After reading some national newspapers, I could see the nexus in the alumni struggle which is to seek for the court injunction against renaming the greatest Osun State University. Let the truth be told once again without any fear of persecution the change of UNIOSUN to Bola Ige University did not conform to the laws.

In this letter, I will try to be as objective as possible in my justification on why the name should be maintained. To begin with, when reflecting back on the motive of UNIOSUN establishment, the mission statement was to make a world-class University. But the question again is, has this institution met the fulfillment of becoming the so-called world-class university? If no, what then are the constraints when accessing UNIOSUN’s current challenges?

How have these challenges hinder or affected the performance of students and staffs? What is the current position of UNIOSUN in universities ranking in Nigeria and the world in general? Should the focus of Aregbesola government be towards renaming UNIOSUN rather than concentrating on the restructuring of the institution in terms of developmental initiatives?

Consequently, since the focus of UNIOSUN is to produce globally competitive graduates, then one will expect the Osun State government to be the number one stakeholder in this actualisation. But unfortunately, the institution has not been able to accelerate the pace which she began in 2006.

Obviously, you do not need a prophet to tell you that so many things have gone wrong. I could recall when the pioneer sets and lecturers were admitted in 2007, we all came on the basis of our individual merits. But immediately after the pioneer set convocation in 2011, today, the story has changed. Not only that, the university had lost some of her pioneer lecturers and staffs that understood the vision of the institution.

UNIOSUN is also faced with the inability to pay workers salaries, lack of infrastructure facilities and unhealthy environment.

If my argument is correct, we can conclude that Aregbesola government should devote more attention to these areas than playing a fast one on the alumni and students of UNIOSUN for a cheap political score. What we need now is not a change of name but rather restructuring the school to meet the global standard by creating a platform for global competition for her students.

The name Osun State University is unique on its own and gives us a common heritage as Osun State indigenes.

We are UNIOSUN don’t change our name, change the social problems facing Osun people leave us alone. May God continue to bless UNIOSUN.

•Adenitan Olufemi can be reached via adenitanolufemi@gmail.com. Photo shows Gov. Aregbesola.

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