It has been a busy week at the Covenant University, Ota, in Ogun State, as the school on Friday (yesterday), graduated its second set of students. Among other things, the sprawling university campus played host to visitors from far and wide, particularly the well-wishers and relations of the graduating students.

As part of activities relating to the graduation ceremony, the Chancellor of the university, Bishop David Oyedepo, addressed a press conference on Monday, where he reacted to a number of issues concerning the school. Notable among such issues was Saturday Punch’s exclusive report, last week, that the university had ordered pregnancy and HIV tests for its final year students.

The chancellor, who has never left anyone in doubt about his insistence on good morals and discipline, defended the tests as one of the policies distinguishing Covenant University from others in the country. He said the aim of the tests was to turn out graduates who would be fit to occupy leadership positions in the nearest future.

Oyedepo likened the training of students to the art of bread-baking. After baking his bread, he noted, the baker would put it to test to determine whether it is good for consumption or not, and would not hesitate to eliminate anything in the bread that poison the eater.

According to the chancellor, a respected clergyman who is the presiding bishop of Winners Chapel, every student in the university as well as their parents knew about the tests before accepting the offer of admission. He said, “Covenant University has a standard that each student signed up to before they came in. We want to package and certify them worthy in learning and character, which is the conventional way of graduating. So, we conduct tests for everybody.

“It is a tradition in the university. Go to Cambridge; in those days, as a student, you could not enter the market without your academic gown. Every university has a tradition. It is unfortunate that some press people are making a noise out of it. It is unfortunate.

“We did it last year. We will do it next year. We will do it forever. It is part of our decision to ensure that what we send into the world add value to the world, not deplete value in the world. And we are the people who recommend them to the world. We recommend them based on what we know of them.

“So, we are conducting general tests for everybody. A man cannot be pregnant, but we must certify him as a product that is good for the public. So, it is a mandate in our university system.

“This is not LASU. This is not UNILAG. This is Covenant (University). The handbook was fully signed by the parents and students before they resumed. Covenant University has its own unique mission. They already knew what to expect before they joined the university. Covenant University is not a freelance university. You have to comply with the regulations.

“So, freedom here is controlled, and liberty without limitation is captivity in disguise. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

“I grew under my grandmother and I could not do what I liked, but what she liked. She is gone now. But, thank God, I am still living by the principles that she taught me.”

The chancellor advised journalists to embrace more of “positive reporting.” Referring to journalists’ attendance at the press conference, he said, “Where a house is burning, they (journalists) are quick to be there. But when major things are happening, it takes them some efforts to be there. We promote so much of our negative sides that the world finds it difficult to believe that anything is positive about the black man. I am glad for those who are able to come, and pray for those who are not able to come (to the press conference), because they are still holding the traditional belief that only bad news is news.

“Give my advice to your companions. You do not have to gather where the house is burning. Gather where people are celebrating. Covenant University is one of the great news of our time.”

Oyedepo expressed disappointment at the way the National Youth Service scheme is being managed, saying that whereas 1,200 graduates of the school qualified to participate in the programme, only 39 slots were allocated to it. He recalled that in November, last year, the university received a letter of commendation from the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier Y. Bomoi, over the performance of products of the school who participated in the 2006 Batch ‘B’ mobilisation exercise.

To him, the fact that so many graduates from tertiary institutions across the nation would have to stay at home for a year without the opportunity to work, due to their inability to participate in the NYSC programme for no fault of theirs, testified to the failure of the programme.

He said, “The programme is already failing and it is better for them (government) to be advised to stop the programme or get to work. Students live like animals in orientation camps. There are no beds. There are no toilet rolls. You use polythene bags to go to toilet and throw them to the bush. It is unfortunate that government has become insensitive and irresponsible. They have politicised everything.

“The issue of NYSC shows the failure of the educational system. They do not have any moral right to ask people not to work in a year because they are on the queue for the NYSC. It is satanic. Government should be warned through a sharp reaction from the public. So many poor people have sent their children to school, sweating out their lives. Now you see those children going to farm with their parents because they cannot work.

“In a school of 120,000 graduates, they have space for only 45,000. That means the next time, if the budget is not increased, you will only have 45,000. So, a lot of people might not get in until next year, and the ones coming next year might wait for the next two years. The same thing almost happens in medical school. You come out of school and you cannot get a space to do your housemanship; and after two years, the Nigerian Medical Association says you must go and rewrite your examinations before you can qualify for house job.

“It is a failure of the system and I think government should be well advised, if they would listen. But they hardly do.

“We have a very deaf government, with daft people. It is unfortunate. And I think the public just have to wake up and do something very sharp. That is my position on the NYSC. It is a very callous policy, it is a very callous decision. It is an inhuman decision. It is an immoral decision, and I think the government should be well advised.”

The bishop suspected that holders of state power were unfazed by what is going on simply because majority of their children are not experiencing what others from less privileged homes are passing through; and even when they do not participate in the NYSC scheme, they can always get the certificate.

“Poor people in Nigeria are suffering. The rich and the advantaged are riding over them like donkey, and I think that should stop,” he said.