The Vice Chancellor of Fountain University, Osogbo, Professor Amidu Olalekan Sanni, has said that there is no country across the world where education is absolutely free, as some people pick the bills.
The Vice Chancellor spoke on this during an interaction with members of the South-West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP) in his office, on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.
Professor Sanni also said that the government had not been sincere about who pays for education, asserting that the idea of free education is not feasible anywhere.
He advocated a system of having a sort of student’s loan, saying “in Freetown, there is no free lunch.”
Delving into how he became Fountain University Vice Chancellor, he said: “My coming to Fountain University was actually by accident. All along, I was in Lagos State University for 34years as a lecturer. Anyway, I am still there unofficially because I still maintain my position there as the Chief Imam of the University. I have a number of colleagues who are members of what I can call Imam- In-Council. Everything in life should be a training ground. This is a system not individual. If you have a system in place, others can also take pattern and prove themselves, so to say.
“When I came on board here four and half years ago, we had just two colleges – College of Management Sciences and College of Natural Applied Sciences – with about 12 courses in place.”
“We don’t waste time, we have stable calendar, no staff strike, no students’ strike, no cultism and I will tell you why. And again, I am in a familiar terrain with you my brothers and sisters here. My first job was also as a TV producer. Infact, I was one of the pioneer staff of Television Service of Oyo State (TSS) which was founded by Chief Bola in 1982. I was their first producer to be employed. Incidentally, I was able to win the best producer award that time. I can tell you that I am in a familiar terrain with my family members.
Prof. Sanni went into the identification of the Fountain University with its Islamic foundation, but said it does not discriminate. According to him, “we don’t hide our religious identity, no apologies. Your belief is your personal matter and you should always be able to accommodate people on what they can offer you and not of their conviction.
“As I am talking to you, the head of our security unit in this University is a Christian, the Dean of our Post Graduate school is a Christian. In fact, he was the one who gave inaugural lecture two weeks ago which was on the 11th of this month (August). The head of our technical/works is also a Christian, he was a pioneer staff member of this University.
“We allow Christian students to go for church services of their choice on Sundays which we monitor. Once they are here, they are under our custody, we monitor where they go and to come back as well. So, we allow them to practise. We also allow our Muslims to practise. Of course, it is mandatory for them to go to mosque.”
Emphasizing the importance placed on proper orientation of students, the Vice stated: “Many parents are scared of the incidences of cultism and Yahoo Yahoo things. All our students here are residents, we accommodate all of them. They can’t just go out anyhow. If there is any reason for them to go out, we treat them not like secondary school students but we monitor them very closely.”
He disclosed that the tertiary institution has four colleges among which are College of Basic Medical and Health Sciences, which has the largest enrolment in the University and College of Law, which has been structured in a way that will make it practicall the best in Nigeria. “And I will tell you why, as this is not an advertisement. I have a lot of networks across the world, particularly in Europe, America and Arab world because I had lectured in German, I speak very good German. In fact, on the 2nd of September, one of the leading German professors who is a fantastic scholar has been invited to deliver lecture at Kwara sSate library. He has also agreed to come to Fountain University on Friday and will even pass the night. We have been able to have all these our networks to create greater platform for interaction with academics across the world. That is another plus to our University,” he said.
Speaking further, the Vice Chancellor said that the way things were going, people might not necessarily work with their degrees “because you might have studied marketing and end up being a fantastic event planner. So, we are trying as much as possible to develop skills outside the area of study.
“In Osogbo, we have what is called Industrial Centre. We have skills in ceramic, fabrication and several others. You could be studying law and be good in creative writing or a good rapper. We are trying to help our students to identify their potentials for them to be career makers rather than being job seekers.
“We are also taking care of people who have challenges with drugs and moral pervasion. We have what is called Academoral Centre. Some students due to peer pressure or trying to do something novel, fall into drugs, cultism and Yahoo Yahoo. The greatest thing you can do to a young man is to dismiss him from a University. Don’t try to do that unless as a last resort. Try to reform.
“We should be able to identify cultism, abuse use of drugs. If you have headache, you don’t chop off the head, you treat it. I have met with the NDLEA chairman, Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, they want to make us the Southwest hub of reform and entrepreneur for people with this problem. I have also met with the representative of the United Nations Office for Drugs Control (UNODC) in Nigeria, and they have agreed to train our staff members and those that are going to be handling it. We have a board. In fact, the latest member of our board is the Director General of Medical Research Institute, Prof. Salako Babatunde from Lagos. He is on our board and we have several people like that.
“What I am saying is that don’t just take care of the good or career students, if you don’t take care of people with perverseness, they are the ones to destroy things. Engage them. Some are not made to prosper with academics, all of us can’t be in the same train. We try to encourage those that are academically inclined and everybody. One of our female students just won the distinction in Data Science at the University of West England. Some of our students are also lecturers in the United States. Some of them are even professors now.”
