Sunday, July 12, 2015

Bowen varsity, host community lock horns over power project


There is a row between Bowen University and its Iwo, Osun State host community over an alleged refusal of the former to offer financial support towards a power project which it now wants to benefit from, writes FEMI

Epileptic power supply which is one of the major problems confronting Nigeria is presently causing a strain on the peaceful relationship between Bowen University and its host community, Iwo in Osun State.

Unlike most other towns and communities in Osun State which enjoy fairly stable electricity supply due to the presence of National Control Centre located in Osogbo, the state capital, Iwo does not. It is connected to the national grid from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital obviously because of its proximity to the largest city in West Africa.



This development is however having a negative effect on the power supply in the town. Prominent individuals in the town were said to have used their influence to cause the Transmission Company of Nigeria to eventually site a 132/33 KV transmission station in the town to boost electricity supply.

Apart from the station working to ensure an improved electricity supply, its presence is now brewing animosity between the community and Bowen University, a private institution founded by the Nigerian Baptist Convention.

The university’s decision to connect to one of the phases on the station is infuriating members of the community who claimed that authorities of the varsity refused to assist when they sought help for the development of the town.

Bowen University is not enjoying steady power supply. This made some of its students to go on the rampage last year when there was a power outage during a UEFA champions league match.

At a meeting held by the Iwo community, indigenes of the town who spoke one after the other, expressed anger at the alleged refusal of the university to render any assistance to the community when they requested for it.

Market women, who were part of the meeting, also accused the management of the university of not patronising them in Iwo but prefers to travel to Ibadan to buy foodstuff consumed in the university.

One of the women, who identified herself as Amuda, claimed that the community had not benefitted from the university in any way. According to her, rather than being beneficial to the Iwo community, the university only benefits those outside the community.

She said, “We thought the university would be useful to us when it was established. But it has shown us that it was not sited in Iwo to assist us in any way. The university management prefers to buy whatever the school needs from Ibadan.

“We do not need the university in our domain again even if its authorities bring N10 million now our leaders should reject their money and ask them to go. They should go and facilitate how they will get their own step-down transformer and put it on their campus. We will not allow them to benefit from the transmission station.’’

One of the community leaders, Abdulganiyu Akande, said the community had suffered power cut for long until the TCN brought a 132-33 KV Transmission Station located along Ibadan-Osogbo Road in Iwo to alleviate their electricity woes.

He added that the management of the university did not render any corporate social responsibilities to assist the town when the people solicited their assistance

Akande said, “The issue is not only about the step-down transformer. It is more than that. The university does not employ any Iwo indigene. It employs people from outside the town and it does not buy anything from our people in Iwo. Its management prefers to approve the purchase of food items from Ibadan. It should not be so.

“On the step-down transformer, when the project started, the Iwo community called on the authorities of the institution to assist but they said they would not render any assistance until a document was signed to that effect. That was how they refused to help us.

“Now that the step-down transformer is ready, they are now saying they want to take one phase out of the three phases but the youth declined. If such an establishment is in a community, the community is supposed to be benefiting from it but that is not the case here. They should state what they will be rendering to the community before they can be allowed to benefit from the step-down transformer. Otherwise, if the elders agree to their demand, the youth will not.”

An indigene of the town, Abayomi Tadese, who claimed to be in charge of the transmission station, said the town had been in darkness for a very long time.

He said the people of the community were annoyed because their request for assistance from Bowen regarding the project was turned down.

Tadese noted that everybody in the community contributed to the realisation of the project except the university. He stated that the Iwo community donated the land where the transmission station was erected, artisans in the town rendered their services free of charge while notable individual provided borehole and a security house.

Tadese also claimed, like other speakers at the meeting, that the university had not rendered any benefits to the community.

According to him, the university rather than buying sachet water from the community produce sachet water inside the campus.

However, authorities of the university said those who came to request financial assistance during the course of the project refused to adhere to the rules of due process.

The Registrar of Bowen University, Dr. Kayode Ogunleye, who spoke to journalists, said the university would not give out money to individuals without properly documenting such.

Ogunleye said, “We are for peace. We will not do anything to tamper with the peace we are enjoying here (Iwo). But there was no formal approach from the Iwo community in regard to the request. If there was a formal approach, they should let us know.

“Can an individual just walk into an institution and expect you to give out money without documenting it? It is not possible that way. There are ways of doing things. We are not fighting them, they are our host and we do not want them to see us as their enemies but there are procedures.”

On the allegation that the university authorities had not employed any indigene of the town, Ogunleye described it as untrue. According to him, over 250 indigenes of Iwo community are employed by the university and some of them are senior members of the academic staff.

He said the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mathews Ojo, always urged the management team to give priority to qualified and competent indigenes of the town seeking employment in the university.

Besides employment, Ogunleye stated that the university also set aside scholarships for indigenes of the town for them to benefit from the quality education offered by the university to its students.

Some of the community leaders, who do not want the situation to lead to anarchy, scheduled a meeting to broker peace between the aggrieved indigenes and the varsity.

But the meeting scheduled for the palace of Oluwo of Iwo could not hold. The delegation of the university was present and some of the community leaders but the youth stormed the palace protesting that they would not allow the university to benefit from the power project.

Tadese, who briefed journalists, said the meeting did not hold because the contractor handling the project failed to show up.

The university management said it was ready to attend the meeting anytime the community was ready, stressing that the institution was established in the town for peace and would not do anything that would jeopardise the peace.

Some residents in the town however urged the state government and security agencies to intervene in the brewing animosity between the community and the university to prevent it from degenerating into a breakdown of law and order.

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