Vreporters

Author: Olaiya Lateef Kayode

  • Strike: NANS Zonal Body Disagrees With National President Over Threat Issued To ASUU

    Strike: NANS Zonal Body Disagrees With National President Over Threat Issued To ASUU

    The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, South West Zone, has disagreed with its National President, Comrade Sunday Asefon, over a threat to take strategic actions against the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the Federal Government should the duo fail to shift ground before 5th of January next year, though, the Zonal body is much concerned about the inclusion of ASUU in the threat.

    The Zonal body made its stance known on the threat notice issued to ASUU by Comrade Asefon in a statement released by its spokesman, Comrade Kazeem Olalekan Israel which was made available to Vreporters on Saturday.

    The statement reads:

    “As a zonal body, we do not align ourselves with the statement credited to the President of the association that students shall form a resistance against ASUU if another strike is embarked upon by varsity lecturers. We make bold to assert that the statement does not reflect the position of Nigerian students of South West extraction (and nationally). The statement does not only negate the principle of solidarity but also grant permission to this irresponsible and irresponsive government to sustain the trend of not investing in the education sector.

    “We believe that the NANS President must have issued the statement out of crass ignorance of the agreement that was reached between ASUU/FG before the strike was relaxed. As a zonal body, we are of the position that even if the NANS President is ignorant of the condition(s) of the agreement reached between FG/ASUU, he should have sought for it rather than denting the public image of the association by issuing a statement to threaten lecturers when, in the real sense, our threat as an association should be directed at the government that has neglected the educational sector for long.

    “As a zonal body, we believe that the strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is justifiable and that we need a proper integration to foster a successful outcome and, this has been a basis for us at Zone D, on numerous occasions, establishing our position as following with close marking the demands of ASUU as the Union is one part of our academic world.”

    The students’ body noted that, Nigerian students’ movement has never been neutral in a struggle for better funding of education and that the students’ body in the country has never aligned itself with members of the ruling class and, this is a legacy it is determined to sustain as a zonal body. Rather than making such a reactionary statement as issued by the President of NANS, Nigerian students have always taken the lead in the struggle for improved funding of the educational sector because students are the ones to benefit ultimately if the demands of ASUU for release of revitalisation funds and improved budgetary allocation to education are achieved which we must also champion alongside ASUU.

    “As a Zonal body, we reiterate that our role as students is not and cannot be that of a neutral arbiter. Rather, as students, we are duty-bound to give solidarity to ASUU struggle against an anti-poor and anti-education Buhari capitalist government which once it is able to defeat ASUU, will waste no time in pouncing on students as the next victim in its drive to make higher education the preserve of the rich-few.

    “As a zonal body, we find it nauseating that the NANS President would also subscribe to the fraudulent argument of “grass suffering as two elephants fight” which gives the erroneous impression that students are a neutral entity in a conflict over funding of education between the government and ASUU.

    “In fact, the elephant in this scene is the Federal Government while both ASUU and students are the grass. We believe that our agitation as a students’ body must never be against ASUU as a body but against the Federal Government because, the responsibility of fulfilling the terms of agreement rests more on the Federal Government than ASUU. And, if not for governmental failure and renege on promises, there will be no reason for strike action by ASUU or any other Union on our campuses.

    “For the sake of enlightenment, ASUU relaxed the government-caused strike based on the fact that;

    1. The Federal Government offered to pay #30bn as part of one tranche of #220bn NEEDS Accessment on or before 31st January, 2021, as a sign of commitment to the MoU of 2013.
    2. It was agreed that the Office of the Accountant-General Federation (OAGF) shall release #40bn on or before 31st of December, 2020, to offset part of the outstanding claims of members of all the registered Trade Unions in the Universities after each staff had provided necessary evidence of having earned the allowances. The NUC is to provide the necessary account details before this date.

    “The aforementioned are just part of the conditions of the agreement reached between ASUU/FG, and, to us, we believe the two itemised conditions forms the core of the whole agreement. We believe that no sane person would think of stampeding ASUU by the time another strike action is embarked upon if the Federal Government fails to show commitment to the agreement reached with Universities lecturers. And, the NANS President must be made to realise that NO one can stop members of a Union from embarking on an industrial action in so far they are determined to push forward.”

    NANS urged the government not to renege on its promise and to also show full and massive commitment to the educational sector by increasing budgetary allocation to the educational sector in meeting the 26% UNESCO recommendation.

  • Amotekun: NANS Knocks Makinde, Makes Demands

    Following series of allegations of abuse of power against some operatives of southwest security outfit, codenamed, Amotekun, the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, South West Zone, has knocked the governor of the state, Engr. Seyi Makinde over his failure to call the erring Corps to order.

    The students’ body poured out its anger in a released issued by the Public Relations Officer, Kazeem Olalekan Israel on Thursday.

    NANS revealed that, it has received a good number of reports of recklessness of some bad eggs among the Operatives coupled with the deafening silence of the Governor who according to NANS has given violence too much time to thrive in the State without any attempt to control the excesses of this security outfit.

    The body stated clearly that, the Governor is being knocked because he has explicitly declared during the inauguration of this outfit that he should be held accountable for the activities of the Amotekun operatives and the conducts of these Corps since establishment smack logic and outrightly negate the rule of law.

    “Governor Seyi Makonde is undoubtedly exhibiting the characteristics of a failure by allowing the Hobbesian State of nature to gain full ground in a State he is the CSO most especially by a security outfit that is under his direct supervision and control. It is infuriating that the Governor even went to the extent of surrending the hierarchical structure of this outfit to thugs, and, of special mention is one Adebisi Morufu alias Ẹ̀ṣẹ́ Murphy who heads the outfit in their Ona-Ara Local Government office stationed at Bayeku.

    “We find it most insulting that despite the extra-judicial killings and other nefarious activities being perpetuated by operatives of Amotekun in the State, the Governor has been maintaining a deafening silence which could best be defined as a situation whereby a mandate has been given to this security outfit to terminate every souls in the State. The Governor need be reminded that he swore an oath to guarantee the security of lives and properties of every citizens in the State, but, his indifference towards the killings by operatives of Amotekun is most worrisome and give us a major source of concern as an association.

    “It is based on the foregoing we demand that the Governor as a matter of necessity and urgency address the excesses of Amotekun operatives in the State and also reconstitute their hierarchical structure as failure to do this will be met with stiff resistance by the mass of Nigerian students in the South West. We cannot fold our arms and watch as the lives of innocent citizens most especially students are being terminated on a daily basis without recourse to the rule of law.

    “It must be properly put on record that the right to life is imprescriptible and, as such, must be jealously guided by those that have been entrusted with a mandate of maintaining law and order. Failure to do this is a long walk to anarchy and lawlessness which will ultimately make the State ungovernable. So, before we totally descend to a state of perpetual anarchy, Governor Seyi Makinde and his acolytes must do the needful in addressing security challenges confronting the people of the State most especially by erasing touts from the apparatchiks of the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun.

    “On a final note, we demand that a judicial panel be constituted to investigate the activities of Amotekun in the State most especially the recent murder of a 400Level student of Federal College of Education, Oyo (Special) affiliated to University of Ibadan and the violence meted on executives of NANS/JCC, Oyo axis amongst others. “

  • NANS Makes Fresh Ten Demands From Government

    NANS Makes Fresh Ten Demands From Government

    National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, South West Zone , has urged the Federal Government to meet the demands of ASUU, and others workers’ unions on campuses, as the body also made fresh 10 demands from government .

    Kowe Odunayo Amos, NANS Zone D Coordinator, made the call during a peaceful protest staged at Nigeria Television Authority in Ibadan, the Oyo State Capital on Monday.

    The students’ body expressed its dismay over the poor funding which constitutes serious challenge to higher institutions of learning in the country adding that the government pays little or no attention to the educational sector to the extent that a meagre #48bn of the total budget was allocated to the sector as capital expenditure.

    “Today, it is on record that 80% of our higher institutions of learning does not have Public Address Systems, Interactive Boards, etc. while many are battling with epileptic or non-existing internet services, library of no or less automation, outdated library resources. Many institutions are lagging due to no or previous preparation for virtual learning as a result of the poor funding of the educational sector. In all, the state of Nigerian higher institutions can best be imagined than seen, hence, our agitation for an improved and a well-funded educational sector.

    “Considering the present reality on ground, it can better be said that we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder and the explosion can be very devastating and highly consuming because, academically and infrastructure-wise, our higher institutions of learning are lagging behind thereby subjecting us to ridicule amongst the comity of Nations.”

    NANS added that, it rejects the fraudulent argument of “grass suffering as two elephants fight” which gives the erroneous impression that students are a neutral entity in a conflict over funding of education between the government and ASUU.

    “It is on record that the Nigerian students’ movement has never been neutral in a struggle for better funding of education. Rather, Nigerian students have always taken the lead in this struggle because we are the ones to benefit ultimately if the demands of ASUU for release of revitalization funds and improved budgetary allocation to education are achieved.

    “Therefore, the role of students in this struggle cannot be that of a neutral arbiter. Rather, as students, we are duty-bound to give solidarity to ASUU struggle against an anti-poor and anti-education Buhari capitalist government which once it is able to defeat ASUU, would waste no time in pouncing on students as the next victim in its drive to make higher education the preserve of the rich-few. Already, some of the public tertiary institutions that have resumed academic activities are beginning to charge students COVID-19 levies amidst other anti-poor policies. This is an indication that as students, we will not be spared in the imposition of anti-poor policies by the Buhari capitalist Federal Government and other similarly anti-poor and corrupt State governments across the country.

    It stressed that, Students across the country must know that the strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other workers’ unions on various campuses is justifiable and we need a proper integration to foster a successful outcome.

    The statement further stressed that, the Body established its position as following with close marking the demands of ASUU as the Union is one part of academic world and an injury to one is an injury to all.

    “Standing on the principle of solidarity, we state categorically that our thoughts are aligned with the demands of ASUU.

    “Today, it is clear that though progress is been made on the demands of the striking lecturers, yet, there are still some key areas that have not been sufficiently ironed-out between ASUU and the Federal Government. This is especially with respect to the funds for revitalization of Universities as well as the replacement of IPPIS with UTAS. For instance, the sum of N30billion which the Labour Minister, Chris Ngige claimed in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, 13 November, 2020 that the Federal Government is committed to “… out of #40billion demanded by the union as the payment for November 2019 and September 2020” is not revitalization funds, rather, it is a fraction of the total sum of earned allowance owed to ASUU members.

    “The true position is that till this day, there has been no serious commitment by the Federal Government to pay the arrears of funds to revitalize decaying facilities in the Universities like lecture theatres, libraries, laboratories, hostels, etc. Rather, the Federal Government has consistently being refusing to agree to ASUU’s demand to pay the sum of N110 billion out of about 5 tranches of the revitalization funds totaling N1.1 trillion that the Federal government is presently owing. Meanwhile, this is a government that easily spends billions and trillions to bail out private businesses like banks, airlines, etc. This same government doled out over N1.5trillion spent within 5 years to the privatised power distribution companies though there is no commensurate value in terms of quality of electricity supply.

    “It is common knowledge that the Nigerian government has perpetually done all they could in ensuring that the minions do not have access to education by commercializing it so that those who are barely managing to go to school now can drop out of school. Today, the government is not just giving a lip service to education but have come all out to declare that the government can no longer fund education and that management of tertiary institutions should seek means in generating revenue for themselves by imposing various fees on the Students.

    “Today, the result is so glaring and it hits us all on our faces as the sector is in comatose to the extent that none of the country’s higher institution of learning can compete globally. As students, we are agitated because, we have been marginalised for long with successive governments in the country failing to acede to our demands which include but not limited to the proper funding of the educational sector with 26% budgetary allocation. Ordinarily, if not for years of governmental failure, students in the medical line should have been mobilise to find a vaccine to this deadly Coronavirus, unfortunately, reverse is the case to the extent that many of our medical graduates are with no or little laboratory experience.

    “Despite the fact that the right to education is non-negotiable and imprescriptible, members of the ruling class have ensured that education is made expensive and taken out of the reach of the poor denying them the great opportunity education can open for them and the society at large.

    “It must be made known that we are not looking for free things, our demand is that there must be no child in the country that will not go to school because he/she is poor which is what our government policies are aimed at today and this can only be achieved when the government start using State’s resources to educate the Nigerian child. For the sake of emphasis, it need be made known that even in developed economies where they charge high tuition or can sustain themselves, governments do not joke with financial support to them. For instance, in 2015, the government disbursed £11.1bn to Universities in the United Kingdom, which it increased to £12.1bn in 2016. Unfortunately, reverse is the case here in Nigeria as government continually establish new higher institutions when the existing ones are not being funded and this is the narrative we aim to change.”

    Below are the 10 demands made by NANS from the government as contained in the press release ;

    1. Government at all level should pay serious attention to the education sector with a 700% increase in funding of this year so as to cater for unpaid salaries of all teaching and non-teaching staffs.
    2. Academic activities whether virtually or physically should commence in our educational institutions with immediate effect.
    3. As a pre-condition to commencement of classes, government should liaise with ASUU, ASUP, COEASU and NANS as regards what must be put in place for the commencement of classes.
    4. Government must liaise with National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and all relevant academic bodies to make sure the session/semester is streamlined in order make up for the lost time due to the lockdown.
    5. Government must provide waiver for all Nigerian students (tertiary, secondary and primary) in form of scholarship for a session or slash the fees payable by 60/70% . This would help cushion the effects of the lockdown on parents that lost their jobs and means of livelihood and businesses. It would also serve as palliative for students whose parents/guardians means of livelihood have been cut-short as a result of the lockdown.
    6. TETFUND should consider funding of selected students across all tertiary institutions in the country with innovative ideas just the way lecturers are being sponsored for conferences/symposia.
    7. The Federal Government must yield to the demands of all workers’ Union on our campuses.
    8. Democratisation of the decision-making organs of institutions to include active participation of workers and students through their Unions.
    9. Reinstatement of all victimised students’ and workers’ activists; reinstatement of all proscribed Unions on our campuses.
    10. Reverse petrol price to #97 and stop deregulation of the oil sector.

  • #EndASUUStrike Protest: NANS Calls for Mass Action

    The leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, South West Zone has called on its members and other stakeholders in the region to troop out en masse to demand for the immediate reopening of public Varsities.

    The coordinator of the Zone, Kowe Odunayo Amos in a statement released on Sunday said the call to hit the street is sequel to the failure of the Federal government to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, as contained in a statement issued on November 18 by the students’ body, that the association won’t have any other options than to call for mass action should the government fail to end the lingering strike.

    Read the full statement below:

    Sequel to the press text of NANS Zone D on November 18, 2020 and the failure of the Federal Government to meet the demands of ASUU thereby ending the 8month old strike action of striking lecturers which would give room for students to resume academic activities on their campuses, the leadership of the Zone with this circular call on all Nigerian students, workers and the entire Nigerian people to mobilise en mass for massive action commencing from Monday, December 7, 2020 to strictly demand that the Federal Government should meet the demands of ASUU.

    Convergence Point: NTA, Ibadan Time: 9.00am. Kowe Odunayo Amos Coordinator, NANS Zone D.08060337337