Though there have been two factions presiding over the affairs of the National Association of Nigerian Students, the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities helped bring the schism to the public attention, as the student leaders simply washed their dirty linen in the public.
The NANS, as it stands, is headed, on the one hand, by a president, Mr. Chinonso Obasi, and on the other, by another factional president, Mr. Haruna Kadiri.
Last week in Abuja, student union members separately loyal to the two factional leaders, beat each other silly, at a public square in Abuja, all in a supremacy battle on who should be recognised in the negotiation efforts to make ASUU back down from its lingering strike.
Despite that Obasi, had given the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities a 21-day ultimatum to call off its strike, the factional president of the NANS, Kadiri, also led his group on a protest to the Ministry of Education, Abuja on Tuesday, over the strike, stating that students bore the brunt of labour dispute between university lecturers and government.
The NANS, as it stands, is headed, on the one HAND, by a President, Mr. Chinonso Obasi, and on the other, by another factional president, Mr. Haruna Kadiri. Last week in Abuja, student union members separately loyal to the two factional leaders, beat each other silly, at a public square in Abuja, all in a supremacy battle on who should be recognised in the negotiation efforts to make ASUU back down from its lingering strike
This, he noted, made them unattractive to the labour market, which he said often resulted in employers preferring graduates from private universities who concluded their academic programmes within stipulated time, to their counterparts in the public universities.
Kadiri said, “We are here to demand to know when the strike would be called off. The government has not been tackling the issues that led to the strike, but politicising them and dividing the ranks of the lecturers.
“As researchers, ASUU should carry out research and find solutions to the issues instead of going on strike.
“We are issuing a two-week ultimatum for the strike to be resolved. If after the ultimatum, the FG and ASUU didn’t resolve the strike, the next protest will not be peaceful. We would carry out civil unrest and we are ready to be detained in the guardroom.”
The student leader also condemned the new cut-off marks for university and polytechnic admissions as announced by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, describing the cut-off marks as retrogressive and ‘anti-education.
The two NANS factions had earlier clashed at the Unity Fountain, Maitama, Abuja, following the leadership tussle rocking the association.
Some of the NANS members threw caution to the winds and engaged one another in fisticuffs on the busy Shehu Shagari Way, while policemen struggled to break up the fight.
Trouble started when the Kadiri faction converged on the garden to address the media before taking their protest to the education ministry.
They were about addressing journalists when the Chinonso Obasi faction stormed the venue and accused Kadiri of usurping the leadership of the student body.
The allegation angered the Kadiri faction members who attacked their opponents leading to a free-for-all on the expressway.
