The Vice-Chancellor of Baze University, Abiodun Adeniyi, says he has faced incessant personal financial demands since assuming office.
Mr Adeniyi disclosed this in a Facebook post on Thursday, recounting some of the demands he said began arriving after he became vice-chancellor of the Abuja-based private university.
“I became Vice-Chancellor, to His glory, and I began receiving a torrent of financial demands,” the professor wrote.
According to him, someone asked him for money to complete a house that had reached lintel level, claiming to have received a revelation that Mr Adeniyi was the person who would finance its completion.
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Another person wanted him to sponsor an overseas trip to celebrate his birthday because he had never travelled abroad.
“Yet another sent a text and requested a credit alert of ₦5 million to meet some urgent needs,” he wrote.
The vice-chancellor said he tried to explain to one of those seeking financial assistance that his salary could not accommodate the request, but the person appeared unmoved by the explanation.
Economic hardship and social expectations
Mr Adeniyi used the experiences to reflect on the wider economic and social conditions that encourage people to depend on relatives, friends and acquaintances perceived to be financially comfortable.
He argued that African societies are largely communal, with sharing, giving and receiving embedded in social relationships.
However, he said the burden placed on individuals perceived to be privileged becomes greater when unemployment, underemployment, inadequate social safety nets and poorly functioning institutions leave citizens struggling to meet their needs.
“The demands on individuals perceived as privileged multiply because of poorly managed systems, leading to unemployment, underemployment, inadequate social safety nets, and less responsive institutions,” he said.
Mr Adeniyi argued that better employment opportunities and stronger support systems could reduce the financial pressure placed on individuals.
“If citizens are gainfully employed and adequately supported, the pressure on others would be less, or perhaps completely absent,” he wrote.
Pressure and corruption
The professor also linked such social expectations to pressures faced by political officeholders, suggesting that the desire to satisfy persistent financial demands could be one factor contributing to corrupt behaviour.
“This may be part of why a political office holder seeking goodwill might steal or seek loans, looking for funds to respond to the accumulated demands,” he said.
“One can only hope that someday the economy will improve, and citizens can largely survive independently, or look to responsive structures rather than individuals; and perhaps compelled corruption may reduce,” he wrote.
Previous concerns over pressure on vice-chancellors
Pressure on university leaders has previously generated controversy in Nigeria, although the circumstances differ from Mr Adeniyi’s account of personal requests for financial assistance.
Mr Adeniyi’s account, however, concerns personal financial requests.
Adeniyi’s appointment
Mr Adeniyi assumed office as Vice-Chancellor of Baze University on 6 May.
Before his appointment as vice-chancellor, Mr Adeniyi served as registrar of the university. Baze University said he and the newly appointed registrar, Ahmad Mahmoud Lawi, had each served the institution for more than a decade.
A communication scholar and journalist, Mr Adeniyi has also recently examined the continuing social and economic ties between individuals and their communities of origin.
In a June article published by PREMIUM TIMES, titled “How your village is following you everywhere”, Mr Adeniyi discussed how migration and modern communication technologies allow ties with communities of origin to persist even when individuals live elsewhere.