Laspotech Final Year Students Protest Prohibition of Signing Out

Laspotech Final Year Students Protest Prohibition  of Signing Out 

   - Management Claims Security Reasons

  -All Final Year Students Should leave The   School Quietly After Exams _DSA

  -SUG President : Decision Is Invalid

  -SUG PRO calls for Consensus 

By Nurudeen Adebayo

Final year student of Lagos State Polytechnic have protested the prohibition of signing out events by the management over security threat.

The school had via a memo dated 18th, of September, 2023, and signed by the Deputy Registra, Mrs. Adenike Adeyelu  stated inter allia that, “In view of the security report at the disposal of the university management , the university managemnt prohibites the usual “signing out”  celebration by students on final day of examination in the legacy institution across campuses”.

According to the memo “the decision of the management is to ensure and sustain the peace in the university ,which could be disturbed by such celebration,adding that consequent upon the foregoing,I am to inform you that with effect from Monday 18th september,2023,such signing out ceremony is prohibited in the univeristy”.

Students are however advised “to leave the campus once they are done with their examination,as any student found in such activity will be appropriately sanctioned “.

The decision of the management , no doubt did not go well with the student who claimed to have spent fortunes ,buying clothes ,shoes,bags and other apparels to make the day a memorable one , since according to them, they never enjoyed  matriculation and orientation programmes.

Speaking with Omoloye Barakat , a final year student from Computer Science, expressed her displeasure concerning the decision. 

“I am not happy with the decision, it has been a long way from  ND to HND and the school management are implying we should not should not sign out” she said.

Thelma Eze from Mass Communication department also lamented her displeasure

 “The decision is not nice, we spent so much time ,money and energy  towards the completion of this program.”

“The day is a special occasion for every graduating student, we have security and that's the purpose of having them, the security agencies should secure and safe guide the students.

“We should be allowed to celebrate and have evidence to show our parents at home ,she concluded.”

 Ayodeji from school of technology also said "They don't want us to sign out ,when I've bought cloth, Six years in this school and I should not sign out, they will have to pack us, how many cars will they use, everyone is frustrated and anger is in the air ".

Oluwatimileyin Garuba from Agricultural Extension and Management also said “The management decision was a catastrophic one and has caused emotional imbalance to many of us, writing their final exams. Do they want us to fail, he asked?

“It’s quite understandable that they might have their own reasons but proper communication channel should have been adopted.  

“At the same time safety preventive measure should be put in place, instead of total cancellation of the celebration, which will be of good memory to the students, he concluded.

Osula Emmanuel from Computer science department, also said “The decision is anti-student, we are at our final year, why are we just going to walk out of exam hall on the day of our last paper and they are saying we must not indulge ourselves in any form of sign out or else we would be arrested.

 “Our aim is to party together and take group pictures, instead of the school management to ensure we have a successful celebration, they decided to hinder the celebration process.

Adebisi from Business Administration also said "We are under pressure, we must sign out, no matriculation, the management cannot deprive us of our right, and the school should provide adequate security to ensure proper celebration.

Meanwhile, Temitope Joshua from Banking and finance department said “We cannot go against the school rules and authority, but this one at hand is a Frustrating issue, why shouldn't we sign out, this is our final year in this school and they are stopping us from making ourselves happy, let's just wait and see what happens next”.

Allen who claimed anonymity  said “It doesn’t make sense ,what kind of harsh decision is this, why is it happening in our tenure , I will be the first graduate in my family, I have been studying every day for the past five years, we are pleading, the school should provide necessary security for this celebration”.

Adekunle Asesanya from HMT department said  “ I think the decision is very wrong, because you can't just impose things on students without their consent , I did not do matric and  we should be given the opportunity to do our sign out in peace . The school should pick a date so all students that are signing out will come together and do whatever they want to do at that same time and everybody should leave the school premises and go to their houses for peace”.

SUG Vice President  Alli Cisse Eleduwe, disregarded the memo and said “ The school management should not refer to the polytechnic student as Legacy students, Don’t put Legacy for us again, we are not LASUSTECH we are LASPOTECH so they should not use legacy for us again, that was what caused conflict in Harvard university in 2020, it was 778 schools that fought for it then. This legacy is an obsolete word don’t use legacy for us again it’s causing Dichotomy which means we are not existing”.

Another student said “We feel cheated, a lot of schools have been signing out and we have been seeing it on social media and why do they have to tell us not to sign out and tell us that it is a security threat”.

“I have been in this school for seven years, I did my part time in my ND and this is my final year, why can’t I sign out, why can’t I appreciate myself. We have been deprived of a lot of things, they did not allow us to do convocation, orientation, matriculation and sign out is the only thing we want to do for ourselves, we are not accepting this, and they must allow us to sign out”.

All Final Year Students Should leave The School Quietly After Exams _DSA

In an exclusive interview with Directorate of Student Affairs (DSA), Dr. Adedamola  Aderogba,  explained to Laspotech Press Club that the decision made by the management is for the safety of the students , and advised all final year students to leave the school quietly after examinations.

He made it clear that “there have been reports from the State Commissioner of police about potential threat ,and any student found in such activity will be appropriately sanctioned, stressing that ,there are security reports on the management’s table and that of the security agencies that some of you are likely to cross security bridges during this examination period”.

“To distill this, the management had security meetings, contacted relevant security agencies for the purpose of protecting lives and properties which is a reasonable thing anybody could do,adding that, the Rapid Response Squad officers have been mobilized around the school premises, there are lot of officers round the campus which are not recognized by the students. Whosoever is caught with anything bad will be arrested and taken away to the police headquarters, so the decision is to protect the lives of innocent students throughout this period.

“Some students are planning to cause havoc immediately they finish their last paper, to avoid this, all final year students should leave the school quietly immediately they finish their exams so criminals will be easily identified, he concluded.

SUG President : Decision Is Invalid

Addressing the students at the Directorate of Information and Public Relations office, the Student Union President, Comrade Muftaudeen Surakat “claims the decision of the school is invalid, as none of the executive members of the student union body were present during the decision making process by the school management, according to the constitution of Nigeria, any decision made concerning student affairs ,a representative of the student , must be present. , When decision was made, is there any student representative there? I need to say this point-blank that the management has over stepped their boundaries”.

“We have been enduring their excesses; because we understand that we are the ambassador of the institution. Considering this, we have been considerate enough, we don’t have a conducive class to receive our lecture, and ND2 academic calendar is not in line.

“We are not carried along with their decisions, there is dichotomy between the university and polytechnic  students, the students do not rate us and we are the legacy students and without us ,no LASUSTECH.

“There is hatred and dichotomy that has been going on and spread by some set of people in this higher institution that we endure and managed to make sure there is no crisis.

“Now it is time for them to do justice to what we asked for, and  I can hear some people saying they are been threatened by the management. 

He concluded by saying “I am assuring you that we are going to sign out and no consequences and all departmental heads should wait behind.

Sug PRO calls for Consensus  

On his part,the Student Union Government mouthpiece Comrade Hassan Nurudeen, called all executives to remain calm and in as much as proper sensitization was not done for the dissemination of the information, all stakeholders, students should not forget their primary objective, to write ,pass examinations  and get home safe.

“The school is trying to safeguard every Student life and while students are fighting for their rights they should also be very careful about the primary essence that brought them to campus which is the examination, stressing that, If the  remaining exams seize to hold due to this protest , if problems emanate from the protest , are we  still going to sign out ?,he asked.

" While fighting  for us to signout, we should also be cognizance of the multiplier effect of the protest, if there is problem , it will delay our exams, delay our results, delay our service, that is why we have asked faculty president, SURC members and departmental  executives to wait till the management attend to us, he concluded.