Student Get Degrees After A 16-Year Legal Fight in Nigeria
Sixteen years ago, Lanre Akinola
completed academic requirements to
receive a degree in statistics from
the University of Ilorin.
But Akinola had taken on
extracurricular activities: protesting
against military dictatorship and
filthy dorms.
The University of Ilorin withheld his
degree, and did the same two years
later to Rasheedat Adesina, another
protester.
Last month, 15 months after
Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled that
the withholding was “capricious,
oppressive, illegal”- the university
finally awarded Akinola and Adesina
their degrees.
While Nigeria is now ruled by an
elected, civilian government,
universities continue to punish
activists and conditions on campuses
in Africa’s most populous nation
have reportedly gotten no better.
“Conditions have only changed for
the worse,” said Hassan Taiwo
Soweto, national coordinator with
the local Education Rights Campaign.
He pointed to a recent protest at the
University of Lagos, where students
complained mattresses are infested
with bed bugs and toilets are stopped
up.
Akinola told The Associated Press
that the university’s actions hurt
him. He had always wanted to be a
statistician but could not get work
without a degree.
“It was a struggle. I got by with help
from family and friends,” he said.
In 2006, he finally qualified with the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Nigeria, ICAN and now works for an
accounting firm.
0 Comments :
COMMENT