Read the Letter General Secretary of Suspended UNILAG Students’ Union Wrote to Vice Chancellor

The General Secretary of the suspended University of Lagos Students’ Union (ULSU) Hon. Comrade Emmanuel Afolabi (popularly called AFOO) has written a 14 paged letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Rahamon Adisa Bello over the decision of the University management to suspend the Students’ Union of the institution over a protest. The letter was delivered to the VC today 14th June, 2016.

In the letter, Comrade Afolabi expresses pains over the hasty conclusions of the University’s Senate, the roles of the Dean of Student Affairs (DSA) in the issue, and the management’s reactions to the Union’s matters.

You can read the letter in its entirety below.

Dear Prof Bello,

ULSU PROTEST: MY PAINS AS A STUDENT

I write this letter as a student who is expected (by the Senate of this University) to be remorseful but is pained by the turn out of events since April 2016 when the Students’ Union staged a 3-day protest, to you as the Vice Chancellor and Chairman of this great University’s Senate, to explain what happened and how it happened in details, point out the errors of the management (Senate) and that of the Union, and give recommendations to avoid such occurrence in the nearest future. It is important that I remind you, sir, that I am the General Secretary of the suspended University of Lagos Students’ Union (ULSU).

Let me start from your last meeting with three (3) of the Union’s executive members – The President, Mr. Muhammed Olaniyan; the Financial Secretary, Mr. Ojo Oluwatobi and myself in your office (11^th floor of the Senate building) at about 5pm on 1st April, 2016, the meeting lasted for about 2 hours.

At the meeting, we discussed virtually all the issues affecting us as students on campus as at that time; the first issue raised by the President was that of the arrested students over the death of another student who committed suicide, the second was the issue of Shodeinde Hostel; I remember that you said that the hostel was almost ready, and he reminded you that you made a promise to students that the hostel will be ready by Second Semester of this 2015/16 academic session. The third issue he raised was the issue between our Union and the Lagos State Government (LASG) concerning the ‘ULSU Indigent Students’ Scheme’; he told you what had happened and you said that he should explain to the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA) and the DSA will tell you about it because he (DSA) was the one who informed you, he then said that he had already explained it to the DSA and you said it was fine. You then asked him what happened and he explained again. You went further to tell us how the Governor of Lagos state – Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has been good to the School and how he gave the University N10million for the last convocation ceremonies.

The fourth issue raised by the President was about what transpired at Ozone Cinemas on 12^th March, 2016, he explained what happened and showed you two different apology letters sent to him by the Management of Ozone and the Security officer that he had a disagreement with, you told him not to worry about it, you talked about how the Lagos State Commissioner of Police had to come down to the Sabo Division because of this issue, you told him to be careful of his actions especially when he is outside the University premises, you talked about how you know that some security operatives may want to enforce rights where there is none, you talked about how the media is always eager to publish news about University of Lagos (UNILAG), citing an example of how the media hyped the graduation of Ayodele Dada who made a 5.00 Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) from the University recently and how you got commendations from the Council of Vice Chancellors over that, I remember how the President had said that he does not want the Sabo Police Division again and that he would suggest another division and we all laughed over that.

The fifth issue raised was that of Prerequisite, he had said that the Union does not like how the University is changing the rules and you corrected him that the rules have always been there but you want to put everything in proper perspective, you said there have been problems because new courses come up every semester especially in the Education Faculty (Science and Tech. and Arts & Social Science), you said that the Final year students will be assisted, that it will be a direct thing for them and not be made open for everybody, I reminded you that we wrote a letter of general appeal and you acknowledged it. He mentioned the issue of GST, that he just wanted to confirm and be sure of it, he told you how the previous administration of ULSU had told us that you promised them a GST Mop-up examination and you explained that if you promise you fulfill.

The sixth issue he raised with you was that of the unavailability of mattresses in the hostels for bonafide students, he told you that there were no more mattresses and that he was told that you have not approved payment for another set of mattress, you said you cannot approve anything unless it is straight forward, you explained the processes involved in approval of payments through the council and the audit procedures. You said that the office of the DSA must first account for the number of mattresses earlier purchased; you even said that there are no beds available for Shodeinde and El Kanemi Halls that are being renovated and reconstructed respectively. We mentioned the issue of water in the hostels, the bunks and other inadequate facilities in the hostels, I reminded you that we had written to the DSA and copied you concerning the Situation of things in the Halls, you said that the DSA would have to be around to see to all these things because the office is in charge, that the office will have to come and explain why the hostels need more mattresses. You said that we will fix a meeting where the DSA will be around to discuss these issues, that all these hostel issues should be reported to the hall wardens and I asked what happens if those who report to them do not give them accurate information and you said that is where we come in, we told you that we carried out an inspection of all the hostels by ourselves. I told you, sir, that why we are really concerned is because there are a lot of complains by students especially those who got bed spaces recently but are not being given mattresses and you told us that it is the problem of the DSA’s office and that is why you are asking for clarifications from them before new approvals can be done. You also said that you will discuss with the DSA and approve when it is clear for you to approve.

The president mentioned the issue of power supply in the hostels, that the time should be extended, you said that the University is shedding to balance and ration what is available. He asked that they leave the power till about 10pm for those that will be reading because it was examination period but you said that it was not possible. The issue of Library came up, we told you that the main Library extension – the Akintunde Ojo Library was not yet opened for reading and you said that they had just got approval  to open both the main library and the extension for 24hours reading, we informed you that the extension has not been opened at all since the beginning of the semester, that the University Librarian had told us that the problem is a man power problem, you said it should not be true, that you would confirm and give us feedback the following Monday. He mentioned the issue of Power supply again and asked if there was anything that can be done, you said that you will talk to the Power station to see what can be done. We discussed the facilities in the Faculties and the general cleaning.

I talked about how we do not get responses to our letters from your office and how some of our letters have not been attended to, you said that we should always channel our letters through the DSA but the President told you that there are some issues that the DSA cannot handle, you said that the office always have to brief you and that it is not every letter we write that must be attended to.

The President raised the issue of Sports Centre, that the facilities and lightning have always been inadequate, and that the Sports Secretary of the Union is not happy, we told you how we have been unable to use the Sports Centre because there is always one external activity or the other going on there especially Parties and Inter House Sports Competitions by Nursery and Secondary Schools, which they do till around 3 or 4pm almost every day of the week, you told us that we are the priority for the use of the Sports Centre and we responded that the management of the centre has never followed that, the President told you that Departmental Associations are always complaining because there is no time to hold their activities – students fight most of the time at the centre over this, you responded that we should get organized, that we should schedule all our sports programmes and send to the management of the centre, we told you that we always do that and then you asked if we do it through the office of the DSA, we said no because the DSA will always refer us back to the Sports Director, you told us that you can correct that, that we will always need the authority of the DSA. Sir, the President told you about a letter he got from the DSA directing him to always channel Sports issues through the Director of Sports. I went to call the Sports Secretary from the outer office, but she had left.

Sir, the next question came from the Financial Secretary, he asked you if you were aware of the N25, 000 that the cab drivers were being asked to pay and how it affects the students, the President added that the cab drivers could go on strike because of this, you said that they should go on strike (although I did not think you really meant that) and you explained how their operation is not different from the normal transport system outside. You said that the essence of the payment was for them to go through annual licensing and verification, you told us that the school management does not recognize any union for the cab operators, and that you want to control what kind of cabs they bring on campus. The Fin. Secretary (being the ULSU representative in the Transport Committee) told you that the Transport Committee of the University has not been involving him in the activities of the committee and you said that you will talk to Prof. Iyiola Oni, who is the Chairman.

The President told you that he has ‘something’ that he wants to invite you to, that he does not even mind shifting it to the following week because of you.

The last issue that we raised was the issue of sachet water, we told you how bad the situation is and how we had to be distributing water to students in the hostels sometimes till 4am because there was none for the students to drink and to our surprise, you told us that you were aware of the situation; what you also told us was the same thing we have always been hearing from the DSA – that you want to be assured of the quality of water. You said that the problem of the UNILAG Ventures is not that they cannot produce up to capacity, but that there are other issues affecting them. You talked about how some people bought an old machine of the Ventures and started producing fake UNILAG Water. The President told you how we cannot sustain the distribution of sachet water to the hostels as a Union, I added that we cannot even continue with it because we don’t have any business with water distribution, and then you said that you had a meeting with all sellers and that they agreed with you to identify two water distributors and they were to be tested by the Medical Centre.

The President, at that point, told you evidently that the monopoly of UNILAG Ventures should be broken; you agreed with him that monopoly is a problem, that as far as you were concerned you would like to give the Ventures a competitor, you eventually added that the DSA was working on it. He told you how the DSA had told the Union not to bring in water and how he sent you a message that he was sorry he would have to bring the water in because students are really suffering, we reiterated to you clearly that the situation is really bad, we also said that students do not have water to bath and gave you examples of how some students buy bags of sachet water to bath, we mentioned that the colour of the water is also not good at all. In our presence, you called the Director of Works (I remember that you called him by name – ‘Lere’) and he told you about the repair of water pipes going on at Access Bank which possibly hinders the flow of water to New Hall, you told him to send some people to go and check for the progress.

Vice Chancellor sir, I once again raised the issue of sachet water for you to know how bad the situation was, I asked if there could be a way to fast track whatever process the DSA was going through to test the water from external producers, you told us that there was nothing you could do, that it was left for the DSA because it is their business. I vividly remember that at a point, the President asked how old you were and you said you are 68 years and that you would be leaving office next year, he said other things jokingly and we all laughed, he even mentioned your consultancy business with Mobil and you said you do not have time for such anymore.

Lastly, the President said that the students will like to hear from you, he even called every student in UNILAG your children, and he said the students want to get close to you. He mentioned that the Union was planning a kind of Town Hall meeting and he wants you to be there to address the students. At that point, your wife called you and the topic changed. You talked to us about your job, how you came into office as the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Management Services and later became the VC, and how you enjoyed serving among others. The President brought the discussion back to the planned Town Hall meeting and you said you would consult the DSA, he promised that the Union will not take your time and that the students will just ask questions generally. You checked your schedule and a tentative day was fixed for Wednesday but it was subject to verification. We talked about the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) congress that some Union executives were supposed to attend in Abuja but could not because the DSA did not act fast on the letter and claimed that they were checking to confirm if the letter came from a genuine NANS. We appreciated you for your time.

Before the meeting ended, I raised the issue of sachet water again, that we have not gotten a favourable response on the issue and you said you cannot do anything. The President apologized on behalf of the Union’s Speaker concerning what happened between him and the DSA, he told you that there was no rivalry between the Student Executive Council (SEC) and the Students Legislative Council (SLC), we took pictures, and the meeting ended a few minutes after 7pm. I remember that you told us to enjoy our weekend, and we did, I did.

Sir, as a Secretary who knows his onions, I carefully took note of all these things; I did not miss any part of it. All these issues are the issues that we raised during our 3-day protest; sir, perhaps you will agree with me based on the above, that we knew what we were fighting for when we protested. The sachet water issue alone was enough for a protest.

When the Students’ Union started the protest on Wednesday 6^th April, we raised welfare issues bothering us, which include the following:

• Hike in Price of Commodities on Campus;
• Water Supply and Sachet Water;
• Prerequisite;
• Power Supply/Generators;
• Accommodation/Shodeinde Hall;
• Ambulance and Sports Centre

Out of all these issues, the ones that we did not discuss with you during our meeting are Generators, Hike in Prices, and Ambulance. The generator issue did not come up during our meeting with you because we did not know about the generators as at that time; we got to know about generators on the night of Sunday 3^rd April when there was power supply in some hostels (New Hall, Moremi, Jaja and co) but there was no power in the other hostels (Queen Amina, Kofo Ademola and co), we went to the power station and we were told that there are two (2) generators at the station instead of four (4), we saw the bricks/concretes already laid for four generators but two bricks are empty, we were told that even the two generators at the station have been overworked, that they had to switch off some feeders for some feeders to be on – the hostels that do not have power are those whose feeders were switched off for the others.

During an emergency student leaders’ meeting on Tuesday 5^th April, all these issues were raised; I remember what I said at that meeting, that I used to think that the management was trying concerning the power issue until I went to the Power station the previous Sunday, and the management would be telling us that they spend N40million/N45million on power supply every month and yet, we have just two generators to power the entire University, how then would we not have shortage of power supply? This is considering the fact that the situation in our hostels is different from what is applicable outside the University – we cannot cook, bath, read and do other things that have to do with power when there is none – stoves and gas cookers are not allowed in the hostels. I added that we should make the management to bring the additional two generators. At that meeting, I also gave the student leaders the update of our discussion with you concerning the Sachet Water situation, which was left for the DSA to address. We concluded at the meeting that we shall match down to the DSA’s office the following day to ask questions; Hall Chairs were asked to come with their Welfare Secretaries, same as the Faculty Presidents. This action led to a 3-day protest and the school was shut down by the Senate.

During the period of shut down, we started hearing all kinds of allegations against us because we protested; it is on record that a Deputy Dean of Student Affairs said on national Television that what we wanted to do was to remove you, we heard allegations that it was bus that we were protesting over, later on we heard about the Ozone Cinema matter, then the LASG matter, then the transport/cab operators issue also surfaced among many other allegations just because we protested about our welfare.

After all the allegations against us, some of us were called by our lecturers, Heads of Departments, and Faculty Deans to be told about how disrespectful all the Union’s executives are, all these were being spread across the school and beyond.

Sir, please permit me to say at this point, that even if the strategy we adopted during the protest was not good enough, the Senate (or any other concerned department in the management), instead of the suspension of our Union, should have corrected us. Of course, the reason we are here in school is to learn, unlearn and relearn; to make all the mistakes we can make and get corrected; but what do we do when we make mistakes and we are not being given the opportunity to correct those mistakes? My opinion is that as most of the Professors in the Senate claim to be our Fathers and Mothers, they should have scolded us if they think we have done some things wrong and then correct us afterwards. We were not even directly told that we made mistakes, we were informed about our mistakes through all kinds of allegations against us. I know for a fact, that none of the members of the Senate got to the position they are today without making any mistake as they develop in their career. As students and executive members of the Union, we are definitely not perfect, and no human being can claim to be, so when we make mistakes we should be corrected and not criminalized.

Aside all that sir, a very large percentage of the students still believe that the suspension of the Students’ Union because of a very peaceful protest is totally uncalled for; some made comparison between our protest and those protests staged by other schools immediately after ours – lives were lost in University of Port Harcourt, properties were damaged at the Federal University of Agric. Abeokuta and Adekunle Ajasin University among others, but none of such happened here even though some people (especially the Senate) have argued that our protest was not totally peaceful.

It was also alleged that we damaged a machine at the UNILAG Ventures during the protest, but nobody has shown us evidence to prove it; they said that we damaged vehicles, when it was those vehicles that wanted to hit protesting students through over speeding – some security operatives can attest to this, especially Mr Omotosho who was with us during the New Hall incident and saw everything that happened and how some of us saved the driver from being lynched and took him to Alpha base.

Sir, please permit me to once again explain the LASG issue in details, because there still seems to be a misconception of the issue. Our administration decided to embark on a scheme called ‘The ULSU Indigent Students’ Scheme’, which is to help with the payment of the tuition fee of some of our members who are indigent students. We sent proposals and letters out to prospective sponsors, one of which was the LASG.

On the 14^th January, 2016, we sent a letter to the LASG; the letter included names and matriculation numbers of fifteen (15) indigent students of the University of Lagos (we went as far as getting their course forms to ascertain their studentship). In the letter, which was signed by the President  and me, we asked the government to please be mindful of the timeframe of the project and that they should either write cheques in favour of each individual on the list or they should make the payment through the Financial Secretary of the Union (we did not include account number). We took this decision because as at that time, we did not have access to our union’s account due to the DSA’s directive to banks on campus not to disburse funds to us yet.

On the 14^th March, 2016, the President and the Financial Secretary specifically received separate letters signed by the Deputy Dean II of the Student Affairs Division – Dr. J.O. Agunsoye from the DSA’s office. The letters stated that the office received a letter dated 28^th January, 2016 from the LASG ‘requesting for the confirmation of 12 students and the authentication of their CGPAs.’ It was also stated that the duo sent a letter dated 21^st January, 2016 to the LASG ‘requesting for financial support for 12 Indigent Students for payment of school fees in the current 2015/16 academic session.’

Dr. Agunsoye stated in the letters that the DSA’s investigation had revealed the following:

• That all of the students’ names listed were deliberately (and not coincidentally) misrepresented. i.e. all the listed Matriculation numbers belong to different students.
• That the ULSU letter to the Governor indicated that the said financial support should be paid into the account of the Financial Secretary, an action which violates the very principle of ULSU Financial Guidelines.
• That the President and Financial Secretary of ULSU erred in the very first instance following their failure to inform the Dean of Student Affairs before writing directly and unilaterally to the Governor to solicit funds for indigent students.
• That one of the Matriculation numbers listed was traced to one Lawal Rilwan Babajide (matriculation no. 120313041), who is the current 2015/16 ULSU Treasurer.
• That even when the intention of ULSU to assist Indigent Students was laudable, the investigation revealed that the real beneficiaries of the solicited financial support from LASG are some ULSU executive members and their friends who in all ramification were confirmed on interrogation and by the written confessional statements not to be Indigent students

He concluded the letters by asking if the office could conclude that the ULSU President and Financial Secretary’s real intention was to falsely defraud the LASG of tax payers’ money, and if the duo’s actions have not brought the name of the University of Lagos into disrepute and embarrassment. He then requested that the two officers provide a written explanation within 72hours as to why they should not be made to face disciplinary action for the misdemeanour.

It is clear in the DSA’s letters to the two officers, that the letter that the LASG received is not the one sent by the Union. We however suspect that our letter might have been tampered with because we did not send it directly to the LASG but through a third party – a man who works at the office of the Governor of Lagos State and is known (and was introduced to the President) by the Financial Secretary.

There are very clear differences between our letter and the letter received by the LASG:

1. Our letter was dated 14^th January, 2016 and not 21^st
2. Our letter was signed by the President and me, and not the President and Financial Secretary.
3. Our letter had fifteen (15) names and matriculation numbers as against the twelve (12) names and matriculation numbers in the letter that the LASG got.
4. Our letter gave two (2) options for payment to the students – either through cheques to individual students or through the Financial Secretary, as against the one (1) option as stated in the DSA’s letter.
5. Our letter did not include the matriculation number of any executive member of the Union.

We are not even sure if the letter head that the LASG received is ours, because it is difficult to ascertain, this is what still baffles the executives of the union. Also, I have the evidence to back up/prove all these claims.

Sir, I must inform you that the office of the DSA also made a big mistake in their approach to the issue; when the government sent them a letter for confirmation of matriculation numbers, the office ought to have written to the Union to get our side of the issue first before writing specifically to two officers of the Union because the office believed that the officers have done something wrong. My opinion is that even if the DSA believed that those two officers have done something wrong, the issue is first of all a Union issue before it is individual; I, as the Secretary of the Union would have given them details of everything that happened, but the office did not.

My pain in this issue is that if the DSA knew that this LASG issue was an issue of just two officers of the Union, why did the office portray the issue as a Union issue to the Senate, lecturers and our Union members to polarize us after our protest? Can we then, based on this explanation conclude that the DSA used this as a strategy and an excuse to convince the Senate to suspend our Union? If the DSA is so convinced that those two officers have done something wrong, should the entire students now suffer for the sins of just two students?

In one of the Senate releases, the reason given for the suspension of the Union is to review the Union’s constitution, but the question that has been on the lips of everyone, which I also predict that the Senate may not be able to convincingly answer is ‘WHY?’ We heard that the DSA convinced the Senate that there is a disagreement between the President and the Speaker of the Union, but I have not seen any fact to back that up on the part of the DSA. It is normal for there to be a disagreement in every democratic setting; besides, can we really say that there is any disagreement between the two officers of the Union with the kind of togetherness they both displayed during the protest? We heard that the DSA presented all our cases before the Senate took the decision to suspend our Union; if this is true, then we can come to a conclusion that the Senate heard just one side of a story and ‘pronounced judgment’ – they did not bother to hear our explanation (even if we had none). We heard that the Senate considered the appeal for the re-opening of the school (after the shut down), which we made through the UNILAG Alumni Association, as a ‘command’ to them to re-open the school as if we were the one that closed down the school; I remember that day when I heard this, I went straight to where I kept the copy of that letter (which I wrote, as the Secretary) to check and be sure of the use of words, what we had written in the letter was that ‘We appeal to the Senate of the University to re-open the school while discussions are going on to solve the welfare issues that we have raised. We will be glad if the school can be re-opened on Monday 25th April, 2016 for academic activities to resume’. I was very surprised to hear that the Senate interpreted this as a ‘command’ to them from our Union. It is then safe to conclude based on all these that the Senate did all what they did because they were angered by our protest, which poses the question of whether the Senate of our school does not see protest as a right in Nigeria.

Vice Chancellor sir, please permit me to ask these questions, that how does the Senate expect us as students of this University to learn the intricacies of politics and prepare ourselves for the outside world if we are being denied the right to associate and exercise all these things through our Union? No doubt, the Senate believes that we made mistakes with the protest – I can agree with that based on our approach, but if we cannot be corrected when we make mistakes here, what is then the purpose of coming to school here?

Let me explain the DSA’s roles in all of these from my perspective: Sir, it is safe to say that the DSA does not have any regard whatsoever for our Union; our opinions do not count as far as the office is concerned. If they do, how then do we explain a situation where we wrote a letter to the VC, and the Deputy Dean I of the Student Affairs division told the entire Nation that our letter was ‘poetic’, as if we were in a Literature class? One then wonders how the division has been interpreting all the letters we have been writing to them as a Union, perhaps this is the root of all the problems. I also remember that I told the DSA in a text message that I sent to him on the 17^th March, at exactly 8:07pm, that there was no sachet water anywhere on campus – from Mariere to Moremi to New Hall… I told him that the situation was getting unbearable and that there is a limit to how long we can pacify the students. The DSA replied to tell me that he was not in town.

I strongly believe that the school management is still very far away from these problems; I dare say, sir, that as long as the management is still far from the problems, they can never find the solution. Compelling students to sign re-absorption form and indemnity form can never solve the problem, neither can it suppress the agitations of the students because students will always agitate as long as they believe that their welfare matters are not being attended to, or unfavorable policies are made for them. The forms may delay it, but it will surely happen.

I know that the office of the DSA would think that they are close to the students; but I dare say that they are far from it. I can boldly say this because I am not just a student but a student leader who relates well with other students and I know what they say about the division, being close to students goes beyond getting information through some snitches among the students to the ‘info@SAD’ whatsapp group of the division. Most of the decisions that come from the division, especially during this period of the suspension of our Union, have been very harsh and anti-student; a good example of this is the decision to stop all the social activities of students on campus after 6pm – can any social activity take place in the afternoon when there are classes going on in the faculties? What I can deduce from this is that they have practically stopped the annual Hall Week in every hostel, which is very unfortunate.

Furthermore, the sincere ones among we student leaders will always attest to the ‘divide and rule’ tactics of the Student Affairs division, which is incessantly adopted every time to cause confusion among us. I can also boldly say that the only officer in the division who is most sought after, arguably most respected, sincere and most loved among the top four Principal Officers of the division is Dr. J.O. Agunsoye – the Deputy Dean II for his honesty and open mindedness in attending to student matters.

I hope that all what I have said will not be considered as insulting/rude, but as stating the obvious facts, and constructively criticizing the division so that they can change their approach to student matters. Very few ones among us will be confident enough to sincerely state all these things as they see it. I say this because till this moment, I still wonder how the DSA considered a text message I sent (as the Union’s Secretary) to him (‘We have been patient enough sir, we’ll lock the gate if we don’t see you here in 5 mins’) during the protest firstly as ‘rude’ and then as ‘a threat’. This probably explains the assertion of so many people that the division acts based on emotions.

Perhaps we student leaders need to be tutored, because my strong believe is that when we relate with the division, we relate with the officers based on the office they hold and not the title (like Prof) in front of their names – the division sometimes makes it confusing to us. What applies in the labour market which we are being prepared for, is that ‘official matter is official matter’, ‘business is business’, no emotion is attached. But if we as students cannot begin to exercise what is applicable outside the University while we are in school, we can then say that we have no business being in this school.

Sir, with all due respect, I am pained and angry because I feel that our Union’s suspension is unjust; our Union was growing, we (as executives) were learning a lot, some of us see it as an avenue to deploy our skills and exhibit our God given talents, some of us sacrificed so much for the Union. I appeal sir, that the Students’ Union of this great citadel of learning – the world acclaimed University of Lagos, should be reinstated.

My Recommendations

1. That the Senate of this University should revisit the suspension of the Students’ Union of this University and reverse the decision; if they cannot do that, they should prove to the entire students and the outside community that the suspension of the Union is not based on emotions, but a well thought out, logical and rational decision;
2. That the school management, especially the Student Affairs division should stop treating students as ‘subjects’ whose opinions do not count, but as partners in progress in the development of this great institution;
3. That the school management should constantly organise interactive sessions with the students to hear from them and device a qualitative means of intelligence gathering;
4. That the management should always promptly attend to the welfare issues raised by the student body, this is to prevent incessant agitations;
5. That the management should consider the overhaul of the personnel at the Student Affairs Division, if this cannot be achieved, then the division should change its approach to student issues;
6. That the school management should show to the world that they are not anti-students, by stopping the harassment of students and student leaders who participate in protests.

Sir, I would really be glad to see my recommendations being put in place.

Thank you very much sir.

Yours sincerely,

AFOLABI Emmanuel

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