Wow!
So they were so beautiful once.
Such projects as campus building and renovation and police barracks building and renovation should not be exclusive of each other.
They are both strategic. Students have died on account of poor maintenance of campus facilities, to give one example of how significant that issue is.
You may have alluded at the conclusion of your comment to the Remi Tinubu's donation of a huge amount of money to OAU.
I gave a report on this group in 2022 of the state of the built environment at OAU after a visit there.
Truly heart wrenching. Magnificent buildings in poor state amidst a glorious landscape, the landscape being the feature of the campus the school has been able to adequately maintain, along with the rich road network.
OAU is a design wonder, a globally significant example of synergy between the built environment and nature but the funds to adequately sustain that level of design ambition might have run out, hence all help is needed.
OAU also seems to have water problems, requiring tankers to help address.
The public transport system was poor, defined by mini buses far from being the most comfortable and even those inadequate in number.
The magnificent walking and cycling possibilities of OAU were underutilized because there were no cycle tracks and the need for pedestrian tracks was inadequately addressed, these due perhaps to Nigerian association of cycling and walking with poverty, while UK university towns such as Cambridge and Oxford, in contrast, have a rich cycling culture, even amidst a robust public transport system and ease of car acquisition in a society where such provision of options is strategic.
A friend of mine just completed her PhD at OAU and she states that if she had anticipated the rigours she would undergo she would not have done it at OAU,a central problem being unhelpful, Byzantine bureaucracy, inadequate accessibility of books, poor synergy between academic units, ego conflicts between staff and unprofessional interpersonal attitudes entrenching a culture combining uncritical reverence for professional office and gerontocracy, a far cry from when she did her MA there in the 90s.
The bookshop, appealing as a good no of its products were, ambitious as its aspirations clearly were when I visited in 2022 had rain water dripping to the floor from holes in the ceiling, hence buckets were placed under the holes to prevent the water reaching the ground.
The amount of money and social structuring required to return OAU to its heydays in the 70s to 90s is huge, requiring absolutely dedicated human power and even a fundamental change in the ethos according to which the place is run.
Efforts like Remi Tinubu's are vital in this task.
Whatever one might think of the ethics of her economic clout does not detract from the critical value of that effort.
It would be great if police barracks could get similar attention but may involve more complex issues than donating money to a university.
The police are members of the armed forces, and in a country like Nigeria, control of the armed forces is strategic to control of the country.
The Tinubu family, on its own or with the buy in of donors or the Tinubu Presidency are likely to be able to commence tearing down and rebuilding dilapidated police barracks in every state across the nation, and even complete some, but questions are likely to be asked about the motives for that, people wondering how altruistic the motives are as opposed to a plan to buy loyalty from the police.
There might also be a need to balance care of the army with care of the police, lest tensions between both units of the armed forces be exacerbated.
I at times dream of driving such renovations of police barracks through my own money, when I have such money or through a donation fund, while making it clear I have no interest in politics or I would pursue the project anonymously but how possible is that and how safe would such a project driver be in a country shaped by such intense and even desperate struggle for political power?
--You are apt on that observation, Toyin. In the early 1970s, the police barrack in Osogbo was a beauty to behold. It was a stand-alone, elite masterpiece. The one in Sango, Ibadan was astonishingly beautiful. I used to go there to watch the Canine Unit train their dogs. It was a class act. Today, I would not even pause to wash my hands near those two places. They are completely run down and dilapidated. The odor coming from those places are only reminiscent of the trench of an open sewage. Yet, folks still live there with their families. They are poorly paid and shabbily treated. How could they ever be expected to perform their duties well! I hope (and pray) for a lasting solution to their apparent predicaments. I would have admired a public figure donating one billion Naira to start addressing their sad condition than donating to improve a campus landscape!MOAOn Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 11:13:46 PM GMT+1, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com> wrote:You need to see police barracks. The ones i know are not fit for human habitation
--On Sat, Oct 12, 2024, 9:29 PM 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:--I am 100% in alignment with the thinking of the refined thinking and polished writing of Mr. Komolafe here. Honestly, there is the urgent need for police pension reform in our country. We are always quick to damn them as corrupt, full of itchy palms. But how could they not, if after putting much of their lives in the line for decades of their lives they are going to end up being paid chicken change at retirement? If we are serious about our safety, we should care about making the police comfortable - at least, a bit comfortable so a police officer could earn a living wage when it's time for him or her to hang up their professional gloves. Just my own thinking!MOAOn Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 02:45:23 PM GMT+1, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, Institute Of Information Management Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Editorial Adviser at News Updates(https://updatesonnews.substack.com)He is a recipient of International Award/Recognition For Excellence In Data And Information Management, with 253 mentions on Academia(academia.edu)as at July 22nd, 2024.
More about him here: https://independent.academia.edu/ChidiAnthonyOpara
--
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