Strange gifts at UNAD
Muyiwa Akande

On Thursday, August 20, 2009, a news story was published in The Nation newspaper with the caption: UNAD Part Time Programmes Donate Six Cars. In the story, it was reported that the Part Time Programmes Unit of the University of Ado Ekiti in conjunction with the students donated six Toyota Camry cars for the use of deans of some selected faculties.


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At the commissioning ceremony, according to the report, the institution's Vice Chancellor applauded the rare gesture from the students while he also promised to encourage other units to take a cue from them. The students also promised to extend the gesture to other lecturers later.

My first reaction after reading the story was that of commendation for a generous and compassionate set of students trying to meet a glaring need in their school. I don't think anybody will begrudge the students, lecturers and the school for this initiative.

But on deeper thought, I sensed danger due to the people involved and negative peculiarity that has been the lot of the nation's educational system.

The students that contributed the money for the cars are part-time students. It is a widespread belief that most part-time students are those that don't possess the requisite academic requirements to secure admission through the university matriculation body, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Part-time programmes, it is believed, provides a soft landing for them.

With our higher institutions of learning replete with stories of desperate students adopting unorthodox methods of circumventing the academic integrity of grades and certificates, there is the likelihood that the students might be accused of gross inducement.

The calibre of the beneficiaries also calls for stringent scrutiny. These are lecturers, who probably teach them some courses, or have the power to influence the academic fortune of the students, that contributed the money for the cars. The issue of integrity and morality comes into focus. I wonder how the beneficiary-lecturers will have the moral justification to fail any of their "benefactors". Lecturers are not supposed to receive immoral gifts that have the tendency to make them compromise expected standards.

One of the sterling qualities that should stand out teachers at all levels of education is that of integrity. But unfortunately, this is not the case. Many lecturers are known to collect gratifications from male students while their female counterparts pay in "kind" in exchange for marks.

The impact of this cheap attitude has left the country with an army of unemployable graduates. Employers across the country are going through hell due to the disappointing output of these half-baked graduates while the outside world treat certificates awarded by our universities with utter disdain.

Another thing that I find fascinating and disappointing is the attitude of the school administration as represented by the Vice Chancellor. Instead of exercising caution and discretion, he, not only graciously commissioned the cars, but also threw a reckless challenge at others to toe this irresponsible line. This is nothing but official complicity in bringing education into disrepute.

It is quite unfortunate and unbelievable that these students could raise several millions of naira to purchase these cars while every genuine attempt to increase school fees has always been met with stiff, and at times, violent resistance. Only God knows the extent that the students have gone in a bid to get the money. Many of our university campuses are hotbeds of various scams while many of the female undergraduates are not in anyway better than prostitutes. Who knows whether proceeds from these illicit "ventures" formed part of the money contributed for the cars' purchase?

The parents of these students, in my own view, are also culpable. I am convinced that some of them would have provided their children's contribution for the purchase. It is depressing when parents, who are ought to be moral standard bearers to their children, also aid and abet illegalities. What a shame. Anyway, many parents register their children at examination special centres in a bid to secure undeserved success.

In order to redeem the image of all the parties involved, especially the school and the beneficiaries, I think it is proper if the cars are returned immediately while efforts should be made to probe the rationale behind it. This could be just one manifestation of a monumental magnitude of decay ravaging the system.

I also believe the National Universities Commission (NUC) should improve its monitoring of the country's institutions in order to expose the antics of these academic saboteurs. NUC should demand explanations from the school's VC on the incident.

Without any doubt, I believe that the decay in the country's educational sector can be addressed only when "symptoms" like the one in UNAD are properly addressed and the guilty brought to book.

-Muyiwa Akande

Mediacraft Associates Limited, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos

All of them will graduate with first class. Just watch out. Ekiti for sure