Kunle Abass Oladiipo studied Microbiology at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He was the National President of the Federation of Ibadan Students’ Union (FIBSU) for two terms in the institution before travelling abroad in 2008. Now based in New Jersey, the United States of America, he speaks with OYEDAPO OYEWOLE on issues relating to students’ unionism during his tenure, among other issues.
Q: After you graduated from university what were you doing before travelling abroad?
Before I travelled abroad, I was involved mostly in student unionism and I did a lot to assist students. I could remember late 2004, 2005 and 2006; I was deeply involved in the union activity at the Students Union Government (SUG) level at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and at the cultural level at the Federation of Oyo State Students Union and Federation of Ibadan National Council. I was also involved in other activities. The most important one that changed the dynamism of student unionism was the payment of the local government bursary award. I must tell you this, if not for the help and intervention of Hon. Akeem Ademola Ige, the present Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor on Culture and Tourism who was then the Chairman of Ibadan South-East Local Government, Mapo, we would not be able to achieve as much as we did during my tenure and that was the tenure that opened the union to the entire world.
Everything started from the Ibadan South-East Local Government because it was the first local government that paid the bursary and that paved the way for us in all the other local governments in Ibadan. We left Ibadan South-East Local Government to Ibadan North-East, North-West, Oluyole and the rest of the city. It was the Ibadan North that paid last. Then Lagelu Local Government didn’t pay because they had the issue of zero allocation. Largely our success then started from Ibadan South-East Local Government under the leadership of the then Chairman, Hon. Akeem Ige.
Q: Apart from the bursary awards you succeeded in getting for students, what were your other achievements?
During my tenure, I remember very well that we collaborated with Ibadan South-East Local Government where we organised a health programme whereby people were tested for eyeglasses, their blood pressure checked and so on. It was a big programme that we did at Mapo Hall that very day. We also organised scholarship programmes where we got a lot of financial assistance to help the indigent students among us. Part of the financial assistance we got was used for payment of school fees, buying books and so on. I remember very well that we printed notebooks in two folds; one for Hon. Akeem Ige and the other for Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja, former Deputy Governor of Oyo State when he was at the National Assembly as a member of the Federal House of Representatives. We opened a computer centre whereby our students were trained to become computer literate. It was Ambassador Arapaja that gave us the first set of three computers that we used at that centre to kick start the programme. It helped the students in their academic pursuits.
Similarly, the current governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde was also instrumental to our success as well. I met him at his Ikolaba residence and he supported the union. There was a scholarship that was instituted in his name that was done at Green Spring Hotel at that time. His late father was there with us with some of his family members and friends where a scholarship was given to some students then. So our achievements are too numerous to mention.
Q: During your tenure, was there any time that you had a confrontation with the government before you got what you wanted?
Several times! There was a lot of confrontation by students but at the end of the day, we were able to get the management to a round table and we were able to iron things out. There were a lot of things that we didn’t understand at that time as students, for instance, the issue of zero allocation, the issue of budgeting, and the issue of primary school teachers’ salaries which happened to be one of the biggest problems that confronted the local governments and the issue of traditional institutions and so on.
So we started with confrontation until we were brought to the table and analysed all these things about the government. But we let them know that we needed help and needed to be accommodated in their budget as well which eventually happened. We thank God that during those periods we didn’t lose any of our students and that is the most important thing.
Q: You have been out of Nigeria since 2008, if you were to compare the education overseas to that of Nigeria, what would be your honest assessment?
Yes, there is a big difference. The first thing here in Nigeria is that people don’t take so much responsibility for their children’s education, they believe the government should take care of everything and when you look abroad though there is a lot of facility like a loan, you are responsible for your education. When it comes to studying in school you are largely responsible for that. It is your responsibility to pay for your children’s education and you have to pay for it.
So education there is expensive but here people think the government should provide for education which is somehow difficult to achieve if we are to be honest. The parents have to be responsible, the children themselves when they come of age they have to be responsible as well.
In the US, from kindergarten to the 5th grade, the government makes it free. This aspect is being handled by the communities’ taxes people pay but here in Nigeria how many people pay taxes? Where is the money coming from to execute all these programmes when people don’t pay taxes? So comparing the two is like two different worlds.
Q: What do you think can be done to reduce the number of drop-outs from schools?
This challenge is not peculiar to Nigeria or Oyo State alone; it is all over the world. The first thing I will advise is that people should have it in their mind that nobody owes them anything. The moment you prepare your mind that nobody owes you anything that will gear you up to your responsibility. There are some expectations from the government in terms of provision of security, good road networks, enabling environment and so on but when it comes to education it counts as personal achievements. It is the responsibility of every parent to invest in their children and the only way you can do this is to stand up and pay for their education. There is no other way than this.
For any nation to move forward it is not the sole responsibility of the government because where does a government come from? It is from among the people. So the followers and the people that are being followed are the leaders. Both have responsibilities. So as a citizen, you have to do what you are expected to do by contributing to the government and contributing your quotas to the development of wherever communities you belong.
Q: As a Nigerian living in the Diaspora, are you not worried about the level of insecurity in the country?
The issue of insecurity is not peculiar to Nigeria, it is a global thing even in the United States there is the issue of insecurity. The only thing that is there compared to Nigeria is the way the government institutions respond when it happens. What I will say about that is that no place is secured even the White House but the question is the way and apparatus of the government that was in place. I can tell you that there are some places in the United States that you cannot visit anytime after 5 pm because everybody owns a gun so you can be shot and can die on the spot and everybody knows that.
As I said, the question is the way the agencies of the government respond whenever the issue arises. Abroad, the police respond very quickly. There is a central line where you call 911 and within a twinkle of an eye, the police are there. So if that kind of thing can be done here and there is a quick response I think insecurity will be reduced to the barest. The reason why you are not hearing much about insecurity abroad is that they respond quite swiftly when someone is in danger. You call and the police respond in a few minutes. Unlike here when issues are happening like armed robbery cases and you call the police they won’t even come until the robbers had already left or sometimes they said they don’t have the equipment to confront the robbers.
So the government needs to strengthen those institutions and those are the people that make the government. When the institutions are strong there is going to be more development and people will trust the government.
Q: What is your impression of the current administration in Oyo State?
Well, I will say that Governor Seyi Makinde is doing well. He lived abroad in Texas and worked there. So he knows the challenges of governing a state like Oyo. I have seen some works going around in the state but two things caught my attention that I think his government needs to improve upon. One is the road. He needs to improve on fixing the roads so that people can move smoothly and more easily. The other thing is the cleanliness of the city. In some parts of Ibadan people still have the habit of putting their dirt in the middle of the roads, which should not be allowed in the state. I will advise that the government should have a centralised place where people can dump their refuse. So instead of putting dirt on the roads if there is a centralised place the government can pack it from there to the refuse site.
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