Expectations high for Kadpoly’s new SUG

Tertiary institutions in Nigeria are places where the youths find their political feet, through participation in students’ union activities. Most of those engaged in student unionism also learn to take responsibilities that can improve their leadership skills later in life. Students’ unions tend to fight against injustice, corruption and try to improve the learning and […]

Tertiary institutions in Nigeria are places where the youths find their political feet, through participation in students’ union activities. Most of those engaged in student unionism also learn to take responsibilities that can improve their leadership skills later in life.
Students’ unions tend to fight against injustice, corruption and try to improve the learning and teaching environments.
Students’ Union Governments (SUGs) could be traced to 1925 with the formation of West African Students Union (WASU), by Nigerian law students in London, led by Ladipo Solanke and Herbert Macaulay. Solanke became the pioneer president of WASU which sought better living standards for African students in London and progress in British colonies.
In 1956, the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) was formed while the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) was formed thereafter. The unions stood firm in the fight against military rule.
Kaduna Polytechnic (Kadploy), for long, remains a place where students used to get involved in SUG activities. The students were seldom polarised into opposing camps during election seasons but widely eschew their differences when the elections are over and an SUG is formed.
The institution mostly supports the SUG financially during elections but the union has its own sources of finance to sustain its services and programmes after inauguration of its executives.  
The 2015 SUG election in Kadpoly was conducted without bitterness and its outcome not rigged. The newly elected executives were recently inaugurated in a brief ceremony at the SUG Secretariat in the school premises.
The SUG President AbdulKareem Usman said in his acceptance speech that the students will speak with one powerful voice in the defence of their rights.
He spelled out some of the key projects which the new students’ leaders will pay attention to, including the establishment of cordial working relationship with the school management and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP).
He pledged to tackle the problem of erratic internet services being faced by the institution by working together with telecom service providers.
The new executives vow to strengthen security around the institution through the introduction of students’ identity card tags “to restrict the movements of non-students and miscreants within the school premises.”
Engendering rapport between students and academic staff is seen by the new students’ leaders as a way of halting the incessant strikes in the institution.