Management, students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, disagree on cause of recent riot
‘It’s because we stopped male students from sleeping in the same room with female counterparts’- Provost
‘You lie; it’s because you made life unbearable for us’ – Students
From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
The students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, Imo State, penultimate Monday, went on rampage and destroyed, in the process, several properties belonging to the institute, in an orgy of violent protest.
By the time the dust settled down, the students had not only destroyed the entrance to the Provost’s office but also smashed several windows in the building and adjoining buildings housing staff offices. They allegedly made away with some cash and computer systems. They smashed as well, the windows, glasses and bodies of several vehicles parked in the compound.
In the aftermath of the protest, the management took step to forestall further damage and destruction by closing down the college indefinitely and proscribing the Students Union Government that, it says, instigated the protest under the guise of fighting for the welfare of the students.
So, what caused the riot and subsequent closure of the college? The answer depends on who you spoke to. Ask the school management, and you get to learn that the riot has nothing to do with the so-called welfare that the students are mouthing about but with the management’s decision to stop the restless youths from turning the institute’s motto from “knowledge and wisdom may flourish” to “knowledge of ladies and whoredom may flourish.”
The management’s decision to stop female students from sleeping in the male hostels at night when it got wind of the immoral practice on campus was the cause of the riot, the college authorities insisted. It had earlier threatened to rusticate any student who flaunts its order.
Alleged management insensitivity to students’ plight
Some of the students, who spoke to The Sun Education, debunked the claim by the management. Ikechukwu Nwogu, a final year student of Guidance and Counselling said that the crux of the matter was the insistence by the management that students must present all the receipts of their payment of the increased fee, before they could be allowed to sit for their second semester examination billed to start same Monday.
He pointed out that another issue was the lack of electricity supply to their hostels which added to the hardship of students living on the campus. “The major problem that led to the protest was not the directive of the management barring female students from sleeping in male hostels but the issue of lack of power and its insistence that before students are allowed to sit for the second semester examinations that they must show receipt of their payment of the increased fees,” he argued.
The enraged students, led by students’ union executives, pelted the Provost, Dr. Blessing Ijioma, with stones when she tried to the address them. She was swiftly whisked away to safety from the scene by her security details.
The case of co-habiting male and female students
So, who is correct? Both. Investigation by The Sun Education revealed that most of the female students on campus have been sleeping with their male friends without the knowledge of the school authority. It was learnt that the male students usually grease the palms of the porters at night to allow their female counterparts to pass the night in their male hostels. One of the female students who spoke to The Sun Education but who does not want her name mentioned, said that the practice is more common outside the campus where the male and female students live together in the same room.
According to her, “it is a common practice outside the campus but those inside the campus usually bribe the porters to allow their girlfriends to sleep with them in their hostels which is very bad. The practice has been going on without the knowledge of the school authority but when they got to know about it, the Dean of Students Affairs, Mrs. Maureen Iwu, barred both the male and the female students from visiting the opposite-sex hostels outside the visiting hours prescribed by the management.”
Another female student, who identified herself as Lucia, said that although she does not live on campus but with her parents in Owerri, she has noticed that the practice of male and female students co-habiting like husbands and wives is not peculiar to Alvan but is a general phenomenon in most of the tertiary institutions in the state. “l know some of my course mates who live with their boyfriends in Owerri. But it should not be so especially on campus. Those who instigated the protest are members of the student union government because they are the ones most guilty of the practice because they behave anyhow on campus.”
The riot and its aftermath
Defending the students, one of the staff who spoke to The Sun Education on ground of anonymity said although they also smashed his office windows and broke into his office and made away with his computer and some cash, he feels that the management should look into their grievances and see how to address them so that they can go back to studies. “We were supposed to start our semester exam on the Monday the students went on rampage. We were already fully prepared for that but see where the whole thing has led us to,” he lamented. “Nobody knows when the college will reopen for us to conduct the exam we were prepared for.” Describing as non-issue the much-talked-about co-habiting of male students with their female counterparts, he strongly criticised the fact that it, rather the students’ plight, has been placed on the front burner of issues surrounding the sudden closure of the school. “I think they (members of the management) are using it to curry public sympathy but it is unfortunate.”
The closure may also affect the first inaugural lecture scheduled to hold August 11, 2016 at the 1000-capacity, School of General Studies Hall. The lecture to be presented by the Provost, Dr Blessing C. Ijioma, is titled: “Sustaining Development in Science Education in Nigeria through Functional Research.”
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Inaugural Lecture/Public Lecture Committee, ABC Duruaku, announced that the lecture will now become an annual event in the college calendar and requested all qualified staff interested in delivering theirs to contact the committee.
Talking about the cause of the riot, it was learnt that the problem of poor electric power supply was made worse by the pulling down of electric poles supplying power to the campus by bulldozers belonging to the contractor handling the dualization of Amakohia-Orlu road for Owelle Rochas Okorocha government.
But during the protest, the students armed with placards, also demanded that the new increment in school fees, including that of Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, be suspended. They also asked that the 2015/2016 academic year financial budget of Students Union Government be released.
The Sun Education learnt that the otherwise peaceful demonstration turned violent when security men on campus, together with policemen attached to Imo State Police Command, Owerri, threw teargas at the demonstrating students. A flying teargas canister, it was learnt, gave one of the students a deep facial cut, while 15 others said to be asthmatic were affected and hospitalized in an undisclosed hospital, after the riot.
Six students were arrested in connection with the riot. Confirming this, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, said they would be charged to court after investigation for not only instigating the riot but for also throwing stones at the college provost who was on hand to address them.