UNILAG: 1 million students march for rusticated undergraduate, demand end to “victimisation”
The suspension of University of Lagos (UNILAG) students who led their colleagues in demanding basic human needs on campus seemed to have led to something big.
“Something even UNILAG cannot control,” a student leader told NewsroomNG on Friday.
Frustrated by the apparent inability of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to fight for the cause of the suspended students, other concerned campus activists say they’re rallying at least one million people to get the attention of the Nigerian government.
“We call on Nigerian students, activists, left organizations and organised labour to join us as we match against fresh attacks at strangulating the living standard of the poor majority and demand the reinstatement of victimized students activists across Nigerian campuses,” a statement by the body organising an October 1 march says.
On September 8, campus activists held the “All Nigerian Students Summit” at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. It was organised by the Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neo-Liberal Attacks (ANSA).
“Despite the N100 billion NEEDS assessment fund distributed across Nigerian universities and many arbitrary attempts at commercializing education via vicious fee increments, this has not stopped students from hitting the street for things as basic as power and water supply,” the summit observed.
The students called on the Nigerian government to probe all public varsity vice chancellors with immediate effect.
Olorunfemi Adeyeye, a UNILAG student handed a four semester suspension for criticising Vice Chancellor Prof Rahman Bello, delivered a paper at the summit.
“This is the time we stand up for the truth even when we are standing alone,” Adeyeye said during his address.
He added:
“A salient difference exist between LITERACY and EDUCATION. Literacy is the ability to read and write while Education is the amount of values, ethics, norms and information one possesses first for oneself before passing them to the society for development. It’s high time we became educated not ‘certificated’.”
The ANSA summit highlighted the “spate of victimisation” against the voices of reason across several Nigerian universities.
The body said activists will demand an end to the “anomaly” during the Independence Day march. The group will also demand the decision to rusticate Adeyeye and other “victimised” students be reversed.
