Politics and issues in NANS presidency

But not to miss the point, this is not only about the emergence of Imagwe.  It is about the totality of the NANS executive officers who have been given the mandate by the ever conscious Nigerian students to lead them for the next NANS year. He will discharge his leadership mandate in concert with other […]

But not to miss the point, this is not only about the emergence of Imagwe.  It is about the totality of the NANS executive officers who have been given the mandate by the ever conscious Nigerian students to lead them for the next NANS year.

He will discharge his leadership mandate in concert with other experienced officers such as Suleiman Mahmud TJ ( National Vice President in charge of National Affairs, Patience Akor (National Vice

President in charge of External Affairs), Nnoma Ekechukwu (National Vice President in charge of Special Duties), Kazeem (Senate President) and Western Iyamu (Secretary General), among others.

Significantly, Imagwe, a postgraduate student of Environmental Science at the University of Benin, is not lacking in commitment to the wellbeing of NANS and its politics, having been a part and parcel of the association within the last one decade. He is therefore well-cut for the job at a time like this when the association requires a strong leadership voice to project its philosophy about issues that affect it within the context of administration of students’ welfare issues by authorities of the nation’s tertiary institutions.

In a larger context, the association has traditionally been reputed for its vibrancy in defending students’ welfare matters.  It has honed and/or produced a good number of Nigerians who are today contributing to shaping the polity through the instrumentality of the ever expanding clan of pro-democracy and good governance groups in the country.

Imagwe is temperamentally suited to continue the aluta for better deals for the Nigerian students in tertiary institutions.  He is also well prepared to tackle the shenanigans by the school authorities and government where and when the welfare interests of the ever conscious Nigerian students are to be compromised or undermined. This is why watchers of the politics and election of NANS that produced Imagwe contend that the association could not have anyone better than him in the circumstance of the electioneering at the 24th Annual Convention of the association and theatrics that characterised the association’s election in Abuja.But the new NANS leadership has quickly put behind it the poli-tricks and theatrics that the other side had deviously orchestrated to truncate its emergence and has, indeed, focused on governance and development issues that have the potentialities of giving the association a deserved rebirth.

Like other bodies, such as Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Nigeria

Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), NUPENG,

 PENGASSEN, etc, NANS, which has had its glorious years and its low time due to the styles of successive leaderships, is now on the path of regaining its pride of place as a strong voice in the quest for good governance by those to whom the people have surrendered their mandates.

As reported in some national dailies, the new NANS leadership has not left anyone in doubt about its commitment to drive and be driven by issues and not sentiments or desires to pander to “monetization and cabalistic influence of the maniacs and impostors,” to quote the well-publicized communiqué issued by the association at the end of its 24th Annual Convention in Abuja.

Take, for instance, NANS, through its President, Imagwe, worried by the socio-economic and political developments in the country, has concluded that it would be committed to efforts that would stabilize the Nigerian polity.  To NANS, it is patently and inherently unpatriotic to promote acts that will undermine or compromise good governance and put the nation on the edge of the deepness.

It is worth commending that the Imagwe-led NANS executive has expressed its readiness to work in harmony “with all well meaning Nigerians and organizations to ensure that the nation’s democratic arrangement is not disrupted by anti-democratic forces.”  It was quoted to have assured that it would “closely watch the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua-led Federal Government in the discharge of its mandate.”

Imagwe was also quoted to have stated that NANS would do all within its powers to assist the realization of government’s programmes and policies, especially the much-trumpeted seven-point agenda of the Federal Government.

Indeed, in a rare rapidity to reactions to government actions that created the image of a leadership that had already articulated its positions on some national issues, the Imagwe-led NANS has ventured into a testy aspect of governance: proposed deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector of the economy.  He said that NANS was in full support of the proposed policy, promising that the association would accord the policy the necessary backing to ensure its actualization and success.

Although, the NANS president did not expatiate further on why the association has opted to back the policy, it is apparent that it might have appreciated the perceived official fraud in the administration of the billions of naira that annually go into funding subsidy on fuel, which would give way once the deregulation comes on stream.

There are, indeed, other issues that will crop up in the immediate and distant future deserving appropriate responses by the Imagwe-led NANS.  How it responds to the issues will determine its success and/or failure.  But how will it play out?  Time will tell.

Johnson is a graduate of Economics from the University of Jos. He contributed this piece from Abuja