Ever since its inception, Obafemi Awolowo University has been a source of personal progression for the innumerable young men and women who have swam to her shores, providing them with opportunities and hopes irrespective of background, tribe and social status. The greatest greatness in Great Ife is the opportunity to achieve our individual greatness irrespective of family background or socio-economic status.
Over the years, the school has produced erudite scholars, seasoned administrators, legal luminaries, eminent authors, distinguished politicians, foremost scientists and engineers, outstanding entrepreneurs, captains of industries and its alumni list reads like who’s who in Nigeria. Only very few schools can rival OAU in terms of alumni who are world renowned.
With a merit-driven admission process, OAU remains the favourite of brilliant students from poor and rich homes. A school that is caste-blind, it values and celebrates your merited achievements and care less about how loaded your parents are. It is easy for a poor lad to concentrate on his academics away from inconsequentialities and distractions thereby graduating with good grades and ameliorating the situation of his or her family members and relatives. We have witnessed this severally and we appreciate the efforts of Great Ife over the years in alleviating poverty in our society.
Regrettably, the management of OAU recently deviated from the sacrosanct mandate handed down by the founders that its doors must remain open to the positive and diligent hands notwithstanding their economic status. It may amount to crime against humanity for a student to pay almost One hundred thousand naira to get higher education in a country where majority of her citizens are wallowing in abject poverty. According to DFID assessment published on 31 March, 2014, 63% of Nigerians are living on below $1 daily; that is, they survive on less than 58,400 naira (160naira x 365 days) annually. If you doubt this, walk our streets, visit our inner cities and listen to the tales of the common man. We are not asking for Free Education, but we seek a fee that reflects our present status as a people; these new charges are too exorbitant.
Presently in our lands, there are many brains rotting in the dungeon of mediocrity due to lack of opportunities. I don’t think we need to worsen an already bad situation. While equal distribution of wealth is not expected, Government and its agents must consider the state of the citizenry in formulating or implementing any policy affecting the populace.
OAU is, and should remain, a choice for the brilliant and hardworking poor. Yes, some inferior schools are changing far more than this; however, OAU must understand that it does not belong to the league of schools turning education into profitmaking venture in a poor man’s country. It was a progressive university created by progressive minds. The vision of the pioneering fathers of OAU is to provide education to all irrespective of social status or family wealth. It will be a great disservice for anyone, the School management inclusive, who benefitted from OAU to turn against our people today because of their change in status. I don’t want to believe that charging this much is the only way to balance the books.
Every Nigerian should be given opportunity to aspire for a dream and contribute meaningfully to our society. Otherwise, what is the essence of being Nigerians in Nigeria if we cannot dream and aim for our goals because we are underprivileged.
We must remember that kids from poor homes are as normal as anyone else; they also have ambitions in life. Being born into a poor family does not reduce innate intelligence, physical and mental capabilities in getting a degree, being informed members of society or their social interaction with other fellow humans. It does not make them inferior. We make them ‘inferior’ when we implicitly deny their rights to higher education. We make them ‘inferior’ when we fail to appreciate and support their aspirations to progress on a clean bill. Apparently, we are deliberately pricing education out of the reach of the majority.
This unreasonable increase reminds us that we, the poor masses, are not accepted in this society for no other crime than being born into an average Nigerian family. In reality, the only time the wealthy can enjoy their treasures and sleep with both eyes closed will be when the children of the common man can go to bed fed and clothed.
We need not wait for a hurricane to know that hard-up living conditions in any Nigerian city make us all poorer. We need not wait for the next abduction of another uncle in Niger Delta to make us realize that generation without proper education and empowerment put all of our families in danger. We need not wait for the next set of insurgents to recognise that youth without adequate schooling put our national security in jeopardy. The current state of insecurity will not improve until the youth are encouraged and supported irrespective of family income or social standing.
This issue is not about our individual financial status, but the state of our people; the countless people who would have to choose between paying rent and their kids’ school fees. It is about the many youth faced with a world without hope. If there is a child roaming the streets of Ife, having dropped out of school, it should worry all of us even if he is not our tribesman. It is this central conviction that can make us progress as a nation.
Obafemi Awolowo University is not only celebrated for the grandeur of its dazzling buildings; it is cherished for the ardour and reverence its name invokes, the promise of a better tomorrow it holds for those who pass through it, its unparalleled connection to the accomplishment of its products and the development of our nation. Definitely, Great Ife says NO.
Muhammad Balogun, an alumnus of OAU, writes from Idi-Ishin Estate, Jericho GRA, Ibadan.
