Vanguard News
Removing criminality from our tertiary institutions
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By Owei Lakemfa
THE most exciting period for most humans is their youth. Many youths look forward to better lives. In fact, some wish they can grow faster and be independent of parental care. That is in a normal society. Many youths in Nigeria do not have such experience. They are either abducted, killed, intimidated or denied their fundamental human rights not just by terrorists but also government and school authorities.
It can be argued that a lot of atrocities are as a result of cultism, banditry and terrorism over which the country seems helpless. But what about cases where our tertiary institutions are holding students hostage? For example, the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, has since 2017 denied its students their fundamental and constitutional rights to freely associate or assemble. Since almost all programmes in the university system are four-year, it means the OAU authorities, backed by the Senate, has denied a whole generation of the students the right to unionise, to experience governance at their union level, speak for themselves, represent their own interest, participate in national student unionism and play their role in national development.