OCCUPY UNILAG

     

Democracy day in Nigeria is usually celebrated in a characteristic pattern. On the 29^th of May every year, many of us wake up early that day to listen to the annual presidential speech which usually begins with “My fellow Nigerians……..”. The 15 minute speech is supposed to remind us of the labours of our past heroes, brief us on some of the recent developments and assure us of progress as a nation. The live broadcast would end with the national anthem and people up and go about their normal business. The 29^th of May this year was pretty different, we woke up early as usual to listen to the broadcast but before it could end, there was an uproar!...what went wrong??. The president had announced his wish to honour the “mass acclaimed” winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola a.k.a M.K.O Abiola by changing the name of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to Moshood Abiola University, Lagos.

 

In less than an hour, UNILAG was trending on twitter. The news went viral on social media, people were shocked/surprised to say the least. There were a lot of questions but nobody was ready to answer them. 

                  

Some journalists were trying to analyze the issue on television when they were interrupted by breaking news which reported that the UNILAG students were already having protests in the school. They were protesting the recent change in the school’s name because they were totally against it. The students who were still mourning their vice-chancellor that had recently died felt that there were other pressing national issues than the renaming of a 50 year old university. They further explained that a lot of brands have been built under the name UNILAG (e.g Unilag water, Unilag bread e.t.c) and that the money that would be used to rename these brands could be put into other important ventures.

A lot of people didn’t see the big deal in the name change and so they asked;

Meanwhile, some members of the public could not understand the reasons for the protests because it was just a change in name and not location or any of the sort. This prompted the question on the lips of many…. “what’s in a name??”.  A name according to the English dictionary is an identity, it is what distinguishes a person or thing. Changing the name of a 50 year old institution takes more than meets the eye, it’s just like changing the name of a 50 year old man…. It’ll take a few years before his peers can come to terms with the change.

The next day the students came prepared and returned in full force, by this time they had tripled in number. They even went to the Medilag (LUTH) campus to recruit more students for the protests. The students used BRT (bus rapid transit) buses, cabs and okada’s as means of transportation during the protest… they were off to third mainland bridge. The students wanted to be heard and so they blocked a part of the bridge thus causing a traffic jam. They carried placards and cardboards, chanting different protest songs. 

 

      

The school was getting rowdy and students were going haywire and so the school authorities had to suspend school activities send the students home for a few days pending when the situation was resolved. The students and alumni of the school signed a petition rejecting the change in name and this got them a court hearing.

 

It was a case of no retreat, no surrender!

   

 There were some passionate people though ----------->

A University will always be a university. UNILAG peeps sure know how to have fun. :) 

 

School activities later resumed when the protests had died down and since then court hearings have been fixed and its either they are being adjourned or being postponed. A federal high court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos issued an interim order restraining the federal government from rechristening of the university pending determination of the suits on the matter.

…..LONG LIVE UNILAG; The University of first choice and the nations pride. 

GRACIAS.