Thoughts On The Growing Culture Of Silence In Unibadan -By Olajumoke Esther Oyelana

In life, many things are learnt naturally while some are forced down on people. Some of the things we learn are good, while some are not. Some are beneficial to the making of a complete man while others serve to bring detriment to one’s personality. For a fact, university is a place where many things are learned, and many others are unlearned. New habits are inculcated and imbued while some old ones are shelved.

Many things are being taught in the University of Ibadan that are not supposed to be taught. One of such is the culture of silence among students. Whichever way we might want to see it, the culture of silence is growing every day by day and it seems students could not do anything about it. By its actions and inactions, the school management is inculcating the culture of silence among the students. This has permeated the rank and file of students in the university. Students even though they are being cheated and clandestinely defrauded and degraded, can no longer speak for themselves. Speaking against that which is not good and pointing attention to it is often met with rustication or expulsion by the university’s Students Disciplinary Council. In the university “the fear of SDC is the beginning of wisdom for every student” I heard is a common saying. This type of saying has only one purpose – to force the students to watch things go wrong. Examples of the University of Ibadan forcing the students to maintain the culture of silence abound. I have just recently discovered them by my conversation with my cousin that is a student of the university and other recent happenings in the university.

Not too long ago, some students leaders among whom was Ojo Aderemi, president of the university’s suspended Students Union, were rusticated for varying number of semesters from one to four. One would have thought these students did the abominable by desecrating the highest altar in the university. Rather, they were thus punished for being at the forefront of a student protest staged on the 29th of May, 2017 when the students paid for ID cards and they were not given for two sessions. In saner climes, such a protest staged to demand explanations from the authority would be termed a good fight and dialogue would ensue. But in the University of Ibadan, it was called an affront against the school management that were obviously the offenders in the case for collecting money for ID cards but not giving it. And instead of giving a date when they would be ready, the protest rather led to the closure of the school for five weeks. The ID cards have finally been given. I saw it with my cousin. She said they paid not less than a thousand naira for it. But the quality is not more than that of a five hundred naira worth of ID card given to students writing their West Africa Examination Council examination. The lack of quality of the students ID cards I saw with my cousin showed the cards were obviously produced in a rush so it wouldn’t appear as if the money had been mismanaged. Despite the low quality of the cards, it did spark any form of protest among the students.

Rather, they are even thankful they got them after all. This is what happens when the culture of silence is reigning supreme. You pay for more but get less and you are helpless because you would be made to suffer for demanding for answers.
When the news of the rustication of Ojo Aderemi and others broke out, one would have thought a section of students in the school would stage a solidarity march against the judgement, questioning the rationale behind such a decision. But the situation was greeted by untold silence from his fellow students. None of the piece I read challenging the judgement came from someone within the four walls of the University of Ibadan. As it has always been, some students are now blaming Ojo Aderemi and others for bringing that type of punishment on themselves. And that they still continue being silent shows the growing culture of silence among them.

Since the solidarity march cum protest for one Micheal Ekpeti Babatunde in 2016, every other pronouncement by UI SDC has gone unnoticed. Perhaps they are noticed, but the students are too powerless to do anything about it. After all, challenging the management’s decision on certain issues doesn’t always augur well for those involved. Notable among the harsh decision cum judgement of UI SDC is the rustication of Kunle Adebajo for writing an opinion piece about renovations in some halls of residence. One would have thought a reaction to such publication is to engage the young man in a dialogue, not punishing him for expressing his opinion on matters that directly bear on him as a student.

Since the lecturers mostly belong to generation of them that believe elders are always right and a young man asking them questions is sacrilegious to their exalted positions, such punishment is not surprising. Even within their ranks, junior lecturers dare not correct a senior lecturer because it is not within their jurisdiction to do so. In simple terms therefore, recent judgement by UI SDC show the intention of the school management to gag the students. None of them should cry foul about anything wrong in the school. You are a good student with character if you don’t get into any bad book because of asking pertinent questions from authority.

This gag on the mouth of students to stiffen their voices is not in any way exaggerated. If not for fear of what would befall them and thereby resorting to silence against that which is not right, students whose minds are purportedly being trained to always uphold righteousness would not silent about some things they paid for but which they never get. Two of such things they paid for last session was N5000 for field trip and another N5000 for language laboratory by students in about four department in the university’s Faculty of Arts. My cousin was among those that paid N5000 for field trip but were not taken on any trip at all even in the guise of the supposed field trip.In fact, those that paid for the language laboratory have not seen any renovation being carried out. Whether it would be done in the new session is uncertain. But by then, the money they paid for the laboratory during the last session would have gone down the drain.

Students that paid never got what they paid for. The graduating ones among them would never enjoy the laboratory should it be renovated this new session.

Had it been any of them ask necessary questions, we would have heard it. Rather, they all kept mute. My cousin bemoaned how her completed assignment suddenly disappeared from one of the desktop computers in her department’s language laboratory because there were no UPS. She also told of how she used her android phone to record whilst being taught in the same laboratory because there are no recording equipments. One would therefore ask what the N5000 they paid was meant. My guess is they paid for access into the language laboratory since after paying nothing changed about it.

Now students whose number totalled about four hundred and fifty paid N5000 for the laboratory in two departments. Some of them that paid for the laboratory also paid for the field trip which they were never taken. This means while some students in the university’s Faculty of Arts paid N5000, some paid N10000. The language laboratory have not ben fixed the same way the field trip is no longer realisable. The money from both field trip and language laboratory runs into millions of naira. Where the money went to, only UI management can tell. Yet, none of the students could say anything for fear of being rusticated like Kunle Adebajo through the instruments of SDC. The consequence of this type of silence is not far fetched. If these students go out, hardly would they be able to challenge that which is wrong. The fear they have harboured about the consequence of speaking out would surely tell on them. This and other things are while students from private higher institution of learning are doing better than their counterparts in places like UI.

If students of the university that pride herself as the first and the best could be afraid to speak their mind and are always watching their backs before challenging powers that be which are seated in the high and mighty places, it’s a big shame to that great citadel of learning. The deliberate gagging of students is a reflection of the wider society where leaders are intolerant of criticism from those they rule over. The intent of education I suppose is not to produce dummies that are always afraid to speak their minds, but rather to produce sound minds whose ability to question things are encouraged and sharpened. Lecturers in the University of Ibadan should be reminded that they themselves reap from what the generation of them that knows how to challenge the status quo. It is in this wise that the lecturers are advised to embrace dialogue with students, bearing in mind they’re humans and could err, and not continue to stiffen the voice of the students. The students are also encouraged to not give room to cowardice of any kind.

Let’s all hope for a time the management of the University of Ibadan would learn how to dialogue and not use its power to clamp down on any seemingly opposition from the students. This is indeed possible when they learn that not every form of criticism is an attack on them and the attacker punished with rustication and expulsion.

And to those students who paid as much as N10000, they should take heart. They’re victims of circumstances, a society where many things go unchallenged because of the aftermath of opposition. If the nation would be great again, it would be from among those whose minds have not been tainted by the myriad of social vices ravaging the nation. Dialogue between leaders and followers is a good recipe for development. The nation is lacking it. It should not be discouraged by our institutions of learning.

May God bless Nigeria and help her to achieve her true potential among the league of nations.

Olajumoke Esther Oyelana writes from Surelere, Lagos, Nigeria. She could be reached through her email olajumokesther@yahoo.com.