OOU STUDENTS PROTEST: THE WRONG WAY TO GO! How sensible is it for OOU students to demand that their case should be treated differently from others when the institution is a fragment of the body of schools in the State? It is my candid view that, in the instance when a holistic consideration of tuition fees reduction is effected, the decision must be generalized. The OOU student body got it wrong to state that some schools were paying far below what obtains at OOU, hence the basis of their agitation. Are the schools availed the same facilities? Is the salary structure of these schools the same? The answer simply is that OOU enjoys more than any other institution in the State in terms of facilities and the financial demand of the school is huge, so it is even magnanimous on the part of the state Government to afford OOU students the same reduction with students from other schools. Examining the approach adopted by the student body and x-raying the real essence of the protest, one might be forced to conclude that it was sponsored, politically or not, or that the student-body does not understand the workings of unionism. It is a well-known philosophy in unionism to uphold the principle of 3Cs which means: Consultation, Consolidation and Confrontation to tackle issues constructively. Not until the first two options are extensively exhausted, resorting to the third option certainly is not the way to go for a union that knows its onions. It still dazzles me to read through submissions of various persons that the students are justified to protest in such a barbaric manner. I do not have anything against protest but the approach adopted in this instance is certainly uncalled for. The student union claimed they have presented their case to the State Government few months back and expected reduction to go as low as N50,000 which may be justified but how on earth would you just hit the road protesting when you heard that reduction has been effected. The ideal thing to do in that instance is to communicate your non-acceptance to the government through a legitimate means and not to resort to vandalism. What baffles me most in the statement released by the union is the assertion made by the student-body that before we left Ago-Iwoye, we got wind that the S.A to Governor Amosun on Student Matters, Comrade Clement Olusegun had mobilized cultists to attack us......our students who were caught unaware mobilized back and fought the attackers......left some of our students receiving treatments and one of theirs in a coma. Thereafter, they retreated The above quote extracted from the statement released by the student-body is fraught with inconsistencies and show that the purpose of the protest, or its organizers, could be described as being political. Why would you risk several lives of students when you had gotten the information that you will be attacked by organized cultists, as you claimed, yet you went ahead? Assuming that you decided to confront the menace as expected of a virile student union, why claim that your students were unaware of the impending attack? Do you also mean that the union is more armed to conquer the cultists? The questions are endless. I am moderately versed in student activism and hereby come to the conclusion that the mission was actually sponsored or that the student union got the process wrong. Whichever it is, the protest is certainly not the way to go!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 11:02:25 +0000
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