"March/April 1978. The Minister for Education, Col Ahmadu Ali under the Obasanjo Military administration, had just announced that the Federal government of Nigeria intended to increase the cost of feeding for University and other tertiary institutions’ students. At the time also, students pay about 98 Naira per year to secure accommodation on campus. The room is shared with one or two or three other students, depending on the size of the room. Postgraduate students often have a room to themselves. Previously, the cost of eating at the institutions’ cafeterias was as follows: Breakfast, 10 Kobo; Lunch, 20 Kobo and Dinner, 20 Kobo, making 50 Kobo in total to get a full three-square meal a day at our institutions of higher learning in those days. Now Minister Ali wanted to increase it as thus: 20 Kobo for breakfast and 25 Kobo each for lunch and dinner, making a total of 70 Kobo per day. The National Unions of Students tried to negotiate with the government but Obasanjo’s government was adamant, and later talks broke down. The students took to the streets in protest shouting “Ali Must Go”. The protests, I believed started at the Universities of Ibadan, Lagos and Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and spread to others, including Ibadan Polytechnic, and most other tertiary institutions in the South West and Bendel State. The people of Lagos had risen. And there were people on the Ikorodu Road engaging the Nigeria Police Force in battle. What was amazing was that some policemen actually joined the people; all shouting “Ali must go”. It seemed at the time to be the beginning of a popular revolt. As we later learnt, the Obasanjo regime was much shaken, very shaken indeed. I think that was the first time a military government in Nigeria was ever so shaken. Col. Ali was later removed as Minister for Education and certain reforms were announced. A sad note: my best friend, classmate and roommate, Matthew Imoisili, studying Soil Science and with only a year to go (and a cousin of the renowned and intrepid journalist, Sonola Olumhense) having to pack his bags and headed for Lagos as a result of the closure, died in a motor accident on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. I regard him as a victim of the “Ali must go” students demonstration of 1978. Looking back, and comparing to the present day, I think of how much students of this era now use to eat everyday. The cafeterias no longer exist on the campuses. In our days, breakfast of 20 kobo consist of your choice of bread, toasted or not, all kind of eggs, pancakes, all kinds of cereals, oats, your choice of coffee or tea, and fruits. Lunch and dinner has a choice of every Nigerian food you can think of (Eba, Amala, Pounded Yam, semo, rice and beans, rice and dodo), with your choice of stew, peppered or pepper-less (vegetable, okro, ogbono rich with crayfish, stockfish and cooked the real Igbo way, edikaikan, ewedu, gbegiri, etc) and then you have a choice of desserts in ice cream, jelly and cakes) On Sunday lunch time, there is additional choice of Jollof or fried rice with half a chicken as well as curry or green beans soup. All for 20 kobo, and we were complaining when it was unsubsidised to 25 Kobo. People from outside the university community even used to come and have their meals in our cafeterias then. All Halls of Residence had their own cafeterias. Thank you Lord, but I cry for the current generation of Nigerian students. They are studying under very hard conditions. So it is disheartening to hear that Nigerians are now sending their children to Universities in Ghana to get a better education. I remember that our universities in Nigeria used to attract hundreds of foreign students. A credit to Obasanjo was his large scale allowance and sponsorship of thousands of Zimbabweans and South Africans to study in Nigeria in the 70s, as part of Nigeria’s fore-front fight against apartheid. There were university students exchange programs with other West African universities, especially with Ghanaian universities. I used to take in Ghanaian students from the University of Legon into my room every year when they visit the University of Ibadan on educational and sports exchanges and trips lasting up to two weeks at times. In those days, Ghanaians, Sierra Leoneans and Liberians thought Nigeria was a replica of the United States of America. Even in those days, it was like we were having fun studying, as a matter of fact, I have to admit it was fun studying in Nigeria in those days. There was the Federal Government Loan of 1500 Naira per year (nobody ever pays it back because the Government never chase us for it); then the states’ bursaries (I remember the Bendel State Government used to pay each of its students in higher institutions 200Naira per year, the highest rate in the country at the time); and the states’ scholarships. Some states in the East used to charter buses to drop and pick their students to and from their states in those days. The various clubs used to charter the University buses to go on trips to visit or party with other clubs in other universities around the country. As a member (Comrad) of the Kegites Club of the University of Ibadan, I went on trips with hired University of Ibadan luxury buses supplied with drivers to “gyrate” with other Palm Wine Drinkards clubs (“Iliyas”) at the Universities of Ife, Lagos, Ilorin, Benin, Port Harcourt, Nsukka, Jos, and even Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, as well as the Polytechnic, Ibadan, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos; Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and School of Agriculture, Akure, etc. As I am writing, I am shaking my head in wonder and smiling at the reminiscence. I made life-long friends just interacting with other Nigerians through the many other components of formal education, while at the same time enjoying a qualitative education, mostly driven by excellent Nigerian teachers. Unfortunately, my smiles and happiness are short-lived when I wake up to the reality that some idiots have ruined Nigeria for us such that current and future generations may never realise that Nigeria had been “good” before. It was not always like this. Unfortunately, we all have to bear the blame." Akintokunbo A Adejumo via Yomi Amoo
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:52:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015