Professor Adelaja Odukoya, the Dean of Faculty of Social Science at the University of Lagos, Akoka and Lagos zone coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has spoken on a range of issues, including the alleged move by the Federal Government to commercialise public universities.

Expressing his views on the student loan scheme and fees hike in federal universities, he said “as I said earlier, the government is not sincere about the scheme. They are being deceptive. They are playing politics with everything and we can’t move forward as a country in that way. Firstly, as far as Nigeria is concerned and based on the law establishing federal universities, a university needs to get clearance from the National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education to review school fees. It is not what each university can do on its own. The Federal Government is aware of this constitutional provision but they are speaking from both sides of the mouth. The government knows that things are tough for most Nigerians and are tougher on campuses.

“So, those who don’t know should know now that the Federal Government is behind the scenes of fees increment in our universities. It is the one indirectly setting universities against their students. And this move is the first layer, since the government is claiming that its universities are tuition-free. The second layer is coming and that is when tuition fees will be introduced properly and the government will just tell any student who cannot meet up with payment to come and take loans that will put them in debt and indirectly endanger their lives. We have heard that students committed suicide in Europe and America just because of inability to pay back their loans. We don’t need to wait to experience the same things here before we do the right things,” he added.

According to him, the claim by government that there is no money is not true because “if there is no money, those political officeholders, from the presidency to the National Assembly down to the states and local governments should first reduce their bogus allowances, say, by 50 per cent. Let them do that as sacrifice and channel the money into fixing some of the problems in the critical sectors of the economy such as education and health.”

He added that “so, our problem is not lack of resources to fund the system well, but the greed of our political leaders. They just want to continue to live flamboyant life at the expense of the masses. They cannot make sacrifice; they can only tell others to make sacrifice.

“In the same system where the government is claiming that there is no money, a government official in charge of the national resources stole several billions of Naira from the government’s purse. That is just one person. So, there is money but the lack of political will and misplaced priority of our leaders are the major problem,” he insisted.

On palliatives rolled out by government to address the concerns of the poor, he asked that, “Are we new to the concept of palliative as a country? The answer is no. Palliatives have always complicated the problems of the poor. We had a number of palliatives in the past, which problem did they solve? None.

“So, apart from the palliatives you see on TV as a window-show business, the in-thing end up in the pockets of politicians, their families and their supporters. Palliative is like scratching the surface.

“The common people are not the real priority of political leaders. Now, the government has claimed to have saved one trillion Naira from fuel subsidy removal. How much of that amount have you heard is going specifically to the education or health sector for development? They will not do that. It is where they can make more money for themselves and their collaborators that they will channel the money to so that people will continue to venerate them. We all heard that the National Assembly alone will use several billions of Naira from the money to buy cars and share to members. So, should that be the priority?” he reitetrated.

He advised that “What we need as a country is fundamental change in governance and the system to better the lives of the common people; for the government to prioritise the needs and welfare of people. Let there be social justice. Let the government be for the people and not for a few. Let us not continue to claim to be democrats when in fact we are not practising true democracy. That is the home truth. We don’t have true democracy yet in Nigeria. We need social justice and not ethnic or religious justice. There is hardship in the land.” (Story adapted from Nigerian Tribune)

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