Public varsities need better funding by both government, end-users —UI VC

The vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, in his interview with MODUPE GEORGE, shares his experiences since he assumed office 14 months ago.

 

YOU are the 12th vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan, is this a dream come true for you?

It would be more accurate to say I am the 15th person to be the head of this institution. If you say I am the 12th VC, that means the university was founded in 1962; whereas, the reality is that it was established as a College of the University of London in 1948. In reality, I am the 15th person; the first three were principals and the fourth person was a principal and first vice chancellor. So, going by the records, it would be more accurate to say that I am the 15th vice chancellor. To that extent, one should be grateful to God for giving the opportunity to head the institution.

Concerning if it is a dream come true, the truth of the matter is that I have been a part of the university for exactly 40 years now. I have come a long way. When the position of the vice chancellor was advertised in 2015, I applied and then I emerged as the VC, not necessary because I was the best. So, it’s not really a dream come true; it’s an opportunity to serve.

 

It’s over a year now since you assumed the mantle of leadership in the institution, how has it been?

It has been interesting and challenging. There have been ups and downs, but the various stakeholders of the institution – staff, students, and alumni –have shown remarkable understanding and I think the major problem we are having is that as Federal Government’s university, the Federal Government is our proprietor, and to this extent, whatever affects the proprietor has an immediate impact on us. The country itself has been facing economic recession and that has adversely affected us in terms of the allocation we receive. We are not allowed to charge fees; but again when you look at it, there’s nothing we do here that doesn’t call for money. For instance, we have to pay for the electricity supply, we have to fix our roads. We have almost 6000 members of academic and non-academic staff, and we have to pay them.

 

Are you saying your students don’t pay at all?

It’s a Federal Government policy that federal universities are not allowed to charge tuition fees to Nigerian undergraduates. Technically, they don’t pay tuition fee, but if you stay in the hostel, you would pay some charges; but even at that, the undergraduate halls of residence go for a token of N14,000. This is not enough. Meanwhile, we have a private female hostel in the campus, St Anne’s Hostel, where students pay between N16,000 and N100,000 depending on the number of students per room. The N14,000 we are charging is not economical, but students don’t want to give in to any talk on increasing the fees. The students want electricity 24 hours of the day, but they don’t even care who is going to pay Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company.

In specific terms, what have been your recorded landmark achievements these 14 months?

Like I said, our major aim is to consolidate what we met on the ground and to also generate some new measures. Fourteen months is too early to begin to talk about achievements; we have to set the ground. Last year, we had a lot of crises, but the joy was that we were able to surmount them. At least, there is relative peace now. We have set up a committee on industrial and labour relations, so that stakeholders are not thinking that the management does not have their interest at hearts.

I have just five years, of which I have already spent 14 months; but if we are able to build on the achievements of the past 69 years and also take it to the next level, then, all of us would be better for it.

 

What are the things you have done differently since assuming office?

There are quite a number of them. You know, the human nature is always resistant to change and then some of the things we have tried to introduce will have to take some time to become institutionalized. So, we don’t want to start counting ours blessings until those things have become part and parcel of the system.

Apart from funding, do you see any challenge militating against the fulfillment of your goals?

Apart from the funding issue, there’s nothing too serious, the other challenges are not totally unexpected. I think the massive underfunding that the university is experiencing because of the economic recession has been the major pain in the neck. You would have observed that last year, quite a number of times, staff members went on demonstration. It was only in the last five months that things have been stabilized. You can also understand where the unions and our leaders are coming from. You cannot but sympathise; but I must also say that they have shown remarkable understanding as to why things are the way they are. The management has also tried as much as possible to be transparent.

 

You made a promise in your vision for the school that the students were going to be made priority, have you been able to keep your word?

We are here basically because of the students. We have about 30,000 students, both postgraduates and undergraduates, and we have to provide them with hostel accommodation. We have 8,300 bed spaces as we speak, so it’s going to be less than 30 per cent of the students that we can accommodate. One of the things we have been trying to do is to make sure that our students have hostel accommodation, but we don’t have the funds to do that. We have engaged some private operators under the Public Private Partnership (PPP). I must also confess that all the companies that showed enthusiasm have not really started working on the project, but we know that by next month, some of them will begin to give. However, we also must be prepared to pick up the bills, because we want each of the students to also have a good experience, not just the academics; ditto with sport facilities, health services, libraries and internet facilities.

 

Recently, you had your first baptism of fire owing to series of protests by students and union members in the institution. All is calm now; how did you navigate through this trying time?

We just have to be transparent and be honest. We just have to let the stakeholders know what is happening. Last year, we had a lot of disruptions, especially from January to early August; but since the middle of August, things have been quite better, not because funding has improved, but because members of staff are beginning to see that the management has been transparent.

 

How would you describe your relationship now with students and the various unions in the school?

Generally, it has been cordial. They have all been understanding and remarkable. By and large we dialogued with them, and so far we are not hiding anything from them; even they are partners in progress. Recently, I got a text from the chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), wanting to find out about the shortfall we had in our December salary, and I sent it to him. I am sure he might also ask some other members to verify whether I was lying or not. And they have been doing that consistently. They’ve got to know that it’s not only University of Ibadan that is experiencing the shortfall. However, that is not even an excuse. We want our staff to get their entitlements as much as possible. Also, we dialogue regularly.

 

Considering the proliferation of private universities in Nigeria, do you see any threat against the public ones?

At the last count, we had 68 private universities and they have all come to stay, but the truth is, we cannot give what we don’t have. Relating it to my personal experience, I attended a public secondary school and many people in my generation also did. Right now, public secondary schools in this part of the country are nothing to write home about. At Ilesa Grammar School, we paid tuition fees and quality services were rendered to us. So, if we are not careful, another 40 years down the line, giving the current trend of inadequate funding there may be problem.

Again, not all the private universities are well-funded and managed, but a few of them are beginning to show signs that they are very serious. For this reason, they will attract students. I believe the private universities are complementing what the public universities are doing, but the public universities including our own, need to be better funded by both the government and the end users; in this case the students and their parents or guardians.