BY BRIGHT JACOB
Divergent views have continued to trail the pronouncement in Abia State University, Uturu, banning students from driving private cars on campus.
The Registrar, Acho Elendu, in a statement by the management of ABSU said “henceforth, only staff and accredited visitors would be allowed to drive their vehicles into the campus.”
The ban is believed to be part of the effort of the current management of the school to address the flagrant display of ill-gotten wealth and also discourage the ostentatious show of affluence by students who engage in internet fraud, popularly known as “Yahoo-Yahoo”.
A lecturer in the Department of Art, Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe Oghara, Emuojevoke Okagbare, who spoke to The Point said the situation in ABSU was peculiar to every higher institution in Nigeria, and described the action of the school management as a step in the right direction.“To start with, the problem is not peculiar to ABSU. It’s everywhere. Just as ABSU has its own share of it, we too experience it here,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “Indeed, it will go a long way in discouraging the flaunting of ill-gotten wealth because even over here (Delta Poly, Otefe Oghara), we took similar measure, too. We ensure that unregistered vehicles don’t come into the campus, and during examinations, they (students) all park their cars outside.”
Okagbare disclosed that they would likely toe the ABSU line by banning students outright from driving private cars on campus. He also gave reasons why the action would be justifiable.
“We are even thinking seriously to toe the line ofABSU. Let me give you an instance of why we want to do that. You are a lecturer and you have a Toyota Camry as a car, and you have students who drive cars worth ten million to twelve million naira. On a certain day, you arrive and see that they’ve already parked their cars where you park yours,” he said.
Okagbare stated that such a situation was not palatable and he pointed out that we have “a generation of persons who have no respect or regard for elders and culture.”
He added that if the law was really enforced, it would go a long way in bringing some sanity to campuses. “Enforcing will address a lot of issues, though it may not be the only solution, it will go a long way.”
He noted that there was nothing wrong with preventing students from seeing the activities of suspected internet fraudsters. He said the ban would help to achieve that. According to Okagbare, “First of all, it will deter this trend, because others won’t see these fraudsters, and therefore won’t wish to be like them. They say what the eye doesn’t see, the nose does not grieve for it.”
When asked whether every young man, in this case, student driving private cars within the campuses was a potential fraudster, he answered, “An 18-year-old boy driving a car worth twelve million naira; I am not even sure that Dangote, who is adjudged to be the richest man in Africa, buys cars worth that amount for his children.”
“The solution is going to be something very holistic. The government, first, must play its part. It should start with them, and then society. .. When I say society, I am talking about parents and good parenting
“
Okagbare observed that someone who laboured for his money would not gather such an amount to buy such a car. “As I’m talking to you, I know how much I earn in a month. I can’t buy such a car. So, if you labour for your money, and consider how difficult things are in Nigeria, you cannot (buy such a car),” he said.
He pointed out that it was only those who got money without sweating that would buy a car for that amount and usually have three ambitions that drive them, which he listed as big cars, mansions and women.
On the additional measures he would recommend to address the problem of “yahoo boys” in schools, Okagbare said the solution was going to be a holistic one in which the government and society must play an active part in.
“The solution is going to be something very holistic. The government, first, must play its part. It should start with them, and then society,” he said.
Giving further insight, he said, “When I say society, I am talking about parents and good parenting. All these things you see, are indices of bad parenting. If you are well brought up by your parents, if your parents inculcated good values in you while you were growing up, there would be a difference.”
Okagbare noted that while he was growing up, every man and woman was every child’s “father” and “mother”. According to him, any adult could correct any child. “There were so many things you would do and an outsider would scold you, and when you got home and your parents heard about it, they would beat you as well.” He lamented that such parenting was no longer in place in the society and our value system so bad now.
He also blamed those in government for not being proper role models for our children and berated the police for not doing enough to arrest the situation. “We have criminals as our leaders, and the children are taking after them because they discovered that there’s no future for them. These children see what the criminals we have as leaders do, and they are filled with despondency and feel that this is the only way they can survive,” he said.
A human rights activist, lawyer, journalist and author, Richard Akinnola, said that the action of the university was in order. According to Akinnola, every school must do the needful to ensure the safety of lives on their campuses.
“Every institution has the prerogative to issue guidelines concerning the conduct of its students, just the same way a private university -Covenant University does not permit the use of mobile phones on campus.”
“So, if this institution feels that these “yahoo-yahoo” students using exotic cars and driving recklessly on campus, constitute a nuisance or endanger lives, it has the right to regulate such conducts,” he said.
Another lecturer, Peace Jiboku of the Department of Political Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, however, disagreed with some of the assessments made by Okagbare and Akinnola. Jiboku acknowledged that OOU was also having the same crisis but said banning students from driving private cars on campus would not address the situation. She said apart from regulations banning students from driving, everything about the students must be known from the very day they got admitted into the school.
“The same problem ABSU is experiencing, we are experiencing here, too; and so it is in many other universities. But you see, when you ask students not to drive, not to bring their cars to school, that is not really the solution,” she said.
She added that “I think the solution will then be from the university itself. For instance, this is a car park for students, this is a car park for administrators, this one is for the V.C and others. But unfortunately, some schools don’t have all that. So, students just drive in and park anywhere. They can even make a mess of you the lecturer on the road,” she said.
Continuing, she said, “If you stop them (students) from parking in the car park (or driving within campus), they will go and park elsewhere, and the crisis continues.”
Jiboku said nobody could stop a parent who could afford to give a car to his child in school. “If I’m a father and I can afford to give a car to my child who is in a non-residential, multi-campus university, you can’t stop me,” she said.
Jiboku also said most parents were ignorant about their children’s activities in school and she was of the view that most of the students don’t bring the cars from home, or take them home, and that they just park in their hostels and go home.
According to her, “The main thing is to try to know these students from the beginning, know them from the very first day. Get their details, know where they are coming from. Have background information about them. Know their parents. Call for student-parents meetings because it has gotten to that.”
She stated that nobody could do anything when the students, with an unknown background, gained admission and started bringing in cars when they got to 200L or 300L. She suggested a review of the way the situation is handled.
“I think charity should begin from home. Let’s start afresh with the ones that are coming in newly. We got to know them, know their parents and even interact with them (parents) if they are around, so as to get all the information we need,” she said.
Jiboku added that she had some of her students’ parents’ numbers, and interacted with them on WhatsApp. According to her, the parents asked about their children and their welfare. She, however, said some parents don’t care. “It is only when the children have issues you now see them coming, and you would be amazed that a particular student has such a father,” she said.
She also said the proliferation of yahoo boys in schools was a system issue that starts from the family to the larger society, especially with the security posts in schools and policemen on the road who see these fraudsters but simply collect a bribe from them.
“We see them on the roads and the policeman takes something from them and allows them to go into the school, what do we do? In the schools, we have security men. There should be checks. If you don’t allow them in, they don’t come in. So, let’s ask questions and strengthen our regulatory bodies,” she concluded.
