David Olorunsogo
Babcock University (BU), a private Christian co-educational Nigerian university owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been accused of bullying its students and their parents.
BU is one of the first three private universities approved on April 20, 1999, by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The allegation, among others were revealed on a radio programme, which the institution’s Director of Communications, Dr Joshua Sulieman attended, which has been pinned on the institution’s website.
Some of the allegations sent to the radio programme, which the institution’s spokesperson was given the opportunity to speak on, are that Babcock University is a bully and vindictive faith based university and it bullies the vulnerable students and their parents into silence.
Promptly, Dr Sulieman refuted the allegation saying, “I don’t think that there is such a thing ever recorded in Babcock University.”
Rhetorically, Dr Sulieman asked, “Staff bullying parents, even students”, “Whether staff or faculty members bullying parents, there is no such thing”, he retorted.
His words, “We have not heard of any history of such things. But we have heard stories of parents bullying staff and we never did anything to warrant a sense of wickedness or injustice on the part of parents, no. No such thing has ever happened in the history of Babcock University.”
He added, “Now this is it. We have a disciplinary committee. Members of the disciplinary committee comprises of students representatives, faculty and in some cases, executive members of parents, that is, of the Parents Consultative Forum. Whatever offence committed by any student deliberated upon by this body, the decisions that are arrived at are jointly taken. It is not the sole responsibility of the University but of this committee as I said comprising student body, student representative, parents representative and staff representative.”
However, two parents who phoned in during the programme condemned the institution’s spokesperson for not been sincere, saying that it is expected of him to create positive image for the school because that is what he is employed for.
The first parent said, “I am a parent. I am surprised the man there is saying all these. Maybe he is not aware of what is happening in that school…What he is saying is a lie. Government should go to that school and see what is happening.”
The other parent said, “He is doing the job he is being paid for. He will not tell you what is going on there because it will cause a very big blow to the school.”
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