BY EBUN SESSOU

For  Ebun-olu Adegboruwa, the presidential media chat lacks credibility and therefore, it couldn’t address some stringent issues in the country. “It is indeed good that the President should endeavour to bare his mind on burning national issues concerning the people of Nigeria, but that must be done in a liberal atmosphere, not that of intimidation and exclusivity.”

In any genuine Presidential Media chat, there should be authentic representatives of civil society groups and labour activists, who will be in a better position to tackle the real issues affecting the people of Nigeria. As it turned out, the interview had been segmented and classified such that journalists present were straitjacketed into already pre-determined areas of comfort, to the President. The questions should have been impromptu, to command credibility.

Ebun Olu

“Having said that, I believe that the President was in error to insist on not declaring his assets publicly. I recall that the initial declaration of the assets of the President when he was Vice-President under Yar’Adua, generated a lot of controversy then.

As the leader of this country presently, the President has a duty to lead by example, and not to insist, as he has done, that he would be liable to investigation when he leaves office.

“What this implies is that the President has something to hide, either that he is richer than he should be or he has acquired so much wealth between the last time he declared his assets as Vice-President and now as President. Either way, the President has a moral duty to declare his assets publicly to the people of Nigeria”.

Meanwhile, he expressed his support for the president in respect of the change of name of the University of Lagos. “I wish to express my support for the President in respect of the change of name of the University of Lagos. Under the University of Lagos Act, section 1 thereof is the enabling law regulating the name of the University. That name can be changed, especially being  the Visitor to the University, in this case the President. The Visitor to the University is the most powerful person in the University.

“There are two main organs in the University system in Nigeria, generally; the Governing Council, which is the most powerful decision making organ and the Senate, which is the academic organ. The head of the Governing Council is the Pro-Chancellor of the University and he is appointed by the President.

The head of the Senate is the Vice-Chancellor and he is also appointed by the President. The University of Lagos is funded 100 percent by the federal government of Nigeria, presided over by the President.

“There is nothing special in the name of a university, so long as its proposed change is in accord with due process. The National Assembly of Nigeria is entitled to amend, repeal or tinker with section 1 of the University of Lagos Act, being an Act deemed to have been made by the National Assembly. Under a democratic setting, there is the doctrine of separation of powers, by which one organ of government will not seek to interfere with or hinder the operation of another organ. The Courts do not make the practice of stopping the legislature from the performance of its constitutional duties.

There is nothing in the name of a university. Ahmadu Bello University and the Obafemi Awolowo University have not all diminished in status and relevance because of their name change, as it is the content and not the name or status of a university that determines its worth and relevance.

Since Nigerians have come to accept naming public institutions in honour of certain worthy heroes of this country, I don’t see anything wrong in honouring Chief MKO Abiola, on account of his dogged struggle for democracy in Nigeria.

“Furthermore, the current name of the University was named after something. University of Lagos means it is a university named after the city of Lagos, that is all about the name, such as University of Benin, named after the city of Benin, University of Ibadan and University of Jos, all named after prominent cities in Nigeria.

If universities can be named after cities and it is not a problem to accept that, then surely there should be nothing sacrosanct about naming a university after a worthy patriot such as Chief MKO Abiola.

“The proper struggle for the students to wage in the university system is to team up with ASUU to demand proper funding for tertiary education, proper academic freedom as practiced world over, infrastructure development, elimination of cultism and all forms of criminality in the institutions and to make the curriculum of our universities more relevant to current developments.

There is nothing wrong with the President proposing to change the name of UNILAG, as long as it passes through the due process of the National Assembly”, he concluded.