By – Alao Abiodun
Nigeria is seriously in need of a radical change; we need a vibrant and purposeful leader, who will look into the plight of the masses, who will upturn the squalor and deprivation our country has fallen into, who will completely overhaul the nation’s diminished infrastructure, who will resuscitate our economy, who will prioritise and revamp agriculture, who will implement budgets, who will make life affordable to Nigerians, but it appears the only option left which are the “youths” are still basking in the euphoria of youthful exuberance.
Just in one week, we’ve indeed experienced series of imbroglios, “a show of shame” and “barbaric conduct by future leaders”. The first show of shame was the “shameful conducts” of both factional leaders of NANS, unfortunately they did a disservice to the spirit of recently passed Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill, this kept me wondering how the youth would become good leaders with negative mindsets, because over the years, their convention/meetings is an array of the same negative characteristics that have been the bane of NANS for years now, it’s always a complete charade. Even some set of individuals from no where will begin to parade themselves as “stakeholders”, well I only see them as a motley crowd of rightwing old guards, some of whom are non-students or have long graduated, who constitute themselves as “elders” or “kingmakers” within NANS. I’m not surprised because some of these people are victims of a dysfunctional society filled with crass foolishness.
As if the NANS showdown was not enough, we woke up to a trending national news of OAU Students’ Union fighting contest, according to Premium Times report, after series of banter, the news excerpt stated that “While she proceeded to the door to exit the meeting, Lamba (Mr. Afolabi) engaged her but she raised alarm of harassment. Emerald attacked Lamba first before he retaliated. Later, she opened the fridge of the president but could not find any bottle except a malt bottle on the shelf which she broke to attack Lamba. When both parties engaged in another round of physical combat, Lamba headbutted the Vice President, Emerald. They both sustained injuries” – interestingly what a man can do, a woman can do outstandingly better, I was quite fascinated by the “breaking bottle” skills aspect, then in a reprisal attack the other opponent “headbutted” the bottle breaker, this is quite pathetic and heart-rending. Have we elected rogues and thugs to become student leaders?
It is nothing more than the tragic, embarrassing, ugly and ignominious dimension that student unionism has taken in our tertiary institutions. A sad trend that has left too many Nigerian student disaffected with its umbrella bodies both at the National and campus levels and instead, dissipate that Aluta energy in concentrating on their studies to bag their chosen degrees and leave the four walls of the institution in peace. After all, that is the primary objective in school.
