IN this Special Report, Bankole Abe and Theophilus Adedokun give an insight into the history of the National Association Of Nigerian Students (NANS), its present challenges, and solutions.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), formerly known as the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS), was initially set up to bring together all Nigerian Students to form a common front where issues concerning students are discussed.
The NUNS, which later transformed into NANS, was founded in 1956 after bringing together University student groups from Zaria, Nsukka and Ife.
In its earlier days, the student association was bold and helped shape the acceptance of any government in Nigeria.
The student body functioned as a pressure group that constantly pressured governments to change their political objectives, allies, and policies while also agitating against injustice in the country.
Ali Must Go Protest
The 1978 Ali Must Go” Protests was the Nigerian students’ uprising that followed an increase in fees.
Credit: Yorubaness
Jibril Aminu, the former Secretary of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC), stated that the increase was necessary due to the “high cost of living in the country.”
The NUC said that, despite the fact that all undergraduate students will continue to receive free tuition, the cost of housing would rise to N90 per student for a session lasting 36 weeks or N30 for a session lasting three terms.
A former president of NUNS, Segun Okeowo, now late, led a nationwide student protest against this government decision.
Okeowo assembled university students from all over Nigeria in a demonstration against the military government’s perceived arbitrary increase in the price of meal tickets for students.
After several meetings with the then Federal Commissioner for Education, Ahmadu Ali, without achieving a reversal, NUNS called out students on a national protest which was to be tagged ‘Ali Must Go.’
The widespread demonstrations created unrest among the general Public and spread beyond the schools.
The ‘Ali Must Go Protest” shook the fabric of the Nation and led to a significant challenge for the Obasanjo military administration.
In order to put an end to the rioting, the military government under Obasanjo ordered the closure of all campuses.
The protest signalled to the government the seriousness of the students to challenge any policy against them and the willingness of the students to organise subsequent demonstrations.
In addition, the “Ali Must Go Protest” helped galvanise student unionism across the Nation and created a means through which students’ voices could be heard.
The protest brought respect to the student body and provided direction for future student agitations.
Okeowo, who led the protest, was swiftly expelled from the University of Lagos; he eventually received his first degree in education from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1980.
Another demonstration occurred in May 1986 when some Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) students were killed by police while protesting the punishment of student leaders on a day of mourning for those who had died in the “Ali Must Go” 1978 demonstration.
Present day NANS
Recently, NANS has been accused of deviating from its original mandate and being used by selfish politicians for political gains.
An instance is a televised promise made by the former national President of the association, Danielson Bamidele Akpan, to deliver twenty million voters among Nigerian students and youths to president Mohammed Buhari during the 2019 Presidential Election.
This made a former president of the association Abdul Mahmud renounce his membership of the students’ umbrella body over what he termed its recent ‘reckless’ activities.
Mahmud stated in a 2019 interview with the Guardian newspaper said that he thought it was inappropriate for NANS to have intervened in an ongoing strike, threatened ASUU, and been connected to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He talked about the roles played by Buhari as military President in 1984 and reminded the student union of how the administration maltreated the association.
He warned NANS not to associate with Buhari on any grounds.
“Nor does it include the visit to Buhari, the then-dictator who gave Nigerian students bullets when they asked for bread in 1984,” Mahmud said.
Mahmud said only members of the association without a historical background would associate themselves with Buhari.
Under Buhari’s watch as Head of State in 1984, the regime banned NANS, which was only four years old at the time.
At that time, the President of the student body, Lanre Arogundade, was arrested and locked up in Ife Prison.
Towards the 2023 elections, we saw various NANS groups publicly endorsing candidates. An act that some persons say points to the fact that they are for hire.
NANS and the struggle for democracy
While speaking to The ICIR, an erstwhile National president of NANS, Yinka Dada, said NANS was relatively associated with the impactful and developmental agitation of the top leadership of the association in the 19th century.
He stated that the union collaborated with different mother associations like the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), National Labour Congress (NLC), and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to ubiquitously express their grievances and displeasure in any national matters as they affect Nigerian masses.
“NANS was established by foremost Nigerian nationalists to agitate for Nigeria’s Independence, but the organisation’s strength waxed stronger after the actualisation of Nigeria Independent. It is set up to ensure every Nigerian child is educated at no cost.”
“In the late 1970s, the union staged a series of protests against the tyrannical rule of the military leaders because of the vicious policies levelled on Nigerian Students and citizens like increment in tuition fees of university students, withdrawal of students privileges and the signing of a military pact with the western allies led to the proscription of the union under the leadership of Segun Okeowo,” he said.
Also, the former leader said the union demonstrated against the structural adjustment programme (SAP) of the Ibrahim Babaginda regime because it was perceived as an imperialist-oriented programme that would take Nigeria’s economy away from its citizens.
Divide and rule/factional NANS
Since 1999 politicians have employed a divide-and-rule method against NANS, including encouraging factions in the association.
For instance, in September 2022, two factional presidents of NANS emerged.
Usman Umar of the Federal University Dutse and Umar Lawal of the Department of Library and Information Science at Bayero University, Kano, are the two candidates who emerged as the faction’s presidents.
Oladimeji Uthman, the incumbent Executive Director of Special Duties of NANS, said the issue of faction in the association is a pure distraction because a house divided against itself cannot stand.
“Factionalised leadership in NANS has made the association look irresponsible and should be stopped. Although efforts are being made by the present leadership to eradicate any factionalism in the association, yet more needs to be done.”
Dada said clashes of interest among members and the involvement of the political class regularly spike the continuous rise of factions in the once-revered association.
“What the government do is that they polarised NANS to prevent the unity of thought. Anytime you see a faction in NANS, there is somebody supporting the government while we have another group that will represent the student voices. Even as it is declining, there are still people who believe in the independence of the organisation,” Dada stressed.
Bad crop of leadership among executives
When The ICIR spoke to another former national president of the association, Tijani Usman, he stressed that the student body had been turned into a breeding ground for bad leadership because many Nigerian youths and students presently see the association as a channel to gather wealth at the expense of students interests.
“The crop of leadership produced this day by the NANS is bad. Imagine somebody contesting going to meet the President or governor for money to contest. Also, most students’ union leaders are guilty of obtaining money from the elected officials of the association by demanding money for accommodation, transportation and feeding, which indicates a sign of greediness from them.”
“Also another case is the former national president of the association, Danielson Akpan who was impeached on allegation that he failed to disburse and utilise a sum of 200 million naira meant for the students’ community during the COVID-19 pandemic for personal purpose,” he said.
Funding is a significant gridlock in the association
Reacting to the association’s funding challenges, Dada commented that the decline in NANS started due to a lack of funding base. “If a leadership that caters for about forty million people but does not have a dime in its account, it cannot function effectively. When it was NUNS, there was funding; we didn’t solicit for support from politicians and the government for mobilisation and welfarism of the union members.”
“Imagine national presidents in Lagos and other stakeholders across the country who plan to agitate in Maiduguri without a funding based; it would be impossible to actualise his plan without seeking for external support that would have influence and reflect in our agitations.”
“IBB decree against NANS criminalise student union activities on Campuses, and that negatively influenced the self-sustainability of the union which made it lose its funding base till date,” he lamented.
He further pointed out that the participation of adults who are not youth in the activities of the body is for advisory roles, while in some situations, the older comrades take the mantle of leadership and steering its affairs.
We are not seeing NANS impact – students
A political science student at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Alabi Olarenwaju, said he is still waiting to see a positive impact from the association because they are only concerned with their pocket.
“You cannot expect people in their mid-life crisis age, especially forty and above who are married and active in conventional politics, to solicit on students’ behalf.”
He further stressed that the outrageous amount used in elections is disturbing and discouraging.
“For one to secure a post at the national level of NANS, you will spend millions of naira, and even those contesting are supported and funded by political godfathers.”
Another student Boluwatife Oluwafisayo of Ekiti State University, lamented that the impacts of NANS are not felt, and he is not benefiting from the association as an active student.
“They have not been at the forefront of the struggle for students on campuses, and I think that is one of the basic mandates they stand for. I cannot see their impact,” he said.
A student activist, Adeyeye Olorunfemi, said the government became very interested in NANS and infiltrated the student body, which crippled and destroyed it.
“Just the way other civil societies were infiltrated, the government infiltrated NANS and brought in their persons; we have PDP NANS and APC NANS. This, however, made students follow this template that has been put in place.”
“Government now sponsor agents of the government to contest in school especially the DSS and many people who are not students or people who just pick up a Diploma course or the other to contest.”
Finding a sustainable solution
To ensure that the once respected and feared body becomes more effective and active in delivering the mandate it is created for, Dada said that the amendment of the student union act is sacrosanct.
“The student union Act needs to be amended and looked upon to ensure that NANS generate funding, and this will make the union financially independent.”
Usman, on his part, believed that there is more need to enlighten and sensitise student union leaders in the country to change their perspective of the union.
A lawyer with J. S. Okutepa, Abiola Kolawole, said the problem with NANS is simply because of the corruption in the Nigerian system.
According to him, the association is now for hire.
“That’s why you hardly see University students as NANS presidents. They are now old, usually in their 40’s and exposed to the corrupt system of Nigeria.”
“The association is now for hire; any agitation brings money. Politicians now use the association for their political gains, and as we know, money is always an issue.”
He suggested proper regulation of the association as the immediate solution.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance
Stories with punches holding the powerful accountable. His determination to speak out against corruption and influence the conversation in Nigeria, the surrounding region and the continent inspires him.