The Vice-Chancellor, Ekiti State University, Prof Edward Olanipekun, tells ABIODUN NEJO that incessant strikes in public universities in the country have far-reaching consequences hence the need to toe the path that will rescue the ivory towers from collapse
You recently supported the quest for an EKSU alumnus to become Ekiti State Governor. Why is the school so much in need of one?
As you are aware, we celebrated our 40 years in March and it may interest you that we have had great alumni doing exceedingly well in their various fields of endeavour, but we have never had the opportunity of having one alumnus to have been put forward as a governorship candidate of a political party. Not only that, this great alumnus, Biodun Oyebanji, has been supporting the university on all fronts, even when he never knew he would be put forward as an aspirant or later candidate of a political party. Not only that, he actually worked as a lecturer for some years in this university before he decided to do other things. When he was not here, he consistently identified with the university and he has been supporting the university. That was why as a university, we needed to support him and to God be the glory, our prayers were answered. Come October 16, he would be sworn in as the Governor of Ekiti State and will then become the Visitor to his alma mater.
What are your expectations from him?
He has started well. As I speak, there is a committee in place that is trying to identify and articulate the challenges confronting the university and also proffering practical and visible solutions and our governor-elect is aware of the committee and he is even waiting for the report. He has assured the committee that he would consider the report and do the needful. I have been in this system for close to 31 years now and it has never happened for there to be a committee with special attention on this university. It is because we are having an alumnus coming on board as a governor, by the grace of God, that we can have this kind of committee. There will be so many things in that report which I don’t want to pre-empt. Our expectations are high because we have never had it so good, having one of us as the Visitor. He has passion for this university, he has love for this university and by extension, his wife also worked in this university. We know that the incoming governor will consolidate on the achievements of our incumbent governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi. Most of the challenges currently confronting the university, I want to believe strongly, will be attended to.
What are these challenges?
The major one has to do with funding. It is not as if we are oblivious of the precarious global financial situation, which trickles down to the level of the state. We are also aware government cannot fund education alone, but we know that we have to start from somewhere. As management, we have also put in place some measures to shore up our revenue base, but it is not immediately that some of what we have put in place will begin to materialise. We want a situation whereby the subvention being given to the university is jerked up, that will enable us to meet most of our obligations. Of course, we also want interventions in other areas – capital votes, patronage, i.e. trying to strengthen the town and gown relation; we have a vast pool of experienced and brilliant staff here who can do a lot of things for government. We don’t want a situation whereby some of our members here would not be approached to do some things for government when they have the capacity to do so. Again, we can even have a consortium, we want the incoming government to partner the university in different areas so that we can strengthen the town and gown relationship.
There have been a series of general strikes in the last three years that you have been in office, how have these strikes affected your school?
There is no institution that would be happy or go to town whenever the staff members are on strike because there are a lot of far-reaching consequences of that strike. In 2020, there was lockdown in addition. The 2019/2020 academic session in our university here, which ordinarily should have lasted for eight months, lasted for close to 22 months. The resources that ordinarily should have been used for 12 months were used for 22 months. There was no way you could ask the students who had already paid for a session which is still running to come and pay additional. The effect of strikes on the system is not palatable and it is something that we should possibly avoid. That is why now we don’t really have foreign students coming particularly to attend public universities in Nigeria. When I was in the university about 40 years ago, in my class, there were students from all over the world. Go to most of the universities now, how many foreign students do we have? It is infinitesimal. Students will tell you they don’t know when they will graduate if they should come around. It is not as if I am trying to say that strike embarked upon by university unions is condemnable, strike is a recognised and legitimate weapon to press home the demands of any union, but again, we also have to be a little bit circumspect. To me, it should be the last thing that we should do because the consequences on the system are not palatable for both the students and the staff. It is something that, if possible, should be avoided through dialogue. It is not also in all situations that one can get all the requests; so, there should be the spirit of give and take for the sake of the system and in the interest of the students.
The EKSU ASUU is saying that there would still be problem in your school after the general strike because of local issues. What are you doing to address the issues?
We will continue to interface with all the staff unions with regard to their agitations. As soon as they put on the table some of those requests, we will engage them; we will have a dialogue and then see how we can get some of the requests met. We are aware of some of those demands, which are quite germane, but what I need to say is that we need to appeal to them not to block the sources of revenue inflow to the university. It is only when the resources are there and probably the management is unwilling to meet the requests that they can declare a trade dispute, nobody is happy with the fact that some of these unremitted deductions have accumulated. I will plead that they should allow the system to run so that the revenue can continue to flow in. I want to assure them that once the resources are there, we will begin to address their requests. They have demonstrated tremendous understanding in the past and I still want to appeal to them to allow the academic calendar to be implemented without unnecessary truncations. We are in September 2022, we have not completed the second semester of 2020/21 session. We were about starting the second semester of 2020/21 when the strike was declared in February 2022. We have admitted some students for 2021/22, who just resumed and started their screening and registration some days ago. Any moment from now, we will kick-start 2022/2023 admission exercise; we have received the template.
But how do you intend to run the session for the students without the academic staff?
We are going to engage the academic staff here and I also know that they would not want to destroy this system. I know that they are major stakeholders and they love the system. Most of them have paid their dues. I am optimistic that they would listen to the management and they would allow the academic activities to resume fully so that the funds would be there. If the funds are not there, there is nothing anybody can do.
What is your take on the dichotomy between state and federal universities, especially as it was amplified recently by the ASUU president and what is your reaction to his comments on state universities?
EKSU had reacted to the ASUU president’s comment and our reaction was given the widest publicity. It was not something one would have expected the ASUU president to have said and I am also aware that quite a number of other universities, even the committee of pro-chancellors of state-owned universities have also reacted. To me, it was not fair to have brought in that dichotomy; I know education is on the concurrent list in the constitution, but in ASUU and other university-based unions, there is no dichotomy. We have had instances where people from state universities became president of ASUU. Even though the ASUU president had retracted that statement, that it was misinterpreted, to me, that should not be brought to bear. Education is on the concurrent list, but ASUU is one, SAANU is one, what we have are branches in universities. We should not bring unnecessary dichotomy among the members of any of the university staff based unions. They should continue to relate as one entity and one family.
You said foreign students hardly come to study in Nigerian public universities as it used to be; how do you think confidence can be restored to the institutions?
The only way confidence can be restored is if people know that when they come in for any programme in a Nigerian university, they know the duration of that programme and that duration will remain sacrosanct. A few days ago when we had a town hall meeting, there was a pathetic situation that someone brought to our attention that somebody had been on a master’s programme for more than eight years and another person that they started the programme together travelled to South Africa and that person is back with a PhD. while the person here is yet to complete the master’s dissertation. It is not because that person is a dullard or not doing what was expected of him, but when an academic session, which ordinarily should run for eight, nine months, should run for 22 months, who do you think will want to come to such? It is not as if some parents and guardians can afford sending their children or wards to private universities, but according to them, some of them will prefer to make that sacrifice so that their children and wards can graduate as and when due. It is not until we have stability in terms of calendar in the public universities that we can then begin to rebuild the confidence. I recently visited some universities in the United Kingdom and we were trying to have collaboration with some of them. In one of the universities, somebody asked me a very pertinent question that if they attempted to have a campus of their university in EKSU, how could I assure them the students they would bring in from all over the world would finish their programmes at the appointed time and not be affected by strikes. I could not answer that question. But it is not as if the people going on strike are strike mongers; it is because of the parlous state of most of the universities. As I said, there should be a lot of give and take.
What is your appeal to the striking academic staff?
I appeal to those who are yet to return to their place of work to please do so, so that we do not continue to allow students to be kept out of the universities and also for the survival of the system. If the system is destroyed, to rebuild it will take some time. We should not destroy the system because of whatever the situation is. I am happy with what I read that the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and the All Progressives Congress governors have decided to intervene in the current imbroglio. To me, that is laudable and the VP and the APC governors should please swing into action as quickly as possible so that the lecturers can return to work without further delay. That is heartwarming news and we hope that something will be done along that line.
Some people have continued to blame Nigeria’s problem on leadership, what have the universities been doing to ensure the country gets it right, especially with another general election around the corner?
There is also the problem of followership. By the time the followership begins to celebrate icons and not robbers or people who have not contributed to the country or state, that is when we will begin to get it right. Not when I bring money from somewhere and nobody cares about the source of that money, because the values are not longer there. We are again preparing to elect new leaders next year; people should try and assess the candidates of the different political parties based on their antecedents and also on what they have done for those who have occupied one office in the past. These should be the basis for the electorate to elect leaders. If we get it right, that will herald the transformation of our country. God forbids, if the status quo remains, that means we will also continue to wait till we are able to get someone who can give us the kind of new leadership. Most of our leaders are not selfless, they want to milk the system, they don’t think about the system unlike what obtains in advanced countries. It is only in Africa that a leader will not care if the entire citizens should perish, but will continue to sit there to remain in power. Out there, once a leader is no longer popular, he throws in the towel and allows others to come in. That is why you have all those developments out there. It is not as if our leaders also don’t see what goes on there, it is not as if all those places are better, but because the leaders there are selfless, they take the interest of the citizens into consideration, they are not interested in amassing wealth for generations yet unborn.
