels, including payment of school fees.
The decay in our tertiary institutions was exemplified by the failure of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) to hold convocation ceremonies for eight ( straight years our predecessors were in the office. It was also disheartening that rather than serve as purveyors of knowledge and enlightenment, our tertiary institutions had become dens of cultism.
Our Interventions:

It was obvious that some urgent and far-reaching interventions were required. Consequently, after wide consultations with stakeholders, the government set up Visitation Panels for our two Universities (Olabisi Onabanjo University and Tai Solarin University of Education) and Fact - Finding Panels for the other eight tertiary institutions.
The panels, after painstaking and diligent engagement of stakeholders and deliberations, submitted their reports that confirmed the ugly state of affairs - that was already in the public domain - in the respective institution and unearthed even deeper rot in the system. The Government subsequently set up another committee to study all the reports of the panels in order to have an all-encompassing appreciation of the issues and provide a holistic solution to what were certainly systemic problems.
Among others, the Committee identified paucity of funding in the face of dwindling government revenue and competing needs, proliferation of schools and programmes with attendant duplication of overheads, deviation from the core objectives for the establishment of some of the schools, and leadership challenges. In the main, the Committee recommended streamlining of programmes and courses, mergers of some of the institutions, and strengthening of the management.
The government subjected the Consolidated Report to wider and intense consultation and the feedbacks received from critical stakeholders indicated a preference for the retention of the institutions. The preference, propelled more by emotive rather than rational reasons, run counter to the grains of the reality on ground. Nonetheless, in deference to this position, the government accepted to keep all the schools and remained committed to confront the challenge of rejuvenating them, the financial constraint notwithstanding.
In furtherance of this commitment, the government commenced immediate payment of the outstanding backlog of subventions, appointed new management teams, constituted the Councils, and increased the subventions to the schools. This Administration currently pays over Six Hundred (N600M) monthly as subventions to the State’s tertiary institutions.
Indeed, our commitment to the Education sector is manifest in the over N160B we have invested in the last three years. Yet, in fulfillment of our electoral promise and to ensure that our tertiary students further benefit directly from our interventions in the education sector, we implemented additional 10% reduction in tuitions and fees payable in all our schools. This first reduction, which was done at the inception of our Administration in 2011, was in addition to the 50% reduction announced in the twilight of the previous Administration, to pre-empt our electoral promise to reduce fees.
Government’s Gesture, Agitation by a Few and Our Response:

The current agitation for reduction in school fees by students of Ogun State tertiary schools has been ostensibly fuelled by the recent reduction in the fees payable at Lagos State University (LASU) by the Lagos State Government.
Despite the marked differences between the situation in Lagos and Ogun States, the government further demonstrated its commitment to the wellbeing of our students by proactively reducing the fees payable in Ogun State schools, starting from 2014 / 2015 session. The reductions varied with the highest being 61%. These gestures were greeted with applause and appreciation by the generality of the students in all the ten (10) State’s tertiary institutions, except the Olabisi Onabanjo University where a section of the students, clearly in minority, raised two issues. These were the commencement session and the cap on the amount these dissenting minority would rather like to dictate to the government. It was curious that it was only after the government’s gestures that the few OOU students devised these two issues as red herring to perpetrate what is increasingly becoming clearer as a well-choreographed and externally influenced agitation by the few.
The few OOU students wanted the commencement to be backdated to 2013 / 2014 session with N50,000 as the maximum amount for all courses and all students. To provide an underpinning for their argument, they cited Lagos State as a reference.
In order to clothe their agitation with some toga of credibility, the few OOU students embarked on a futile mission to coopt the generality of the OOU students, students of the other nine (9) tertiary institutions and some officers of Non-Governmental Organisations to join their politically – motivated agenda. These efforts have been rebuffed by the students of the other institutions and other stakeholders.
Nonetheless, the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun FCA, met a week ago with the representatives of the OOU students in his office and later addressed them and their other colleagues. He thereafter set up a committee (comprising government representatives and representatives of the Students’ Unions of the ten institutions) to determine what was peculiar (if any) about OOU with regards to the government’s gesture and recommend how best to address it.
In the course of the committee’s deliberations, the OOU Students representatives could not make a convincing argument while the commencement of the new fees should be backdated to 2013 / 2014, their only premise being that, due to the long ASUU strike, the 2013 / 2014 academic session is still on till October and therefore should qualify them for a refund of the fees already paid. As absurd as this request is, disruption of academic calendar is not peculiar to only OOU. Indeed, there are other institutions (within and outside Ogun State) whose 2013 / 2014 academic sessions still have a few more weeks to go, also due to the general academic staff strikes in the country. OOU can, therefore, not be treated in isolation.
Obviously following a script, the OOU representatives brought up yet another tenuous request: if other schools in the same circumstance were to enjoy backdating of the reduction in fees to 2013 / 2014, then OOU students, regardless of the course of study, would not be prepared to pay any fee higher than the lowest of fees payable in any of the other nine (9) tertiary schools in the state. It is no longer about the commencement session (if other schools will enjoy it) nor about N50,000 highest fees payable. It is now that students of OOU, a university, will want to pay the least of fees payable by students of, for example, College of Health Technology or Tai Solarin College of Education – a preposterous demand.
It was clear to the student representatives of the other nine (9) schools and government representatives on the committee, that the OOU students were looking for every reason, no matter how tenuous, to contrive a crisis.
As mentioned earlier, the situation differs from State to State. For example, Lagos State that these misguided few have continued to cite has five (5) tertiary institutions compared to ten (10) that we have in Ogun State. The same scenario is applicable in both primary and secondary schools sub sector – we have more primary and secondary schools in Ogun State than Lagos State. While we are proud of this - because this is in line with our heritage as the cradle of education in Nigeria – but we are modest enough to acknowledge that we do not have access to the same resources as Lagos. Indeed, the internally generated revenue of Lagos, the nation’s economic hub, is 400% more than our own.
It will therefore be ridiculous for anyone to demand for parity in school fees with Lagos just as it will be unrealistic for a resident of Lagos to demand that the government should bring down the average cost of living in Lagos to be in parity to what is obtainable in Ogun State.
OOU is Closed:

While the discussion were still on in the committee, security reports have confirmed that the few students who are bent on fomenting trouble have started mobilising to disrupt the peace and security of the state and unleash mayhem. The vast majority of OOU students are opposed to this plan and have also vowed to resist these few “professional” students, being motivated from without, to portray them as being unreasonable and unappreciative.
Besides, the students from the other nine (9) students were also preparing to demonstrate their acceptance of the new fees and express opposition to any preferential treatment for OOU.
There is certainly an imminent and ominous threat to the peace and security of the state and lives of our students will be endangered in any ensuing conflicts between opposing groups.
In the circumstance, the government has no alternative but to take a firm decision in the overall interest of all. Consequently, the government has directed the Council of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) to immediately close down the institution till further notice.
Parents are hereby advised to make immediate arrangements for their wards to vacate the school premises and stay away henceforth from the institution.
This is a painful but an inevitable decision and the government solicits for the understanding and cooperation of all in this regard. It is painful because this forced closure is a temporary pause in our determined march to reposition our tertiary institutions and OOU in particular. OOU had a backlog of convocation for eight academic sessions which our Administration cleared in 2012 and we have continued to ensure that the convocation is held regularly and annually, as scheduled. It is further painful that the new Council and Management Team, who have demonstrated uncommon zeal and dedication since their inauguration, will have their repositioning programme slowed down.
But this is temporary. The Council has been directed to review the situation from time to time and advise the government accordingly. When the government is satisfied that the atmosphere is conducive for teaching, learning and research, the school will be re-opened.
In the meantime and for the avoidance of doubt, all students should vacate and stay away from all the campuses of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) till further notice.