My Thoughts On The Bowen Riot And Other Relating Mathers

This post is long like seriously long compared to most of my other posts, maybe cuz the issue relates to me so much, so if you don't wanna read long ass stuff, yes James and Lash i'm talking to you guys, you can just quit now.  

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ALUTA!

I met up with a friend of mine who schools in Bowen University where there was an insurgence recently and he gave me the gist of the incident. I understand perfectly why they thought the riot was necessary. The school management decided to increase their school fees while basic amenities like electricity and water were lacking, they had light for just about three hours every day and water became a scarce commodity, also new unreasonable rules were springing up regularly and the complaints of the students were falling on deaf ears. The Vice chancellor of the institution was described as stubborn, arrogant and greedy.

I also attend a private university and I can understand why they felt they had no other choice but to do what they did. In most private universities in Nigeria students don't have a voice and our opinions do not matter in the least and you know what they say about backing people into a corner for too long. The reaction from students of other private unis including mine wasn't what i expected, instead of showing support for the bowenites who were brave enough to take a stand they have decided to criticize them for their actions, they were referred to as touts and undisciplined individuals amongst others. Come on, some were even asking why they didn't opt for a peaceful protest instead, that would never work, they would probably just get the details of the protesters and punish them, labeling their crime as "Gross insubordination" and "Disrespect for the university's core values" , something like that.

 I mean because you don't have the courage to do something or because its not necessary where you are doesn't mean you should condemn others for their actions that arose out of necessity. I mean i know its not necessary in Covenant university where I study, when it was, we did nothing, like we didn't even go past the point of complaining amongst ourselves. We had no light, the water situation was bad though not as bad as Bowen's from what i heard, and that was all around the period when more than 600 students were expelled out of anger. The students were later given diluted punishments after the expulsion was cancelled because of the river of lawsuits the school was inviting. At that period a lot of 'pastors' were deployed into our school to monitor our every move and a lot of rules were taken overboard. Did we even try to protest? No. We were always told the light situation was being worked on with no visible work being put to that effect. Did we do more than grumble? No. Thank God for our Vice Chancellor who later told us the truth that they were nowhere close to fixing the problem but it was still being worked on, if not we would have just gone on expecting the situation to get better as ignorant, obedient students should. If there was a time for a protest in Covenant, it was then, but nothing close happened. True things did eventually get better regarding the amenities but nothing has changed with the complete lack of regard for the opinions of the students by the school management.

All that happened because of the mindset the management have. They know they can do anything they want and at any pace they want and all we can do is send our glorified prefects of the student council into a meeting with them that would affect their decision in no way whatsoever, and sadly that's the situation with all private unis now. Some people said that if the Bowen students knew they wouldn't be comfortable with the rules they shouldn't have applied for the school or they should have left when it got too much for them, like seriously? The situation keeps on deteriorating and besides no matter what kind of institution the students should have a say and not be expected to just be obedient dogs. In a tertiary institution students should hold a degree of power and the management shouldn't abuse theirs, and you don't just abandon a school because it has become uncomfortable, you try to work out a way to make it better, your school should be a place you're proud of.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not encouraging riots, i'm only saying that it was necessary in the Bowen incident though they took it too far with the looting of the shops that belong to outsiders. I hope the management of private universities around the country take note of this and change their ways because if they continue along their current path of frustrating students, more riots will ensue. I mean they keep telling us to be world changers and stand against injustice and all that but the same people try to clip your wings by giving you no say whatsoever and subjecting you to unnecessary rules you mustn't complain about. The irony. I'm not saying we should be allowed to do as we want, i'm just saying all rules should be within reason and any new rule must have a genuine ground on which it was considered necessary and the students should be made aware of that. And we should not be treated like children, we should be treated like the Kings, Queens, Leaders and World changers we're always told we are and nothing less. We deserve that. 

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Congrats if you made it this far, thanks for completing this journey of words with me, I had more thoughts but well writing anymore would have been too much. Use the comment section to share your thoughts, i won't be surprised if none of my friends get this far.