The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Aluta

  • Redefining the concept of Aluta

    It is a fact that man runs mad after having too much dose from the gourd of power. How wonderful it would be if he only runs mad. But no! He also runs after the bliss of others, for the madness thrills him so, and only he must have a taste of it. He knows full well that to graduate in madness, the sanity of others is a threat; and to broaden his highway of power, walls of liberty must be crushed.

    It is a fact that when man beholds the sight of power through the grip of other’s liberty, he shall not be talked out of it except with a decree from the world unseen. Either for the fear of ‘retrogression’ or for the protection of his albatross-like ego, he will not voluntarily let go of this grip. And it is because of this that struggle, alias aluta, is inevitable.

    I am not sure this reality has been better captured by any other than Malcolm X, who said: “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you are a man, you take it.”

    For the record, Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States (U.S.), also remarked: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is the natural manure.”

    ‘Struggling’ for the attainment of freedom has taken several shapes over time – protests, rallies, riots, assassinations or even outright revolutions. History blesses us with more than enough examples, ranging from the 1960 rally against Anglo-Nigerian Defence Pact to the Ali Must Go protest of 1978.

    Many have debated the efficacy of protests. Some say they are unnecessary, that they wreak more havoc than they bring advantages. Some even assert protests are ungodly. God has chosen our rulers for us and we must submit to them, just as a wife must to her husband. What we can do is call them privately and talk gently to them, or look inward to effect a change through our own lives. Besides, are the rulers not an inseparable reflection of the people?

    Well, as lip-smacking as this moot point is, it is not my instant concern. The focus of this discourse is to suggest improvements and replacements for the hackneyed methods we are used to, especially on campuses. This is in the light of recent developments in places, such as the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Lagos (UNILAG) and University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT), among others. The school administrators have now become analogous to the proverbial bird which has learnt to fly without perching, because the hunters also have learnt to shoot without missing.

    The failure and inadequacy of the popular approach to unionism is too obvious to deserve illustration. The approach mostly is no different from a man trying to spit on the sun. No doubt, the more he tries, the more saturated he becomes for his sputum has just about enough fuel to get it back home.

    It is painful to observe that many student unions lack the basic tools needed for a successful protest. They call congresses of more than a thousand students in attendance, yet they use cheap megaphones with worn out batteries for public address. At the end of the day, the student-leaders end up speaking to themselves. For most students, during the eventual protest, they will be unable to highlight the hard facts or the basic premise. This is wrong. Solid, sound and standard public address systems have to be acquired, if for nothing else, for the purpose of protests. It will not only aid mobilisation and communication, but understanding too.

    Also, I have found that 21st Century students’ unionism is yet to grow beyond 20th Century technological reality. We easily accuse our parents and lecturers of being old school and conservative, but how different are ourselves in the things that actually matter? Protests today are mostly about raising dust, beating drums and shouting eloquently to the high heavens. We are yet to really understand and fully utilise the potentialities of the social media and similar channels. The struggles always start and end within the four walls of school premises, except perhaps someone dies and it reaches the desk of a judge. This is not good for student welfarism.

    However, the inherent powers of Facebook and Twitter nonetheless, they should not be the very first resort. Their instrumentality should be reserved in the arsenal. And just as you would not go to the school principal whenever your pencil is stolen, it is not in all cases you run to the people’s court for justice. The world is too busy to attend to trivialities.

    Having talked about the new media, we also must not forget the print media. And the reason for this is simple – not everyone is online at most times, not everyone will come across your struggle on the internet and not everyone has patience to want to know what the goings-on in your school are.

    Students need to also learn the crucial role placards and banners play in a public demonstration. They tell the world the demands of the aggrieved persons, and just like tweets, they do so epigrammatically. Pictures which go viral on the media will never carry with them the ‘greatest gbagba’ and ‘greatest gbogbo’ of the Students’ Union leaders. But with placards, they carry even more.

    This brings me to another issue which must be addressed: the fear students nurse against taking of pictures during protests. Often time, students and journalists who try to do this get harassed and have their devices either seized or smashed. It is my humble submission that this is a demonstration of cluelessness, especially when the protesters are enormous in count and the mode is reasonable.

    Unless, anyone gets something to hide, there is no need to be aggressive towards the cameras. In fact, if well utilised, cameras would promote the struggle beyond expectation. If you are afraid of being associated with a protest, then you have no business calling yourself an activist or complaining when things are not in order.

    Boycotting some activities, especially lectures, is equally a great way to grab attention. The hurdle here, however, is that students often lack a unity of purpose and a unity of action. When a leader says ‘do not attend lectures’, we will have some, in fact many, who would go, sign the attendance, sit for the test and put their colleagues into trouble. This apathy has been attributed in some quarters to the fact that the majority of undergraduates nowadays are timid teenagers who may pee in their underpants should they hear of trouble.

    We might also consider importing the art of hunger strike, but everyone knows this one is dead on arrival. Our leaders will simply go on with their business as though nothing is happening. If you die, not only will your closest friends join the ‘enemy’ to blame you, the law will fold its hands, if not even wave you goodbye.

    I recently heard though that a student of UI has attempted this; it’s not only Herculean but Sisyphean feat in the past. My source told me others later joined him after they realised he was serious. But then, I still have my doubts. Something tells me the chap was nibbling at some food when nobody cared to look. In any case, he tried.

    Well, I take a glance through the pages and I just realised how bored you must now be. If you have endured with my flight of thoughts till this moment, do accept my sincere thanks. I shall sign off by saying protests must never be seen as an end in themselves. They are merely a means to an end. They are tools for a people with lesser strength to jack up their bargaining power and get them to the roundtable. Students should approach them with all sense of civility and open-mindedness. They should also never be caught on the wrong side of reason or seen making outrageous demands. Only then can perpetual victoria be acerta.

     

    • ‘Kunle is a student of University of Ibadan

  • Redefining the concept of Aluta

    It is a fact that man runs mad after having too much dose from the gourd of power. How wonderful it would be if he only runs mad. But no! He also runs after the bliss of others, for the madness thrills him so, and only he must have a taste of it. He knows full well that to graduate in madness, the sanity of others is a threat; and to broaden his highway of power, walls of liberty must be crushed.

    It is a fact that when man beholds the sight of power through the grip of other’s liberty, he shall not be talked out of it except with a decree from the world unseen. Either for the fear of ‘retrogression’ or for the protection of his albatross-like ego, he will not voluntarily let go of this grip. And it is because of this that struggle, alias aluta, is inevitable.

    I am not sure this reality has been better captured by any other than Malcolm X, who said: “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you are a man, you take it.”

    For the record, Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States (U.S.), also remarked: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is the natural manure.”

    ‘Struggling’ for the attainment of freedom has taken several shapes over time – protests, rallies, riots, assassinations or even outright revolutions. History blesses us with more than enough examples, ranging from the 1960 rally against Anglo-Nigerian Defence Pact to the Ali Must Go protest of 1978.

    Many have debated the efficacy of protests. Some say they are unnecessary, that they wreak more havoc than they bring advantages. Some even assert protests are ungodly. God has chosen our rulers for us and we must submit to them, just as a wife must to her husband. What we can do is call them privately and talk gently to them, or look inward to effect a change through our own lives. Besides, are the rulers not an inseparable reflection of the people?

    Well, as lip-smacking as this moot point is, it is not my instant concern. The focus of this discourse is to suggest improvements and replacements for the hackneyed methods we are used to, especially on campuses. This is in the light of recent developments in places, such as the University of Ibadan (UI), University of Lagos (UNILAG) and University of Port-Harcourt (UNIPORT), among others. The school administrators have now become analogous to the proverbial bird which has learnt to fly without perching, because the hunters also have learnt to shoot without missing.

    The failure and inadequacy of the popular approach to unionism is too obvious to deserve illustration. The approach mostly is no different from a man trying to spit on the sun. No doubt, the more he tries, the more saturated he becomes for his sputum has just about enough fuel to get it back home.

    It is painful to observe that many student unions lack the basic tools needed for a successful protest. They call congresses of more than a thousand students in attendance, yet they use cheap megaphones with worn out batteries for public address. At the end of the day, the student-leaders end up speaking to themselves. For most students, during the eventual protest, they will be unable to highlight the hard facts or the basic premise. This is wrong. Solid, sound and standard public address systems have to be acquired, if for nothing else, for the purpose of protests. It will not only aid mobilisation and communication, but understanding too.

    Also, I have found that 21st Century students’ unionism is yet to grow beyond 20th Century technological reality. We easily accuse our parents and lecturers of being old school and conservative, but how different are ourselves in the things that actually matter? Protests today are mostly about raising dust, beating drums and shouting eloquently to the high heavens. We are yet to really understand and fully utilise the potentialities of the social media and similar channels. The struggles always start and end within the four walls of school premises, except perhaps someone dies and it reaches the desk of a judge. This is not good for student welfarism.

    However, the inherent powers of Facebook and Twitter nonetheless, they should not be the very first resort. Their instrumentality should be reserved in the arsenal. And just as you would not go to the school principal whenever your pencil is stolen, it is not in all cases you run to the people’s court for justice. The world is too busy to attend to trivialities.

    Having talked about the new media, we also must not forget the print media. And the reason for this is simple – not everyone is online at most times, not everyone will come across your struggle on the internet and not everyone has patience to want to know what the goings-on in your school are.

    Students need to also learn the crucial role placards and banners play in a public demonstration. They tell the world the demands of the aggrieved persons, and just like tweets, they do so epigrammatically. Pictures which go viral on the media will never carry with them the ‘greatest gbagba’ and ‘greatest gbogbo’ of the Students’ Union leaders. But with placards, they carry even more.

    This brings me to another issue which must be addressed: the fear students nurse against taking of pictures during protests. Often time, students and journalists who try to do this get harassed and have their devices either seized or smashed. It is my humble submission that this is a demonstration of cluelessness, especially when the protesters are enormous in count and the mode is reasonable.

    Unless, anyone gets something to hide, there is no need to be aggressive towards the cameras. In fact, if well utilised, cameras would promote the struggle beyond expectation. If you are afraid of being associated with a protest, then you have no business calling yourself an activist or complaining when things are not in order.

    Boycotting some activities, especially lectures, is equally a great way to grab attention. The hurdle here, however, is that students often lack a unity of purpose and a unity of action. When a leader says ‘do not attend lectures’, we will have some, in fact many, who would go, sign the attendance, sit for the test and put their colleagues into trouble. This apathy has been attributed in some quarters to the fact that the majority of undergraduates nowadays are timid teenagers who may pee in their underpants should they hear of trouble.

    We might also consider importing the art of hunger strike, but everyone knows this one is dead on arrival. Our leaders will simply go on with their business as though nothing is happening. If you die, not only will your closest friends join the ‘enemy’ to blame you, the law will fold its hands, if not even wave you goodbye.

    I recently heard though that a student of UI has attempted this; it’s not only Herculean but Sisyphean feat in the past. My source told me others later joined him after they realised he was serious. But then, I still have my doubts. Something tells me the chap was nibbling at some food when nobody cared to look. In any case, he tried.

    Well, I take a glance through the pages and I just realised how bored you must now be. If you have endured with my flight of thoughts till this moment, do accept my sincere thanks. I shall sign off by saying protests must never be seen as an end in themselves. They are merely a means to an end. They are tools for a people with lesser strength to jack up their bargaining power and get them to the roundtable. Students should approach them with all sense of civility and open-mindedness. They should also never be caught on the wrong side of reason or seen making outrageous demands. Only then can perpetual victoria be acerta.

     

    • ‘Kunle is a student of University of Ibadan

  • ‘Aluta’ tutorials for Okopoly

    Hardball must confess to be most impressed by this report wafting out of Oko, in Anambra State; the community made famous in Nigeria by the fact that it is the hometown of former number two man in Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme. And Oko also boasts a Federal Polytechnic that Hardball would want to describe as ‘once precocious’.

    So why is Oko trending in Hardball-sphere? Well, last Friday, about 200 Oko women, reported to be largely in their 80s held Oko town spellbound and perhaps locked-down when they carried out what has been described as a spectacular protest march which would make student leaders green as well as rethink their activism strategies.

    The great grannies were quite methodical and most effective too: they had set off quite early, – 7 am. They started with prayers, did a procession to the gate of Oko Polytechnic, then to the palace of the traditional ruler where they also made prayers. They finally assembled at the town’s civic centre where they addressed the press and made closing prayers.

    Their grouse is that the institution, Oko Poly, which they claim to be the only federal ‘presence’ in the town had totally alienated the people with zero employment policy. They said standards have fallen in the school and the students are beleaguered with all sorts of fees. It seems, they claim, that the “Management is only interested in how to make money.”

    Quietly, unobtrusively, they made their point: “Our eyes are full of tears. We are crying because we are supposed to benefit from the institution, but the leadership is giving the impression that we do not have a stake here.” They urged the traditional ruler and President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene to forestall a possible breakdown of law and order.

    But Hardball is more concerned here about their method than message. These grand old grannies have just shown that effective protests need never have to be riotous and opprobrious. Unless of course a protest is designed to upset and cause mayhem, most of it is actually supposed to call attention of authorities and create public awareness to a particular plight. But often out of ignorance, protests go out of control and their purposes are defeated at the protest grounds.

    These old ladies have managed to make one damning point against the management of Okopoly and that is: don’t take your host community for granted. It’s ‘aluta’ with panache.

     

  • Varsity unveils Aluta newspaper

    It was a day of glamour and style at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University; Awka, when it unveiled the Aluta Newspaper during the second edition of the Aluta Conference held in the university auditorium.

    The event was attended by top politicians and student leaders in the state, including the National Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh; Special Assistant to the President on Youths and Students Affairs, Jude Imagwe and others.

    At the event, the Director-General of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), who was represented by a former Special Assistant to the Abia State Governor on Youth and Student Affairs; Jasper Uche, in his speech titled: Students as catalyst for national rebirth said unionism was instrumental to fighting colonialism in the heydays of students’ activism.

    “When the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) was formed, it became a rallying point for all the fine brand progressives and radical intellectuals who sustained the agitation against colonialism. The student activism gradually weakened the resolve of the critical points of foreign domination, galvanised local resistance and mobilised international solidarity that sparked off independence struggles across the continent including Nigeria,” he stated.

    He said it was the 1978 Ali-must-Go riot that hardened the students‘ struggle as protest and agitations for students welfare drifted into violence which led to the students call for the sack of the then Federal Commissioner for Education, Dr Ahmadu Ali.

    He blamed the military government particularly the Ibrahim Babagida administration which infiltrated NANS and broke its ranks when the students protested his structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), stressing that it was the anti-SAP protest that set the student unionism on a very strong footing.

    On the challenge for national rebirth, Prof Ahmed advised students to cultivate the reading habit so as to take their place in nation building, stressing that intellectual capital was a great asset.

    He also urged them to take integrity as a lifeline, to avoid the craving for wealth and always stand up for a cause.

    While unveiling the newspaper, Chief Umeh appreciated the students‘ effort, thanking the editorial crew and promised to ensure the sustenance of the production of the newspaper.

    The high point of the event was the presentation of awards to distinguished Nigerians including Chief Victor Umeh, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Jude Imagwe, a member representing Awka North and South in the House of Representatives, Hon Emeka Nwogbo; Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Joseph Ahaneku and others.

    Awards were given to three selected students for their distinguished performances. They included Nwamaka Uzoigwe, 300-Level Psychology, Davidson Okoroanyanwu, 300-Level Civil Engineering and the CEO of Dazzle Entertainment, a modelling firm received the Most Enterprising Student‘s award while the newspaper Publisher, David Agu was awarded Student Activist of the year.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Agu said he was driven by the zeal to keep the students informed which led him to start the defunct Gaint Newspaper, a weekly publication he started when he was the Public Relation Officer of the Students Union Government.