We use this medium to welcome the matriculating students of Obafemi Awolowo
University into another academic phase. We wish you success in your academic
pursuits on campus and we remain hopeful that your generation would be a
fulcrum of redemption to the university and nation at large.

From the little experience you must have garnered during your brief stay on
campus; it must have occurred to you, the need for an urgent response to a lot of
crises and shortcomings within the university system, which pose a threat to our
collective interest on campus. As proven by historical precedence, periodic crisis
are peculiar to each generation of students and they ought to be intellectually
combated by organized union structure.
However, we must admit that the challenges of our generation are unprecedented
and huge. It has never been the case that a larger nu mber of fresh students would
be unable to secure accommodation on campus but, unfortunately, this is the current situation.
The lack of accommodation on campus has deprived our dear freshmen of their
comfort and security. Also, we are aware of the heavy exploitations,
transportation challenges, security challenges and most especially , sexual
harassment that is being perpetrated in town, which also raises its ugly face on
campus as well. We make bold to assert that the Action Committee alongside the
mass of students and most importantly the fresh students- remains resolute in
making sure that such ugly situations is brought to an end.

We must however inform you that the genesis of the present crisis faced by students is the persistent attack on the students’ union by the administration
which in turn also gave chance cruel accommodation policy imposed by the university management. This policy has driven the mass of students outside
campus, hence, resulting in a lot of grotesque developments. As Intellectual
Fighters for Emancipation (IFE), ours is not to lament but to proffer solutions to
the oppressive problems endangering the survival of our generation .

It is ever more glaring that the attacks on the organization of students personified
in the Students union has more than given university administration a free ride in
oppressing students and turning the school more and more into a business
enterprise even when vital facilities such as the university health center continues
to suffer from ill-equipment and dwindling number of staff as well as hostel
structures in inhabitable and pitiable conditions for undergraduates.
We have carefully highlighted with explanations, some of the major factors that
are crucial to our existence on campus;

CURRENT CRISES ON OAU CAMPUS

 Accommodation crisis: It is pertinent to state that the primary essence of
residing on campus is to guarantee the adequate security and welfare of
students during their study in this great institution. Also, despite the annual
increase in the number of admitted students, the management has not deemed
it fit to expand the carrying capacity of the facilities while the existing
structures have been left unattended to. It is however an undeniable fact that
the university has enough land and material resources for the construction of
more hostel facilities. Yet, expensive private hostels are now built in areas offcampus such as Parakin area, Ile-Ife by the university management with
university public funds, in a bid to keep exploiting our freshmen withy
exorbitant house rents.

 With logical deductions from the previous analysis, it is obvious that the
accommodation policy is nothing but a disguise by the university management
to enrich their pockets by exploiting students who were given no choice but to
seek private hotels owned by lecturers outside campus.

Transportation crisis: As stated earlier in the preamble, the transportation
crisis is one of the logical consequences of the accommodation policy. The
mass of students, which have always resided on campus are now residing
outside campus and this has led to the transportation crisis in which untimely
availability of commercial bus and unavailability of bus in most cases. This
transportation crisis is the reason many students miss lectures and attendance
which will be catastrophic in times of tests and exams because of the transportation crisis. Factually speaking, we make bold to assertions that the
only viable solution to the accommodation crisis can only be solved by the
construction of more hostels on campus.

 *Security:* As we all know, the students security has can only be achieved
through a collective consciousness and mass of students. We must not forget
that the recent accommodation policy which has driven the mass of students
outside campus poses a lot of security threats to all students (who reside inside
and outside campus). Already, there are symptoms indicating the rise of
cultism on campus. More so, this is not stated to imbibe us with fears but a
call for radical response to curb the growing wings of cultism on campus. As it is now the town-dwelling students face constant security threats of burglary,
rape, ethnic/street clashes and cult attacks and influence as students of our
great university mix with cyber-criminals and political thugs from other
institutions

 *OAU5 court case:* The five students, who were victimized by the
management for resisting the eviction of Moremi hall students and the mutilation of their property, are still in court and we implore you to join us as we go to Ife high court on the 14th of June, 2018 and any other day if adjourned.

SOLUTIONS TO THESE AFOREMENTIONED CRISES

 Students must organize: The only way to achieve any victory is to
organize regardless of our divergent backgrounds and interests and play
active part in union activities and unionism as a practice. It is only with our
collective intellect, strength and voice that our present problems will be
resolved.

 A popular congress must be held: In OAU, egalitarianism remains the
culture and in order to make sure everyone is carried along, a popular
congress will have to resolve on pertinent matters affecting the union. This,
students must prepare for and participate.
The Students’ union building must be liberated: As long as the SUB is
still under restriction, the accommodation policy cannot be overcome.
Before the management could evict students from their halls of residences,
they had to firstly, evict unionists from their sacred abode, the students
union building.

 We must initiate a national campaign against underfunding of
education: One of the reasons we are facing accommodation crisis on
campus is because of the underfunding of Nigeria’s educational sector and
the best way to eradicate all institutional mishaps in Ni gerian universities is
to campaign against the underfunding and proper monitoring of funds being
disbursed to the education sector to avoid mismanagement of funds in
institutions.

Once again, we congratulate you on your successful matriculation and implore
you to always join the gathering of your union, brethren.

ALUTA CONTINUA VICTORIA ASCERTA!

ACTION COMMITTEE