“If Mote is not reinstated, we will not hesitate to go back to the street” – Toheeb Niniola

Below is the full text of a press release obtained from the leadersip of National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Committee, Oyo state.

March 15, 2016
PRESS RELEASE BY TOHEEB NINIOLA, THE OYO STATE CHAIRMAN NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN STUDENTS, JOINT CAMPUS COMMITTEE (NANS, JCC OYO STATE) ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION, ECONOMY AND GOVERNANCE IN OYO STATE AND NIGERIA.

PROTOCOLS

I humbly welcome the gentlemen of the Press to the maiden Press Conference of the newly elected executives of the National Association of Nigerian Students Joint Campus Committee (NANS JCC), Oyo State which is the umbrella body and mouthpiece for millions of armless Students in Oyo State. Oyo State NANS JCC, no doubt is unarguably the most ideological and vibrant axis of the association in Nigeria and diaspora.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this inaugural press briefing is aimed at speaking up on the State of Education, Economy and Governance in Oyo State and Nigeria at large, to brief students and the general public on the activities of the association, to take positions and make demands on prominent issues affecting the students and our community.

STATE OF THE ASSOCIATION

We appreciate the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Students’ stakeholders and past leaders of unions, the Students’ Union Government Presidents of all tertiary institutions in the state and News Agency of Nigeria (NUN), Oyo State Chapter for their supports before, during and after the election.

Convincingly, since the inception of this administration, we have intervened in issues bothering Students across campuses in the state with optimum success. We assure our fellow Students that with the incumbent administration, you are in safe hands.

Electing Rejuvenation Agenda to champion NANS JCC, Oyo State Axis is indeed the beginning of an era of a new dawn in the history of NANS. The various ministries, departments, agencies and institutions like education, economy, health, housing and environment including civil service, subventions to state tertiary institutions and local government administration just to mention a few need to be carefully looked into and restructured to meet up with the current demands. Government’s idea of constructive criticism is that people should pour encomiums upon the Government, singing their praises all the time, but our idea of constructive criticism is to point out flaws and defects in the Government’s policies, programmes and make feasible suggestions as to how these flaws and defects could be removed and ameliorated.

STATE OF EDUCATION

Nigeria! The land whose students used to be her pride and formidable voice speaking, because they believed and by same they saw better than their own fathers, now host millions of students whose contribution to the nation in it best can be described as contemporary contradictions. Three institutions among others- Education (desire to acquire, capacity to provide and award attitude, knowledge, skills), Leadership (provision of direction, acquiring governing experience through selfless service with sincerity of purpose, rule of law and exercise/acceptance of authority) and lastly, Nationality (patriotism, consciousness and sense of belonging, community development, strong believe that the interests of a nation are of primary importance) – have been weakened!

We noted with dismay, the continuous underfunding of Federal Cooperative College, Federal College of Forestry, Federal School of Statistics, Ibadan and Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo. The Federal Government should extend their helping hands by carrying out comprehensive “Needs” assessment of Federal Tertiary and Secondary institutions in Oyo state with a view to upgrading them to world-class.

In the same vein, we appreciate the Provost of Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo State College of Nursing and Midwifery and Federal College of Agriculture, Moor Plantation for the reversal of unfavorable dues levied on Students by some divisions under his management. We also commend the Provost of Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology, Ibadan for conceding to our voice on behalf of his Students and reasoning to reverse the hiked accommodation and tuition fee to the status quo ante.

Finally, we appreciate the administrative and parental considerations of the entire management staff and students of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo for resolving matters that arose in the students peaceful protest staged in the month of March this year, without victimizing students involved and seeing to their demands. We hope other institutions emulate their methods of leadership as our arms will not be folded while our fellow Students are unjustly dealt with.

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NANS condemns in totality, the attempt by the managements of some tertiary institutions in the Oyo State to silent, oppress and victimize democratically elected Students’ Union Government Executives and Students on campuses through obnoxious anti-students policies and summary administrative quasi-judicial processes. In that vein, we restate to condemn the victimization of Mr. Tunji-Ekpeti Michael, a 500level student of Petroleum Engineering Department, University of Ibadan who was rusticated for a semester for being part of a peaceful demonstration to demand for better living conditions of his fellow students. This, no doubt is an affront on our democratic principles and an assault on his constitutionally given rights. As expected, we rose to the occasion to defend the right of our colleague and we sincerely appreciate all efforts by concerned individuals, students, Alumni and Staff of the university to ensure the just reinstatement of Mr. Tunji-Ekpeti Michael. And we must warn that any attempt to intimidate and victimize Students or their leaders in Oyo state will be met with stiff resistance and corresponding Aluta forces.

Be that as it may, it is of utmost necessity that we set the record straight as it is being peddled in some quarters that NANS Oyo state is responsible for the disruption and consequent lock down of the University of Ibadan. It is true that we sent a letter to the management demanding for the reinstatement of Mr. Tunji-Ekpeti Michael which is after a series of letters requesting for visits for a peaceful resolution of the situation then. It should be on record that it was after these failed peace moves that we had to send a letter notifying the school of the planned peaceful demonstration of Monday, 25th of April, 2016 and we did hold a peaceful rally on that day within the University of Ibadan. After the peaceful rally, the executives of the association were called to a meeting with the management and since they promised to look into it we decided to give them the benefit of doubt by withdrawing from the struggle.

However, it should be noted that the consequent demonstrations of Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th respectively were not in any way devised by NANS Oyo state but solely by students of the University of Ibadan. We were summoned by the DPO Sango Police Station on the 26th to control and moderate the peaceful demonstration in conjunction with NANS leadership of Zone D (Southwest). As the leadership of NANS Oyo state, we were very happy to be part of that peaceful demonstration and we are happy it ended as it started, non-violent. This clarification is necessary to clear the air and provide accurate information for some ignorant devils that are already on an expedition of unscrupulous machination to victimize the leadership of NANS Oyo state. But we are not in any way scared and we will continue to be at the forefront of the struggle for students’ rights even as we are optimistic that the University of Ibadan Council will come out with a favourable resolution and approve the reinstatement of Mr. Tunji-Ekpeti Michael come 16th of this month. In the case of an unfavourable outcome, we will not hesitate to go back to the street.

In all, we shall continue to agitate for;

Better funding of education, government scholarship and bursary to aid students in paying fees, buying text books and coping with the general financial demands of education, adequate Industrial Training (I.T) allowance for all Nigerian students .
A stop to extortion of our fellow students by teachers, lecturers and institutions management at large through introduction of unfavorable and unaffordable policies.
Provision of free education at all levels
Renovation of existing institutions, establishment of new ones and spacious lecture theaters.
Provision of adequate hostel facilities, upgrading of libraries and laboratories.
Provision of subsidized ICT to aid learning.
Campaign for Independent Students’ Unionism in all tertiary institutions in Oyo State among others.

Toheeb Niniola led administration has commenced interventions on campuses across the state where independent unionism is under attack and students activists are being victimized. Our mission is to use the leadership of the State to institute campaign against neo-liberal attack on education, solidarise and support struggles of workers and poor masses, and rebuild NANS nationally as a vanguard for student rights.

STATE OF THE NATION

If truly the yearn for CHANGE is behind the unfavourable conditions we are currently facing in the country, this kind of CHANGE and its acclaimed agents will be voted out come 2019 just as those that wanted to hide under TRANSFORMATION were voted out in 2015.

We also condemn the Federal Government Foreign Exchange policy which is killing and breeding corruption. While banks official makes millions if not billions of Dollars daily, our Colleagues studying abroad are dropping out of school en masse due to inabilities of parents to send tuition fees and other allowances. We call on President Buhari to review this policy for accessibility of honest Nigerians to the dollar.

And lastly, we are not ignorant of the recent removal of subsidy by the Federal Government, and we are aware of the ripple effects it has generated so far. In as much as we are not in support of the removal, we are also very conscious not to give it an outright condemnation. However, in the heat of all the arguments flying around about the removal of the fuel subsidy, we are of the strong opinion that before the government can even think of such policy, palliative measures to ease the resulting harsh consequences should have been put in place if the government really has the interest of the people at heart.

Be that as it may, NANS Zone D will be holding a congress tomorrow at the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Moor Plantation Ibadan, where we will be deliberating and taking position on all these issues. In that light we are ever ready to be part of any genuine struggle (with a clear-cut direction) arising thereof.

STATE OF THE GOVERNANCE IN OYO STATE

One again, congratulation to the Oyo State Governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi on his victory at the Supreme Court while calling on the opposition to work with the government, we call on the governor to also extend his hand of fellowship to necessary quarters.

NANS JCC Oyo State rejects the composition of caretaker committee into 33 Local Government of Oyo state and hope the Governor fulfill his promises as regards conducting election to fill the vacant positions. We view the continuous appointment of “unelectable” people by the governor as Chairmen of various Local Governments as an insult to the collective intelligence of the people of Oyo state. We wonder what motivates Kogi State Governor to declare total autonomy for Local Government in his State and yet our governor continues to copy from the crashing government of Osun State.

The Local Government is the most accessible to people at the grass-root and remains the only tier of government where young school leavers participate more and have says. It is a clear fact that we should not expect things from those who promised nothing because those that promised are even yet to fulfill their pledges. The appointment of those who have little or nothing to offer is illegal; we hereby demand Governor Ajimobi and the Oyo State House of Assembly to make amendments as regards these burning issues.

Students are suffering from erratic and inadequate power supply across campuses as well as our communities in the state; we want the CHANGERS to look seriously into this in order to prevent Students rallying the streets to demand for the CHANGER to bring CHANGE or be CHANGED.

NO TO UNJUSTIFIABLE HIKE IN SACHET WATER PRICE

The hike in the cost of purchasing Sachet water has drawn our attention, the reason for the sudden inflation is still flimsy and uncalled for and we all know the Factors of Production of Sachet water has remained consistent over time. Basically, these factors are Fuel Price, Cost of Packaging Materials, Electricity Tariff and Minimum Wage. We hereby urge producers to desist from hiding under the decrease in Naira value as all the production requirements are locally sourced! What then is the rationale behind this unfavorable increase which has brought the Price of Sachet water from 100 to about 140 naira to 200naira per Bag?

This Action embodies the popular saying “Man inhumanity to his fellow Man”. In this Season of intense heat, the only succor these devilish Manufacturers can give is to increase price of water which is God’s free gift to further compound our woes.

However, it is well known in Student Unionism that Freedom is never willingly given to the Oppressed by the Oppressors, rather it is demanded for and taken by the Oppressed.

In light of this, Oyo State NANS JCC under the Leadership of Toheeb Niniola hereby declares that Sachet Water on all Campuses in Oyo State should be reverted back to N5 per Unit. All students must demand to buy Sachet water at these prices while we implore all SUG’s to enforce this Directive In their respective campuses. A note of warning has been sent to the producers turned extortionists, we are coming.

OUR POSITION

In conclusion, students are being used as instruments in the act of thuggery, vandalization, and crises for political interest. They turned us against a lawful society through our lawless activities in public places. They utilized our potentials in a destructive way and we are being trained as destructive force against good deeds. They gave us a collapsed system in terms of education and politics. They changed the orientation of our youths into money laundering, lust for power, tools in political shackles and violence. We kill ourselves for their personal gains and benefits. They end up meeting at ceremonies with joy, happiness and mutual understanding where they will always discuss our failures, ignorance and stupidity. I cannot even tell my eyes to stop crying when I see us suffering and smiling. They gave us a political system that supports violence than peace, a system that favours the thugs than academia, a system where thugs live like kings and students live like slaves and a system where thieves, looters and bad wagons are crowned, awarded and celebrated.

What a pathetic situation, when I see all these, I wonder if the coming generation can really call us past heroes all in all, we solemnly pledge our support for President Buhari’s anticorruption crusade and we express our readiness to expose corruption on various campuses across Oyo State. We also promise to stand with the Continuity Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi as we hope he does not relent and continues to improve on the good work that brought about his second term emergence and see more to the betterment of the living condition of the good people of Oyo State.

Ki Oyo le da Ajumose gbogbo wani ooooo.

Struggle continues till victory is certain!
Aluta Continua! Victoria ascerta!

Signed.
Toheeb Niniola
Chairman
NANS, JCC OYO STATE

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