‘No To MAUL, On UNILAG We Stand’

A speech delivered by Dr. Oghenekaro Moses Ogbinaka, ASUU Chairman, Unilag branch, on Monday, 18 June, 2012 at the Julius Berger Auditorium, University of Lagos.

Let us, first and foremost, commiserate with the families and loved ones of all who suffered a painful and undeserved loss over the fatal Dana plane crash. We, as a union, express our profound sympathy and condolences to them. We pray to God to grant their souls peaceful rest. We call on the Federal Government to critically and sincerely reappraise the operational situation prevailing in our aviation sector.

On 12 May, 2012, we were confronted with the rude shock of the demise of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. A.B. Sofoluwe. In the midst of the community’s grief and state of shock, and on the day the funeral wake of the departed scholar was to hold, the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in a most insensitive manner, lacking every iota of human feelings, announced the change of the name of a university of 50 years.

The students, academic and non-teaching members of the university spontaneously rejected the attempt by the president to use the half a century old institution to score a misplaced, but miscalculated political point. This has precipitated crisis in the usually peaceful and stable university. It has caused Unilag great distractions, especially from learning and research; a situation that will persist until justice is achieved by the University of Lagos community. We want to know a university with well accepted internationally acclaimed brand name, as the University of Lagos, that was renamed after 50 years of existence due to political reasons.

In spirit, this decision is antithetical to the values and meaning of “democracy” and what it represents. First, the University of Lagos was established democratically and legally before it was built. Not even the nine new universities “pronounced” into existence,  before the law establishing them was enacted, enjoyed this. On this score, we state that it is unfortunate that the presidency has not enjoyed the quality of advice it deserves. Otherwise the 29 May renaming was avoidable.

No doubt, there is a way renaming universities can be financially profitable under a regime of unabated corruption. Rebranding is itself a business irrespective of the adverse consequences it may cause the university. Many are waiting to key into and profit from this exercise that is likely to run into billions of naira.

Prof. Julius Okojie will, of course, support such exercise to take place in his time as the Executive Secretary of NUC. At the last count, since the inception of university education in Nigeria, eight federal, eight state and five private institutions have suffered renaming. This brings the count to twenty-one. Whereas elsewhere in the world where renaming ever occurred, it was mainly done for privately owned institutions. Here in Nigeria, the following have been enlisted as renamed public owned universities.

1. 1984 – Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi; formerly Federal University of Technology founded in 1980.

2. 1975 – Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; formerly University of Northern Nigeria founded on 4 October, 1962.

3. 1975 – Bayero University, Kano; formerly a university college of ABU, Zaria.

4. 2000 – Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUA); formerly Federal University of Agriculture founded in 1992. No law has been enacted to effect this renaming.

Other public owned universities renamed include:

5. Nnamdi Azikiwe University

6. Obafemi Awolowo University

7. Usmanu Dafodiyo University

8. Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola

9. Adekunle Ajasin University

10. Ambrose Alli University

11. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University

12. Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni,      Port Harcourt

13. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology

14. Olabisi Onabanjo University

15. Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu Ode

16. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University

The implication of this trend is that all Nigerian universities not bearing names of a living or dead Nigerians have temporary names. This is why our political leaders are always quick to cite universities in their villages as soon as they are in position to do so. This is wrong. It is high time we began to protest the renaming of institutions, especially those that have been awarding degrees and certificates; and in the case of Unilag, for 46 years. Why wait? The Federal University, Otuke, should be renamed Goodluck Ebele Jonathan University, GEJU, immediately instead of pretentiously waiting for a future renaming date.

The change is much more than mere renaming. Its effect could be more than imagined, especially for a university that was established when those now renaming it were very young. Every person that carries her certificate would have to put a rider on his/her CV: “Now MAUL” or “Formerly UNILAG.”

This will cast a huge doubt on our certificates outside Nigeria. This is an added cost on each of us who are stakeholders. Text books, conference/academic papers, etc, will be affected in various ways. Most of which will become history with the name, University of Lagos.

For many, publications and scholarly works, whose authors are still in service, the renaming means an added cost for re-designation of the authors’ institution. But at whose cost? Why is the presidency solving one problem by creating another? Can’t we, as Nigerians, be straightforward in our dealings? This is one politically motivated move that is Machiavellian. Nobody seems to care about the fundamental human rights of the staff, students, publishers, and alumni of the University of Lagos. What does it bother the farmer, whose chicken is used for Christmas stew, seems clearly to be the attitude of the presidency.

After 12 years of renaming a university (2000) that was established on 27 May, 1993, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture has not been able to effect her new name in her official website. Only the title was changed, every other thing still reads “Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike.” How would such a university enjoy international rating and confidence? The renaming of the University of Lagos after 50 years of existence is one of such actions that has been taken to an absurd level.

ASUU will not take the arbitrary and rampant name change of our university lightly. Our leaders must be creative in the way they honour national heroes. In other countries, the use of statues, squares, holidays, etc. are the usual ways people are acknowledged. This was what early Nigerian patriots enjoyed.

Tafawa Balewa was killed as serving Prime Minister, Ironsi and Muhammed were both killed as sitting Heads of State, yet the University of Lagos was not renamed after these leaders. Why do so for someone President Jonathan qualified as a ‘presume’ winner.

Gentlemen of the press, whatever motivated the choice of Unilag as a memorial for the late Chief MKO Abiola will continue to remain an issue of pedagogic rational speculations. We shall not brood on this, but reiterate that Chief Moshood Abiola deserves to be properly honoured for his political role in Nigeria. Nevertheless, he requires more essentially, political, and not educational institutions for this. A few suggestions already popularly made by eminent Nigerians may suffice:

1. He was denied entrance into Aso Rock Villa as one who won the June 12 election. He should be formerly declared the winner of that election and the residence of the president of Nigeria renamed “Moshood Abiola Presidential Lodge.”

2. The Eagle Square, Abuja, can be renamed “Moshood Abiola Square” the way we have Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

3. The National Stadium has since been suggested and presented as a bill in the House of Representatives sometime in the past. This is another option the way Murtala Muhammed was honoured with the International Airport in Lagos.

4.The idea of declaring June 12 a public holiday as was done for Martin Luther King Jnr in the USA.

5. Another option is for the Federal Government to build a two-wing hostel for male and female students in each university in Nigeria and name them Moshood Abiola Hall.

6. Naming any of the nine new universities after Chief Moshood Abiola to enable them build on that identity. Even this is inappropriate!

The morality of renaming Nigerian universities, mostly after political leaders, must be scrutinised. Harvard University was renamed in 1638 after John Harvard, two years after it was established in 1636 due to the high financial support from the clergyman. When he died, he bequeathed half of his monetary estate of about 780 pounds and a 320-volume library to the then two-year old “New College” that was subsequently renamed Harvard University. The case of other renamed universities is not different.

Gentlemen of the press, as a union and a major stakeholder of the university, ASUU, University of Lagos, has decided to legally challenge the action of the Federal Government. After a thorough rational analysis of the president’s pronouncement, we are convinced that the use of the University of Lagos, and any other university already awarding degrees, as the trophy of the June 12 struggles is a wrong and immoral decision.

We are, therefore, appealing to President Goodluck Jonathan to have rethink and reverse the pronouncement. Indeed, in collaboration with other stakeholders, we are going to be persistent in this struggle foisted on us by president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

As academics, we are builders of minds. We write history. We salute the courage of the University of Lagos students in instantly  and spontaneously protesting the renaming of their treasured university. The immediate impact of their action is the president’s acknowledgement of this by attempting to correct the illegality of renaming two universities; that have paradoxically been using illegal names, in the case of Michael Okpara University for 12 years.

Protests by Unilag students, in this case, was a better presidential adviser. We hereby call on the President to show most of his (mis)advisers the door, or throw them out of the window. They are an embarrassment to Nigeria, the African hope. The President should be proud that he is in deed and in truth, a visitor to a university that has students whose action has provided a basis for great respect for our cherished democratic values. They have made the president to give the National Assembly her legislative respect. He should, therefore, grant our demand by looking elsewhere to honour Chief MKO Abiola.

Let us use this opportunity to state that Nigeria will continue to be a victim of such unnecessary distortions in her quest for a better educational system and society as long as persons like Prof. Julius Okojie are in the helms of institutions like the National Universities Commission, NUC. Prof. Okojie strongly holds that the University of Lagos or any other for that matter does not need to be consulted for its name to be changed. He believes that universities are open to arbitrary renaming midway into their existence, without looking at the adverse consequences of such actions, so long as one is a visitor to the university. For people like Prof. Okojie, any Nigerian university that is named after a town is only bearing a temporary name; waiting to be named after a politician in the future.

The ill-advised use of Unilag for this purpose – of honouring Abiola – is clearly not creative, not wise and not charitable. For someone to say that there is no need to consult stakeholders, as Prof. Okojie publicly holds, is clearly to insult the University of Lagos community. It is also a clear demonstration of ignorance for anyone to say that the students’ spontaneous rejection is borne out of ignorance or because they were instigated by the opposition. These people, regrettably, argue as if the university does not have elderly, eminent and distinguished professors and academics.

There are elderly students in many universities. And being a knowledge and research driven community, university students need not be aged person in order for them to appreciate the role of any individual in history. They speak as if all Alumni of the university were children that lacked knowledge of what Abiola/June 12 represents. This is an unfortunate position to hold. It must be noted that not all who participated in the June 12 struggles were non-egoistic. A few were great beneficiaries of the June 12 struggle. Many other Nigerians were altruistic participants in the struggle. What a few misguided and myopic politicians have expressed on the renaming of Unilag is, therefore, not surprising. Political opportunism is without borders in Nigeria.

The president should not create a situation in which a 50-year old eminent institution, to which he is temporal visitor, be made his perpetual and perennial enemy. This decision, if sustained – in the spirit of the Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku – would be nothing other than pitching the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan against the past, present and future stakeholders of the University of Lagos on this perennial fight. This renaming will not go the way the others have gone. We have, therefore, resolved to contest it consistently and persistently as an institution that will, by the grace of God, celebrate its centenary with the name the UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS.

We thank many eminent Nigerians who have publicly condemned this erroneous renaming of Unilag. Renaming a 50-year old university for political reasons is an inexplicable thing to do, as it is unacceptable. The media in their editorials and opinion pages  have been unanimous in the position that the President has done a right thing wrongly.