The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) leadership is under fire for promising to mobilise 20 million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari. But NANS has denied endorsing the President for a second term. Despite the denial, Education Rights Campaign (ERC) and others are calling for a change in NANS leadership, comprising intelligent and cultured individuals to manage students’ affairs. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, ZAINAB LAWAL AND BUSOLA SEBIOTIMO report.
The fate of the current leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) hangs in the balance
There have been diverse opinions from students and activists following a video that went viral where NANS President, Comrade Danielson Bamidele Akpan, claimed that his constituency would mobilise 20 million votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in the general election coming up next month.
The body had met President Buhari a few weeks ago to find lasting solutions to the strike embarked upon by both the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Ahead of the meeting however, NANS President had threatened fire and brime stone over the strike. Speaking with The Nation on phone last month, Comrade Akpan had threatened that the students’ body would disrupt the general election if his colleagues were not back on campus within 14 days. But with his pronouncement after meeting the students’ leader is now giving another impression on whether his leadership is actually for the interest of his constituency, or he is using his position as a meal ticket.
NANS washes hands of allegation
Meanwhile, NANS has openly denied mobilising any support for the Federal Government.
In a phone conversation with The Nation on Monday, Bamidele, accused certain media outfit of not being fair about the outcome of their encounter with President Buhari. He similarly denied the rumour that NANS’s visit to the Presidency yielded a financial reward of N150 million, and a posh car.
While not denying his endorsement of the President, Bamidele said issues bordering on students’ welfare and resolution of the ASUP, ASUU strikes were substantially deliberated upon.
“What is being reported in the media does not fully represent our position and we are not happy,” Bamidele began.
“Looking at events in the past, NANS has always been known to be political. There is hardly any election, be it national or state, that students have not been involved.
“If we were to take many (media organisations) to court, we would have been a lot richer by now.
“Many media and online sites reported that NANS was given N150 million and a brand new car. That did not happen. Some reported that I am driving a car valued at 40 something million. I don’t even have a car close to what was stated.
“We have documented all that is being said in the media and our legal team is currently handling that.
“The reporter who broke the news is from a Federal Government-owned television station; and he was being unprofessional with his job. We are not happy that that reporter discarded the substance and came up with the political aspect which was his (reporter) own interest.
“Watch the video again. It was edited. If I’m lying, let them produce the unedited tape of our deliberations with the President. I am happy that other TV stations carried it. You watch and compare with what government TV station carried.
“It is because we have a gullible society.
“I’m a leader and a much younger person to the President. When a younger person visits an elderly person on any contending issue, African culture demands that you show a measure of respect while also putting your grievances forward, more so when the person we are talking about holds the highest political office in the land.
‘’We discussed a lot about the strike affecting our members and the need for government to address lingering issues with ASUU, ASUP and COEASU (Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union).
“Ever since the report hit the airwaves, have you seen me mobilise students or coerce any student organisation to mobilise support for the President? I have even warned some of my officials to desist from dragging NANS’ name in the mud because of their political interest.”
From NUNS to NANS
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) was founded in 1980 to replace the banned National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS), also founded in 1966 following structural changes in the West African Students’ Union. It brought together student councils in Ife, Zaria, and Nsukka.
In 1978, NUNS staged a nationwide protest against imposition of fee increase under the military regime, a development that led to deaths or injury of over 20 students, closure of three universities and proscription of the students’ body.
In May 1986, NANS staged the ‘Ali Must Go’ (referring to the former minister of education) protest where police bullet felled more than a dozen protesters in Ahmadu Bello University. The incident triggered a pandemonium on other campuses nationwide.
ERC seeks impeachment of NANS leaders
Meanwhile, the coordinator of an education advocacy group, Education Right Campaign, Comrade Hassan Soweto, has challenged individual student activists and those concerned about students interest to take their destinies in their own hands by moving for the impeachment of the current NANS leadership.
‘’We call on Nigerian students and activists to question the role of NANS leadership by removing the current leadership and replacing them with a more genuine leadership. The current leadership is using NANS as a meal ticket to negotiate for bribes and handouts from the corridors of power, Soweto, told The Nation.
‘’The NANS that we all once knew was a democratic and virile students’ body, even during military rule.
‘’Our position on the pro-government stance of the current NANS leadership by all intent and purpose does not reflect the interest of Nigerian students.
“This statement of fact is evidenced of failures of NANS leadership over the last 10 years or more, in the face of anti-student policies such as fee hike, victimisation or proscription of students’ leadership. We expected that NANS would advocate before the Federal Government its core programmes as enshrined in its founding document.
“The recent manifestation of this is the position of NANS to Abuja where the NANS president promised a government that is underfunding education the votes of Nigerian students’’.
But when asked that Danielson has denied it, Soweto said NANS leadership was only hiding behind a finger.
He continued: “Regardless of whatever other issues NANS delegation must have put before the President, the fact that NANS promised a government votes of Nigerian students and has not come out to deny that video aspect that is now in the public domain leaves room for doubts.
“The question therefore is ‘at which meeting of NANS was the decision taken to visit the President on behalf of the students?’ That alone is an impeachable offence.”
Mixed reactions by students
Onifade Abosede, a final year Sociology student of Lagos State University, described NANS as a mere selfish body.
“NANS as a body is more of a figurehead,” Onifade said.
“They are just there for their selfish interest. I’m a Nigerian student and can’t point out a particular achievement of the association. Students across the nation are not even carried along, so we cannot be effectively involved in the association’s dealings.
“The president of NANS, Danielson Akpan Bamidele keeps telling the press that we’d come out in full force to protest against the ongoing ASUU strike, to no avail.
“NANS are barely heard of until there’s strike affecting higher institutions in Nigeria! It’s disheartening to even hear of recent that the NANS president who claim to see the president regarding the ongoing ASUU strike collected what we call “KIZO” (money received when one pays an influential person a courtesy visit).”
Yewande Fasan an ND Mass Communication student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, lamented that NANS office have since been hijacked by opportunists.
She said: “It’s quite unfortunate that NANS is not serving its main objective again.Some so-called students’ leaders use the office to extort money from politicians and philanthropists. NANS was once a reliable union in which students see them as their mouthpiece, and believed whatever they said. But the NANS of now are now government’s indirect mouthpiece. Unfortunately, we students pay for it because NANS cares less about our interest.”
Corroborating ERC, Oso Olasunkanmi, another final year Mass Communication undergraduate of the University of Ilorin (Unilorin), is seeking a change in NANS’ value system, rather than its leadership..
He said: “NANS leadership of today fights for its own pocket at the expense of welfare of Nigerian students. I would not want it abolished; but rather call for restructuring and a changed value system with the body and its ideology. If possible, a check to NANS’ excesses and the need for its non-partisanship.”
However Olasunkanmi has a soulmate in David Titiloye a 300-Level Education Management of Unilorin.
“I don’t think NANS should be abolished,” Titiloye opined.
“We must remember that NANS was once a part of some struggles in the past that our present generation is now benefiting from which includes resisting the then military government.
“What we need today is an overhaul of the new order that has given rise to people without the knowledge of history on what NANS truly stands for.
‘’What we have as leaders today are opportunists lacking basic understanding on what it means to be a comrade but are only interested in enjoying the benefits of holding the once prestigious title of being a NANS comrade.”
Another final year undergraduate of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife Adesanya Busola, agreed NANS should be scrapped because successive leaderships have been so corrupt and therefore outlived their importance.
He said: “NANS has always been known for violence and corruption; hence I am indifferent to their existence. If successive leaderships had done the needful, Nigerian universities would not be in the state it is today. Honestly speaking, I see no importance of their existence. A valid example is my university, since they banned the SU, we have been running a smooth calendar. This is because these people (NANS) always do things in their favour to get the side of the Federal Government for their interest, like appointment and the rest.”
Aborowa Fiyinfoluwa who is a 500-Level law undergraduate of the University of Lagos (Unilag), also felt NANS is needless.
“Generally I believe NANS aren’t entirely relevant to the educational system,” Aborowa noted.
His opinion is also shared by Ololuo Emmanuella, a 400-Level English Language student of OAU.
He said: “I think NANS is dormant. I don’t really know about them. If they are seriously working, of course we’d have heard about them and we’d also see significant changes in the educational sector.”
Coker Dolapo, an ND 2 Mass Communication student of The Polytechnic Ibadan, is pitching her tent on the retention of NANS.
“NANS, I believe, is a good platform. It has assisted students to fight for their rights. Although they are not perfect as all other unions are, but they are relevant in the goals and objectives they aim to achieve.”
Ohiafi Christopher a 300-Level Political Science and Social Studies, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Oto/Ijanikin, went down memory lane on NANS good old days.
“In January 2014, my last year at Government College Owutu, I remember reading from The Nation Newspapers of a former student activist Segun Okeowo who died fighting against a 50 kobo increase in feeding fee. That was a good cause to die for. Reading of Okeowo’s championing the ‘Ali must go’ protest against (former military Head of State Olusegun) Obasanjo-led government in 1978, I couldn’t wait to get into university. It’s now four years after, and I’m afraid to admit losing hope in student unionism. Like every Nigerian student, I now pay a tuition fee of 50 per cent increase.”
Idowu Omotoyosi, an ND 2 Mass Communication undergraduate of Yaba College of Technology, is advocating filtering of students into leadership position.
She said: ‘’There is no usefulness in appointing people into a particular post and in the end they are not serving the purpose for which they were appointed. I can’t say NANS should be banned outright; I can only suggest they should be reorganised. They must be well screened before they are appointed to such position. Anyone who found himself in a position of being a NANS committee member should not see it as an opportunity to fulfill his ambition and they must not be instruments to politicians.”
Okeke Pascal who studies Pharmacy at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, shares Idowu’s sentiment.
‘’In terms of leadership, our student leaders should be screened, and trained if possible,” Paschal said.
“Just imagine visiting the President concerning the strike and then promising him 20 million votes. For me, NANS shouldn’t be banned because we the students need a body that can speak for us, represent us and fight for our rights. That is what they are there for.”
Makinde Ojokoro Tope who studies Physics at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, sits on the fence.
“Sincerely, I really wish I could say they shouldn’t be banned, but I just find it extremely hard to see their usefulness these days. Maybe if there is a way they can be reformed, they shouldn’t be, but if not, they should just abolish them,’’ noted the final year student.
Oni Afeez a 300-Level Economics and Social Studies of AOCOED, also shared Makinde’s view.
‘’NANS leadership needs to be screened in order to erase tyrants and looters that operate in the shadows,’’Oni concludes.