7th May, 2016
Abiodun Onafuye/ Abeokuta
A showdown seems to be brewing in the North Central State of Niger State as the National Association of Nigeria Students,NANS has given the state government a seven-day ultimatum to address both open and salient issues raised in the memo sent to it.
The students group threatened that if government fails to do so, it will stage a three day “Occupy NIGER” protest, by which it hopes to shut down the state. The ultimatum begins to count from Tuesday 10 May.
The students issued the threat in a letter addressed to the State governor, Alhaji (Dr.) Abubakar Sani Bello on Saturday which was signed by Comrade Faruk Musa.M. and Comrade Ismail Oyebanji, the Chairman and Secretary, Joint Campus Committee,JCC/NANS,Zone A,Niger axis respectively.
In the letter, titled,”When silence is no longer Golden”, the students decried the situation of things in the State, especially,in the education sector and asked government to redeem it from “the jaws and claws of hawks, who do not mean well for the states.
Among the demands of the students are:
*immediate convocation of town hall meeting/parley with the leadership of the Union
*introduction of Overseas Scholarship in specialized fields like; Medicine, Nursing, as well as restructuring the moribund bursary scheme inherited from the previous administration.
* declaration of state of emergency in the Polytechnic Zungeru, College of Agriculture, Mokwa, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lapai and all health institutions in the state
* appointment of some qualified past leaders of the Union into the government.
The students reminded the governor of the roles played by their members and past leaders during the last general elections, where most of them supported the present government.
“We mobilized our members to follow your campaigns for months, as well as voted massively at the polls for you, defying all the money shared by the PDP government.
“Apart from monitoring the election at the Control Room which some of your cabinet members are aware of, we plugged all the loop-holes and leakages to stem the PDPs stock-in-trade (rigging) towards subverting the votes of the masses.
“A lot of students paid the ultimate prize for the change we enjoy today, as many leaders faced brutalization, self-exile, molestation, intimidation and persecution”, NANS stated.
According to the statement,” the leadership of NANS is compelled to write this open letter to you, having carefully observed with utter dismay the share disregard, neglect, repugnance, antagonism, emasculations meted on the entire Nigerian Students Community in Niger State by your administration and cabinet members towards our rights and privileges as Nigerian Students and all other citizenry, Nigerlites.
“For the avoidance of doubt, NANS is the apex umbrella student body, that rotates the wheels of students activism in Nigeria, being the voice of the voiceless, vanguard of the oppressed masses and custodians of the sacred trust of Nigerian Students.
“After exhaustive consultation with all relevant stakeholders, SUG’s, tribal associations on the prevailing quagmires, we resolve that the status-quo is completely unacceptable, considering the significant role the students played in the enthronement of the present government.
“Almost one year after Mr. Governor, you have not found it worthy to engage the students on the policy direction of the state in the education sector and other relevant sectors, but Globe-trotting the world on weekly basis at the expense of the state governance with little or no investment/investors to show for such trips.
“While we have kept fate with belief that this bad posture would change soon, we are abashed and astounded to hear that certain cabal have appointed more than a thousand Special Assistants/Advisers with salaries running into hundreds of millions at this critical economic hardship, leaving education and other critical sectors yearnings for emergency.
“Obvious, it is to all eyes that we do not need a 3-Star Hotel, but 3-Star General hospital, 3-Star educational Infrastructure, 3-Star portable water, 3-Star Electricity e.t.c . Mr. Governor this was not the Change you promised Nigerlites. This is a complete departure from the promised of an all inclusive participatory Change government you promised.
“We have refused to be cowed, we have refused to be silenced, we have refused to remain on-lookers in the affairs of the state, especially, in the education sector.
“We need to gets our priorities right and do away from the former jamboree that have brought us into this. Be warned, our students are primed, only awaiting directions”, NANS threatens.
In its submission,the Students group disclosed that their doors are widely open for deliberations and discussion, advising that, “a stitch in time, saves nine”.