jarring is the blind leading the sighted."
The academic staff union of universities (ASUU) have
been on strike for the past ninety days; according to
the ASUU chairman- Dr. Issa Fagge, the strike action
became imperative because the federal government
had failed to honour the agreement it made with the
union in 2009.
As it has always been whenever ASUU strikes, the
university students are always at the receiving end of
it as we are left with no other option than to sit idle at
our homes recounting our losses especially the
inevitable extension of our academic years in school.
Though no student in his or her right senses would
want to extend his or her stay in school by even a day,
the situation of things that prompted the strike
embarked upon by ASUU ought to make us have a
rethink and to ponder for a moment on whether we-
as students would rather agree to support ASUU in
this cause on their position that education has to be
adequately funded or succumb to the extra year
pressure in clamoring for an end to the strike.
Among the stakeholders that have been vocal on the
current imbroglio is the National Association of
Nigerian Students (NANS) headed by the National
president- Yinka Gbadebo.
Gbadebo while speaking in Lagos recently, said that
NANS was no longer in support of the strike as it has
no moral obligation to do so urging ASUU to drag the
federal government to court.
The National Association of Nigerian students is the
umbrella body of students studying in all tertiary
institutions in the country. Thus by implication, every
student studying in a university, polytechnic or college
becomes an automatic member of the body.
Before embarking on this journey, it would only be fair
to give a concise definition of an association in order
to ascertain whether NANS fits in.
The Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary
(International student’s edition) defines an association
as “an official group of people who have joined
together for a particular purpose; a connection or
relationship between people or organization”; Encarta
dictionary defines it as “coming together and social
interaction between people”.
As it is expected of an organization, we believe that
any statement from the leadership of NANS ought to
be the position of the generality of Nigerian students
across universities; polytechnics and colleges
respectively but a closer look at the antecedents,
actions and statements from the leadership of NANS
should make every Nigerian student wary of this body.
A colleague confided in me that quite a handful
number among the leadership of NANS are either drop
outs or graduates; he further revealed that the smart
ones amongst them enroll for a part time, diploma or
graduate course in an institution before obtaining a
form of contest in order to be recognized as a student.
Clearly, ASUU and NANS are independent bodies; as
Gbadebo pointed out, NANS has no moral obligation
whatsoever to partake in its fights and struggles but
as logical as the statement may sound, the leadership
of NANS fell into a deep fallacy by asking ASUU to
accept the paltry sum of 130 billion to be shared by
over 60 universities.
As I wrote earlier in a piece titled “On ASUU strike:
unlike a nation’s pride”, the 2009 agreement consists
of quite a number of things but there are few ones that
ought not to be the fight of ASUU but that of NANS,
especially the funding of education. Not a single one
among undergraduates will support ASUU if it had
embarked on this strike because of the increase in the
retirement age of professors or the handing over of
landed properties to federal universities.
No Nigerian student whom NANS claim to represent
and speak on its behalf would line up and sing songs
of praise in support of ASUU if its reason for leaving
the classroom was for an increment in pay and not
the call for a better education for the Nigerian people.
If NANS had been an association that truly seeks to
protect the welfare of the over 60 million Nigerian
students, it would have occurred to its leadership that
the clamour by ASUU on the funding of education
ought not to be ASUU's fight but theirs; or who stands
to benefit from a world class classroom, a standard
laboratory, a 24 hour electricity supply to the hostels,
a reduced teacher - student ratio? The lecturers or the
students?
How would NANS claim to represent 60 million
Nigerian students when it neither owns a website nor
a blog? What authority do NANS and its card carrying
executives have when they have not a single presence
on the social media? I searched for
'www.nans.edu.ng , www.nans.org , www.nans.com
and several other combinations but all i got was
“website not available”.
A Facebook search of NANS only shows a page with a
total like of “4654” as at 14th of September 2013; a
scroll to the bottom of the page had a poorly
constructed statement that goes thus:
“I am comrade Adeoye Adelaja, former Ass sec Gen in
Federal poly Bida 2004/2005 set, i searched on
facebook and i did Ŋ¤τ̲̅ see NANS, i decided τ̲̅ȍ create
the page!!! in solidarity and for the sake of passing
information τ̲̅ȍ all concern across all students bodies, i
donate this page τ̲̅ȍ NANS, all the current Excos who
which τ̲̅ȍ Manage this Page should do ƺ an Email
dibigslim@yahoo.com for ƺ τ̲̅ȍ admin dem”.
How on earth is NANS representing students in Nigeria
if it cannot boast of a Twitter account in the 21st
century? How can Gbadebo and his colleagues be
speaking on my behalf and on the behalf of all
undergraduates if it does not have a single notice
board in the University of Lagos, the University of
Ibadan, the University of Calabar, Ahmadu Bello
university- Zaria, Federal university of technology-
Akure, Yaba college of technology, Adeniran
Ogunsanya college of education, and all the other
tertiary institutions across Nigeria?
The benefits of the social media as a powerful tool
was most evident during the January 2012 subsidy
protests where the Nigerian people were mobilised via
the online media; NANS absence on the online media
would not have bothered me if other associations
such as the market women, national union of road
transport workers, national union of local government
employees, carpentry associations etcetera were not
online.
Is it not a farce that a few individuals have been
parading themselves as the saviours of Nigerian
students when they see nothing wrong in the standard
of education in Nigeria? If Gbadebo was a Nigerian
student, will he claim not to be aware that a four man
room in an average Nigerian university now occupies
at least twenty students?
How can NANS be a body that is concerned about the
welfare of the Nigerian students when our laboratory
taps are dried or is the ailing standard of education
not part of its mandate?
What justification does NANS have to clandestinely
take sides with the federal government (please
convince us otherwise) when it is glaring that this
country has the resources to fund education even
beyond the 26% recommended by UNESCO; this is a
country that feeds a president with 1 billion naira per
annum and changes the spoons and forks in the first
lady's kitchen with 45million naira for the same
period.
How does NANS claim to speak for Nigerian students
when it has always taken sides with the government in
power? Speaking at the 11th annual campus life
workshop, the Lagos lawyer- Mr Femi Falana stated
his displeasure over the lack of sincerity on the part of
NANS as the association could not present itself as a
witness in the court to fight the fee hike in the Lagos
state university; yet, they claim to protect the interest
of the Nigerian student.
How does NANS expect Nigerian students to buy the
idea that the country's economy will collapse if
education gets adequate funding when there is
profligacy everywhere? The politicians ride in exotic
cars of the latest model whereas our professors drive
about in a jeep of less than N800, 000 that was
manufactured probably in the 70’s; former president
Olusegun Obasanjo owns a university, Atiku Abubakar
owns one, David mark earns over N600 million a
year, Dimeji Bankole stole his own, Patricia Etteh
stole, James Ibori laundered, Tafa Balogun stole,
Bode George carted, Sanni Abacha's loot is still
hanging, General Theophilius Danjuma sold an oil
block and after paying all obligations, he asked
Nigerians to advise him on what to do with it because
the proceeds were too much; is NANS still buying the
lies of Labaran Maku and Dr. Okonjo Iweala that the
economy will collapse; that there is no money in
Nigeria to educate its masses?
The 20th century physicist- Albert Einstein wrote that
“Education is not the learning of facts but the training
of the mind to think”- so as an individual that have
received little education, I’ve been engaging myself in
some serious thoughts on whether it was possible for
the federal government to declare bankruptcy if it
decides to cough out a paltry N1.2 trillion spread over
three years on the education sector when each senator
and member of the house of representatives earn at
least $1.7m and $1.2m respectively amounting to
over N3 trillion per annum in a country where 10
million children are out of school.
What calibre of student occupies the executive position
of the association? Which school do they attend? What
level are they? What’s their course of study? What are
the criteria for becoming a member or an executive of
NANS? What are the short and long term objectives of
NANS? Who were the Nigerian students that agreed
that the governor of Ondo state- Olusegun Mimiko was
the best governor of the Nigerian students? What were
the criteria involved? How was the conclusion
reached? Was it through a vote? If yes, who voted?
Where did the voting take place? Was it online or
offline?
How does NANS organize students for mobilization
and protests if it neither has a website nor a Facebook
account or does it go about it via phone calls or text
messages to all 60 million Nigerian students? As a
student body, who acts as NANS staff adviser(s)?
Politicians or Lecturers? How does NANS get its
funding? How are the funds utilized? Who does NANS
report to? Has there been any case of financial
misappropriation among its members? If yes, who?
When? And what actions were taken against the
person(s) involved? These are begging questions that
needs sincere answers from the leadership of the
association.
If the questions above have answers, where are they
and why are they so elusive not to be within the reach
of the Nigerian students?
If Nigerian students pressure ASUU to call off the
strike, I would not want us to forget that since the
establishment of ASUU in 1978, it had embarked on
strikes in 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2007, 2008, 2009,
2013 over similar issues as the present one which
makes it evident that if this problem is not solved once
and for all knowing fully well that the country has the
resources to heed to its demand, our children will
probably be in our present predicament in a matter of
years.
This is a clarion call to fellow students in all tertiary
institutions across the country to demand for a body
that will serve to protect our interests, speak on our
behalf and sincerely represent us in order to help build
an education for all society.
Until then, our heads are soaked, please NANS, stop
the urine.
Modiu Olaguro finds 'X' at The University of Lagos.
Email:dprophetpride@gmail.com
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