Students of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife today denied the school’s Vice-chancellor audience as he tried to address them following the school’s fiftieth anniversary. Professor Bamitale Omole was shouted down at the main bowl of the school’s sports centre.
They cited the scrapping of the school’s Student Union Government which they had pleaded with the VC to reinstate but he refused so that there would be no one to check his excesses.
The students of Africa’s most beautiful campus said they had at several times made their grievances known to the school management on the way things are run, decay of structures and educational standards, but they were not listened to as they were left without a strong voice due to the scrapping of the SUG.
Speaking to Information Nigeria, an MBA student of the school said he understood why the students are mad. He recalled being an undergraduate student in the school when no one could make arbitrary laws that would affect students negatively.
Another student, identified as Dickson said the dreams of the founding fathers are gradually fading away with the way the school is being run. He doubted if ‘Great Ife’ is still really great.
“The University used to hold a foremost position among universities in Africa, with a vibrant academic and social atmosphere and high international reputation. I doubt if that can be said about the school today, he said.”
Obafemi Awolowo, formerly University of Ife founded in 1962 was renamed on May 12, 1987, in honour of one of its most distinguished founding fathers, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The school’s 50th anniversary celebrations which started in the school campus on Monday will climax with an award night on Friday, November 14 after a dinner at Expo Hall, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos on Tuesday, November 11.
