"The blind leading the blind is not so upsetting, more
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 recognised 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 consist 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 or 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 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 have 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 rides in exotic
cars of the latest model whereas our professors drive
about in a jeep of less than 800 000 that was
manufactured probably in the 70’s; former president
Olusegun Obasanjo owns a university, Atiku Abubakar
owns, 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 was 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 1.5trillion 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 have 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 have got
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
Twitter: @digits90

Nice write-ups@ Op, u av said it all. I must say there is nothing like NANS in Nigeria cus what happened in College of Agriculture, Yobe state shows dat NANS has no interest of Nigeria student at all.