By Chloe Inioluwa Oke
The recent death of a student at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) has brought renewed attention to student safety, particularly campus transportation and the university’s security arrangements. While the circumstances surrounding the incident have raised immediate concerns, they also call for a closer examination of the systems students depend on for their safety within the institution.
One of the developments following the incident is the confirmed discontinuation of the security checks previously conducted on students at the university gate. While the decision marks a change in an existing security arrangement, it also leaves room for a more pressing conversation about how the university intends to sustain the objectives behind the procedure.
Gate screening was one of the measures through which access to the university was regulated. Its discontinuation should therefore be accompanied by a clear and effective alternative. The absence of a particular security procedure does not eliminate the need for the responsibility it was designed to fulfil. Students should be able to understand what has changed, why it has changed and what measures now exist to address the security concerns previously managed through the process.
However, student safety is not limited to what happens at the university’s entrance. It extends to the everyday activities and services within the institution, including campus transportation.
For many students, moving around campus is not a matter of convenience but a daily necessity. They rely on university transport services to attend lectures, return to their hostels and move between different parts of the institution. This dependence makes the conduct of transport operators an issue that deserves more than occasional attention.
According to the account released by the Students’ Union following the recent incident, the disagreement reportedly involved a dispute over a passenger’s seat and an instruction by the driver for the student to hold on to a moving vehicle. The circumstances surrounding the incident make it necessary to examine not only the conduct of individual operators but also the arrangements in place to regulate their activities.
Students should not have to wait for an unfortunate incident before questions about the conduct of transport operators receive institutional attention. There should be accessible and clearly communicated channels through which students can report reckless driving, overloading, verbal harassment and other forms of misconduct. More importantly, these complaints must be treated with seriousness, investigated where necessary and followed by appropriate action.
A reporting system that exists only in principle offers little protection to the people expected to use it. Students must have confidence that speaking up will lead to a response, rather than their complaints disappearing into an administrative process with no visible outcome.
The university’s responsibility to its students does not end with controlling who enters its premises. It also extends to the environment in which they learn, the services they rely on and the standards of conduct expected of those who operate within its community.
There is also a need for clearer communication between the university administration, the Students’ Union and the student population. Decisions that directly affect students’ safety should not leave them dependent on rumours, forwarded messages or fragmented accounts to understand the arrangements meant to protect them.
Ultimately, the issue is bigger than gate screening or the conduct of a particular transport operator. It concerns the structures, accountability and institutional commitment required to make student safety a consistent priority.
A university should not have to wait for a tragedy to examine whether its safety arrangements are adequate. And when an existing measure is discontinued, the responsibility it once served must not disappear with it.
Student safety cannot be treated as a reaction to tragedy. It must remain an institutional responsibility, every day, and in every part of the university.