A 30th March 2023 circular by Service Compact with all Nigerians (SERVICOM) in the University of Calabar has disclosed that a security and administrative taskforce will be set up to sanction students especially female staff and students.
The circular tagged ‘Indecent Dressing’ and signed by Prof Egaga Patrick the director of SERVICOM in the said University while tasking female staff and students to model the dress code of the vice chancellor and her deputies (who are all females), and male students to model the registrar and Council chair, it says it will deprive defaulters ‘effective access into any of the university facilities or be appropriately sanctioned.’
The text of the circular reads thus: ‘The Directorate has noticed with grave concern the rate, preponderance and proliferation of indecent, provocative and unofficial dressing mostly by students and especially by some female staff.
‘Specifically, short skirts or gowns (above the knee), open backs, crap tops, braless tops and gowns, spaghetti finger, sleeveless tops, handless gowns, bikinis, see-through (transparent) apparels revealing contours, bum short revealing laps, slit skirts, body hugs, V-necks exposing breasts, tubes, stripless, rag (rugged) jeans, shorts (above the knee) sleeveless shirts, singlets, lingeries, sagged trousers etc will no longer be tolerated an campus with effect from Tuesday 2nd May, 2023. Consequently any student or staff clad in regalia or paraphernalia as mentioned above will be denied effective access into any of the university facilities or be appropriately sanctioned.
‘A combined Security and Administrative task force will be constituted to monitor compliance. For the avoidance of doubt, female students and staff are enjoined to model the Vice Chancellor and her Deputies’ dressing culture while male students and staff are encouraged to model that of the Council Chairman and or Registrar. Please kindly resist the temptation to be caught pants-down.’
Meanwhile, critics have disagreed with SERVICOM over this latest decision. For them, there more important issues plaguing the university. Rights lawyer and activist, James Ibor has said ‘The University of Calabar finally abandoned learning and character to regulate dressing SHAME. This same school stinks with staff-aided malpractices such as Examination malpractice, extortion, sexual assaults and a very poor learning environment. The rebranding effort SERVICOM has failed to promote scholarship and is dead on arrival’.
Development practitioner Ndodeye Bassey Obongha observed that ‘This shows how low our university system has deteriorated. Misplaced priorities. How many circulars and memos have emanated from them regarding the huge levels of sexual assaults, selling of admissions and even post UTME results, extortion by lecturers etc.? The university system has lost the moral audacity for this. They should launder their conscience of all the atrocities against students and Nigerians. SHAME ON THEM.’
Pascal Ezebong opined that, ‘The system has to change for the better. When I hear things that take place today which weren’t happening during our days, I feel a sense of sadness and pity on the students who have to go through all these just to obtain a certificate.’
A quick search on SERVICOM website suggests that the institution is responsible for the Nigerian public enjoying public service from public institutions, ‘conceived to promote effective and efficient service delivery in MDAs to ensure customer satisfaction and to manage the performance-expectation gap between Government and citizens as well as other members of the public, on issues of service delivery.’ SERVICOM was set up in 2004.
EDITORIAL
This story amongst others are reviewed on Sparkling 92.3FM http://mixlr.com/sparkling923fm–2 and FAD 93.1FM. Again, opinions expressed on NegroidHaven are exclusively the author’s not NH’s.
