In every revolutionary struggle, one easy way to douse the morale of those who seek to awaken consciousness is to question theirlegitimacy. This is why we are not in any way surprised that the university management, led by Prof. A. I. Olayinka have decided to employ this strategy. His claim, that he has no business with NANS is not only a lie, but a deliberate attempt to disregard the issues we have raised, and deny thousands of students in university of ibadan their rightful claims.
The National Association of Nigerian Students, founded in 1980 is an action group created to represent and fight for the rights of students of all tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The objectives of NANS includes to ensure quality, affordable education at all levels, to ensure independent students unionism in all tertiary institutions, and to defend any student who is victimized or wrongfullyrusticated. Every student of any tertiary institution in Nigeria(University of Ibadan inclusive) is a member of NANS, just as every lecturer is a member of ASUU. It is the responsibility of NANS to step in whenever the rights of it’s members are threatened.
For the Vice Chancellor to claim not to be accountable to NANS suggests one of two things. It is either he is deliberately spreading a misinformation, or he is ignorant of the exigencies of the institution he leads. Whatever the case may be, the implication is that he is unfit to lead Nigeria’s premier university. We hereby call on the Vice Chancellor to retract his earlier made statements and begin negotiations with NANS on the salient issues we have raised.
The leadership of NANS JCC Oyo State Chapter is not averse to dialogue and negotiations, which is why we have sent series of correspondence to the office of the Vice Chancellor in spite of his cold response and reactions. Our demands remain as earlier resolved, and we will not relent until those demands met.
In addition to our demands for immediate reinstatement of Ojo Aderemi, others and the Students‘ Union. We call for immediate reversal of the ban on the commercial use of bikes within the University, this anti-student policy is subjecting our students to unnecessary fatigue and waste of time which will in turn affect their academic performance.
We urge the management to in her best interest, listen to the voice of the students, as the voice of the students is the voice of God.
Aluta continua, Victoria ascerta!
Asubiojo Olujuwon (Marshal)
Chairman,
NANS, Oyo State.
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