OAU Professor Raises Alarm Over Nigeria’s Political Direction

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A retired Professor of Botany at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Prof. Omotoye Olorode, has criticised Nigeria’s ruling class, accusing it of increasingly acting against the interests of the people.

Olorode also warned that Nigeria is gradually becoming a bourgeois state.

He made the remarks while delivering the second annual lecture of Osun State University, UNIOSUN, titled, ‘Collective Bargaining in Labour Relations: Interrogating the impact of FGN-Staff Unions Agreements on the Nigerian University System’.

Speaking at the event on Thursday, the guest lecturer said university lectures remain important because they provide an opportunity to examine societal challenges openly and directly.

He said, “We do not have opportunity to address questions. It only what we hear on the broadcast stations and the studios things we see on the social media. This is really dangerous. The university system is in danger and it is in a really terrible position.”

Olorode also criticised efforts to weaken public universities in favour of private institutions, while expressing concern over the widening gap between different segments of society.

He argued that calls for university autonomy and academic freedom should not be interpreted as demands for elitist privileges or unrestricted licences.

The retired don further criticised the ruling class over what he described as attempts to model Nigeria after developed countries without adequately considering the challenges those countries themselves face.

He argued that such approaches have contributed to the country’s worsening security situation.

“This has fuelled insecurity and God is not going to answer anybody praying against insecurity because He did not create it.”

Olorode also traced part of the current challenges confronting publicly funded education to attacks on the public sector and trade unions between 1978 and 1988.

In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of UNIOSUN, Prof. Odunayo Clement Adebooye, said the university uses public lectures and other academic traditions to examine societal challenges and develop possible solutions that could guide government responses.

Adebooye added that public lectures contribute to the broader global advancement and exchange of knowledge.

The vice chancellor recalled that he had previously appealed to Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, to revisit the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN-Staff Unions Agreements concerning the Nigerian university system.

He explained that the lecture was organised to sensitise stakeholders to the dynamics affecting the university system and the consequences that could ultimately be borne by both the state and the wider society.

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