Name change: It’s not over yet, say UNILAG students

Protesting students of the University of Lagos over the re-naming of the institution to Moshood Abiola University recently.

The calm that pervades the main campus of the University of Lagos after resumption of academic activities last Monday after a three-week suspension may be shattered as students vowed to resume protests if the bill presented to the Senate by President Goodluck Jonathan is passed into law.
Students who on Monday resumed lectures after suspension of academic activities by the University Senate vowed to continue the protest until the name, UNILAG is restored. Nevertheless, classes were opened for lectures and hostels for returning students.
However, the hitherto busy campus in Akoka was relatively sparsely populated as most students on campus were predominantly freshmen completing admission formalities, and final year students.

According to Tosin, a freshman, lectures started on Monday without any interruption from protesting students. Prince Adeyemi Majid, a 300-level Education Administration student noted that the present peace prevalent on campus does not portray the true state of affairs as far as students are concerned.
“We have not accepted MAULAG in place of UNILAG because it is a brand name that needed not to be changed. We are calm because we are waiting for the outcome of the bill before the Senate. If President Jonathan really wants to immortalise MKO, he should associate him with something in line with democracy,” he said.
He added: “I heard President Jonathan proposing to build a presidential mansion, he could name it after the late MKO. Better still, he can rename Aso Rock as MKO Rock which could be seen as a national honour for the icon who fought and died for democracy.”

Speaking in the same vein, Oluwatosin Ogunbiyi, a 200-level student of Linguistics said students shelved the protest because they are waiting for the outcome of the bill President Jonathan submitted before the Senate.
Ogunbiyi said: “The situation on campus is calm not because we have accepted MAULAG, but because we are waiting for the outcome of the bill presented by President Jonathan before the Senate for approval.”
Nonetheless, he added, “I believe the situation will still go the way of subsidy removal protest by the whole country which yielded no positive result. At the end of the day, the federal might prevailed. If the whole country could not change the Federal Government decision on subsidy removal, UNILAG students who are relatively few cannot withstand it.”
ASUU Chairman, UNILAG chapter, Dr Karo Ogbinaka in his own contribution maintained that the university rejects the renaming, stressing that President Goodluck Jonathan’s power as visitor of the institution does not include the change of the university’s name.

VANGUARD NEWSPAPER