Campus: The Legal Status OF Student In Any Institution

 By David John
SUG Solicitor- UNICAL

You may ask – what do we speak of here. What are students’ legal status in an institution of learning? Well, students’ right or legal status is our right to attend classes and not have to leave home extra-early because the hall is not big enough.
Students’ right is our right to peacefully express our grievance and not get served a hot meal of SDC letters. Students’ right is our right to an environment that is conducive for learning, where there is ventilation, whether from ACs or fans. And I do not mean hand fans of course it the obligation of a student's to pay tuition and not have to struggle to pay attention while getting doses of education.

Kay Granger once said, ‘human rights are not a privilege granted by the few, they are a liberty entitled to all.’ And so, students have rights just like everyone else. But the point is; are we getting them like everyone else? For it is one thing to have a first class pedigree and it’s another to have a first class degree. It’s one thing to be eligible for bed space accordingly to the porter and another to be eligible according to unical portal.
It a topic of a clarion calls to mind some agonising ironies in our world and how some institution management as make right of a student's unattainable.
Do you have rights in reality? Yes we do. In the reality of section 295 of the Criminal Code which provides in clear terms that everyone above the age of sixteen may not be corrected by a blow or other force; and that excessive force shall not be used in any case. However, in the reality of NASU members, students are never too old to get a taste of the cane. In the reality of Professor O.M. Ndimele of the University of Port Harcourt, there is no wrong in tattooing the skin of students with parallel lines.
Do we have rights in reality? Yes you do. In the reality of section 36 of the constitution which guarantees for every person the right to fair hearing. But then in the reality of Almighty Student Disciplinary Committee, a student case is nothing but a case of two foxes and a sheep voting on what to shave for breakfast. In the reality of our lecturers, you are not innocent until proven guilty. Rather you are guilty with no chance to prove your innocence.
It the right of a student's to decide weather or not to purchase a lecturer textbook and not for the lecturer to compel either by duress or influence any student's to purchase it's textbook before writing exam's or submitting assignment so as to make good grades. It of Course seen like the brightness of the day that institution's rule's and regulations becomes handicapped and silence like the graveyard when  lecturer's in any university is guilty of any immoral behavior but it's suddenly becomes active and instrumental when student's are guilty of any offence.

Do we have rights in reality? Yes, we do. We do in the reality of the case of Garba & Ors v University of Maiduguri where the Supreme Court held that the expelled students were not granted justice by the university. But what we find in the reality of the school? We find numerous miscarriages of justice and somersaults of fairness as we found again two days ago in the case of  MOTE & ORS v. the SDC One wonders if the Disciplinary Committee itself has discipline. One wonders if it is even a committee or a martial court the rights of students sometimes is like a dancing mirage which dances energetically in the pages of our laws and on the tongue of our leaders; but which never gives an harvest of laughter. When it comes to our rights, our politicians and professors have a high blood pressure of vocal expression but an anaemia of profitable actions. Our rights are the cars which ferry Student Union leaders to their coveted offices during elections. But after elections? After elections, we will hear that there is hike in fuel price and so this car can no longer move. We hear that the bank of justice has been robbed and is bankrupt. We hear that the buttery of impartiality and welfarism has caught fire. Ladies and gentlemen, we hear all kinds of things.

…– how can we reduce something as fundamental as fundamental human rights to the fabulous tales of Ijapa tiroko oko yanibo? How can we reduce it to the fantastic legends of the seeker? Why should we have to doubt and debate whether or not student's have rights on campus's.

 Why do we even need student's court to advocate vehemently for our rights? Why? Well, I’ll tell you why. We need them not because our rights are a myth or a reality. We need them because our rights are a myth in reality.

Malcolm X once said; nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it. if you want to see your rights in 3D and not just on paper. If you want freedom, you must take it. If you want victory, you must struggle by all legitimate means– why because as we all know; aluta continua victoria ascerta.