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.
Barrister Taiwo Oluwasegun Adeoluwa
Secretary to State Government
Monday, 25 August, 2014.

*OOU Headlines*
Damilola Adelesi-PRINCE
-Amosun orders immediate Shutdown of OOU
campuses
•Deploys massive law enforcement agencies
-Police PRO debunk arrest order rumours of
OOU Student Union leaders
•says nobody is arresting union leaders
•It is far from reality -Socialist
-OOU Students frown at Ogun Commissioner for
Education's comment on radio
-OOU releases Post-Utme results
-'I still feel the pain from the canister shot
wound I had in last protest' -Oluayan1
-OOUITES declare war on Amosun's
administration
-Influx of Policemen and Military barricades
Ago-iwoye borders
-CDHR calls on Students not to forsake the
struggle
-School Shutdown stalls commencement of
VC's challenge cup, SRC election, Performing
arts induction, others.
-Amosun is surrounded by his enemies called
advisers -Anonymous Student
-Amosun is sacrificing our education for his
selfish 2015 Gubernatorial ambition election -
PRINCE
•Might divert the 2.6billion to be used on the
school fee reduction to 2015 Elections
-SMSSA's Social Director, Debolex plans big for
Ace party
-OOUSUG Presidential aspirants list hits five