NASS To Investigate UNN Students’ Protest

Apparently disturbed by the violent demonstration by students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) which led to the immediate closure of the institution last Saturday, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information and Media, Chief Ayogu Eze has called on National Assembly to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the upheaval to avoid further unrest at the university.

Senator Ayogu who spoke to reporters in Enugu, Sunday, condemned the ugly development at UNN, saying it was high time sanity was brought to the nation’s citadel of learning which he noted had been the pride of not only the South East, but the nation in general.

His words: “My attention has been drawn to the riot by Students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka on Saturday, January 16, 2010 leading to the destruction of valuable property. I condemn this action by the students in very strong terms. I have however studied the situation leading to this sad development and I have found out that the management of the university has a lot of questions to answer. The Vice Chancellor, Professor Bartholomew Okolo has been most inaccessible to the Students’ Union leadership and where he is, has been most intransigent in dealing with issues of administration”

According to him, “The immediate cause of the riot was an attempt to raise school fees by as high as 150 percent without, as it were, taking all stakeholders on board. As the Senator representing the area where the university is located, I know next to nothing about what is going on in the university. Since this riot broke out, I have called the Vice Chancellor over 20 times and sent text messages all of which have been ignored. Gone are the days when Vice Chancellors operated like mini-gods and looked down on everybody”, he  stressed.

Chief Ayogu who did not hide his feelings during the chat further said, “If a senator can be ignored so brazenly, only God knows how this Vice Chancellor relates to his subordinates. I wish to ask the Committee on Education in the Senate and House of Representatives to conduct full hearing on this matter with a view to getting to the root of this matter”.

He also made it clear that the people of his district were also worried about reported moves by the Vice Chancellor and the school authorities to move out professional courses from the school, adding “We are major stakeholders in that university and refuse to be ignored in the affairs of the school”.

In a swift reaction, the embattled Vice Chancellor of UNN, Professor Barth Okolo, dismissed rumours making the rounds that a hike in school fees ignited the recent violent demonstration by students of the institution. Professor Okolo , who addressed newsmen at the Enugu Campus of the university, also insisted there was no time that the management of the institution proposed any hike in students school fees, maintaining that students did not organise the unrest. He accused some staff of the institution who contested the position of the vice chancellor with him of masterminding the protest that led to wanton destruction of properties of the institution, saying that the sponsors of the unrest were not happy with his administration’s giant strides within a short time. His words: “The protest was not caused by any hike in school fees. We never proposed any increment in school fees. We did not increase students’ schools fees. Students did not arrange the protest. Some miscreants who contested the position of the VC with me and failed arranged the protest. We have their names. They destroyed the new things that we brought to the institution. “As I said before, there is a process for school fees increment; it is not our work to increase school fees. The management has no powers to determine school fees. We assured the Student Union Government ( SUG) and other stakeholders that they will be informed when schools fees will be increased”, the embattled VC added. It would be recalled that students of UNN, Saturday January 16, 2010 embarked on violent demonstration destroying properties of the university worth millions of Naira which led to the immediate closure of the institution by the authorities of the school.