How the Great Ife Students' Union Security Committee Has Been Managing Thefts on Campus
Theft has with no doubt been a deviant behavior that has constantly been tormenting the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) community over the years. This deviant behavior has caused quite a number of OAU students to lose many of their gadgets, including Laptops, smartphones, powerbanks, and several other valuable gadgets used by the students.
OAU students are known to be individuals who read both day and night. The university’s constant power supply, which ensures lighting in designated reading spaces, allows many students to prefer night reading to day reading. In fact, an average OAU student embraces night reading, put succinctly, “overnight” especially during the examination period. Many students' gadgets often get lost at night in lecture theaters when some students, reading unconsciously, fall into a deep sleep while their gadgets are not properly kept by their sides.
A 200-level student of Linguistics, who chose to remain anonymous, shared her experience about how she unfortunately failed a course in the 2022/23 Rain Semester Examination due to her inability to study effectively after her phone was stolen. In her words, "My phone was the core of my studentship at that time because I didn't really purchase hard copy materials unless absolutely necessary. I had the PDFs of all my courses on my phone before it was stolen at the OAU ICT when I went there to write the SEH 002 exam. The most painful part was that I had no choice but to rely solely on my jottings, which weren't well detailed; this resulted in poor grades."
Abdullahi, a final-year student from the Department of Accounting, also shared the trauma he experienced when his laptop was stolen from the spot where he had plugged it in at the 1000-Seater Lecture Theater during his first year. He added that he has been struggling to get another laptop, especially now that he needs it for writing his final-year thesis. Unfortunately, he has been unable to do so. He further recalls many of the opportunities he lost as a result of this theft.
OAU students reading at 1000-seaters LT
Speaking with a resident of Angola Hall who has had a similar experience, he claimed to have lost his phone twice during the short time he spent on OAU Campus. He narrated how his first phone was stolen at the Social Sciences Lecture Theater 1 (SSLT 1) while he was reading, after which his parents got him a new one on the third day. He said his new phone was stolen again in the Angola Hall reading room while he was studying for his exams. This left him confused and unhappy until he reported the case to the hall executives, who helped him find out that the phone wasn't stolen but was kept by his roommates, who had always advised him to return to his room whenever he felt sleepy, but he always ignored their advice.
It was discovered from various interviews conducted that many of these theft cases are usually rampant on the OAU campus, primarily during the examination period, as gadgets are frequently stolen in places like the ICT, Hall of Residence, Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library, and lecture theatres, mostly at night or whenever the students fall asleep. A number of individuals who are not even students of OAU have, over the years, been caught in the act and are sometimes paraded on campus; yet, this habit persists year in and year out.
However, the current Security Committee of the Great Ife Students' Union, whose function is the iron hand of the Great Ife Students' Union, has devised "Night Patrol" as a new method of reducing thefts on OAU Campus during the present 2023/24 Harmattan Semester Examinations period.
Although night patrol is neither a new nor special method employed by almost every past and present administration, what makes this significant is the fact that it is not a one-off scheme as it has been in the past. It was discovered that members of the SU security committee are always spotted in all OAU lecture theatres every night or at midnight, especially from the lecture-free week until the time this report is being gathered, to sensitize students on keeping their belongings safe whenever nature demands that they sleep, presenting different scenarios of theft cases that have previously occurred on campus. Students who have accommodation on campus are often advised to return to their hostels whenever they feel sleepy, while those who stay off-campus are also often asked to keep their gadgets in more secure places.
In every visit, the gadgets of students found sleeping will be taken by them as they hang around for a few minutes until those students wake up. Then, they will be further sensitized on the need to be security-conscious in this regard, after which their gadgets will be returned. This regular night patrol, which occurs every day (including Saturdays and Sundays), has significantly reduced the cases of lost gadgets resulting from overnight reading during the examination period, especially in the lecture theatres.
Chidinma, a student from the Faculty of Law, reported that her phone may have been stolen in the 1,000-seat Lecture Theater while she was asleep a few weeks ago. She explained, "I was deep asleep and unconscious when one of the security committee members removed my phone from my hand. When I woke up, I thought my phone was gone. However, the guy sitting next to me told me to go claim my phone at SUB. Fortunately, I found them outside the 1,000-seat Lecture Theater, and they returned my phone to me. I was advised to go back to my room if I'm feeling sleepy rather than risk losing my phone while dozing off in the lecture theater, especially since I have a space at Moremi Hall." She concluded by saying, "I have been yielding to their advice which I think have been effective so far."
In an interview with Musab Osunleke, a serving member of the Great Ife Students' Union Security Committee, he recalled that their motivation for the daily patrol stems from how they successfully suppressed theft cases during the OAU 48th Convocation Ceremony.
He said that the majority of the members were part of the previous administration, and they had carefully observed that theft cases were usually rampant during Convocation, Matriculation, in hostels, and especially during examinations or any important events. Hence, they ensured that they observed students as they rushed to enter buses at both the campus gate and the two bus stops during the last convocation ceremony. As a result, two men (non-OAU students) were apprehended on the first day of the convocation. The students were then made to form a single long queue to board the buses, preventing them from rushing into the buses, where someone might seize the opportunity to steal from them.
Through this, they successfully suppressed theft cases during the convocation. The same technique was incorporated during the matriculation ceremony, which also yielded positive results. These two events then motivated them to conduct their night patrols differently, as no administration has ever done night patrols for such an extended period.
Responding to a question about the effectiveness of the daily night patrol, he said the patrol couldn't offer a total reduction in thefts because it seems that OAU students are no longer security conscious of every suspicious movement around them as they ought to be. They no longer challenge strange faces or individuals they notice among them, which then paves the way for these individuals to infiltrate students and accomplish their mission. Nonetheless, he can say categorically that the measures offer more than 80% protection for gadgets and other valuable items. The only way it can be more effective is if all OAU students adopt a security consciousness of being their brothers' keepers and challenge any suspicious movements around them.
In his words of advice, Musab said, "Whether during or after exams, students should be security conscious whenever they read. On no account should they leave their seats while leaving their gadgets behind because these people work with time; they could steal and exit within 10 seconds. You should bear in mind that not everyone who comes to read is truly an OAU student; quite a number of them are outsiders whose job is to steal students' belongings. Our collective security consciousness is the only way to conquer them."
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