•It conflicts with academic performance
•No, many unionists still excel
•But experts want it


The call for quality higher education keeps mounting. As the players seek way out of it or solutions to the problems facing students, teachers and others have started seeing student unionism as one of the major factors that affect students’ performances negatively.

In some higher institutions, student politicians are taken to have little or no regards for their academic pursuits, partly because, they give little or no attention to their studies. Many other students that focus more on their studies derisively refer to them and their unions as Non Academic Students or the Non-Academic Students Union (NASU)

In some instances, many student leaders have been unable to graduate at the regulation time and in some cases, they forfeit their courses mid-way, while some that decide to complete their programmes spend many years in school before their eventual graduation. In some courses which require four or five years, some spend an average of 10 years and at a point, fellow students refer to them as ‘professional students,’

Others on the other hand have distinguished themselves and graduated with excellent results. Some of the reasons beyond academic performance that lead to overstaying of student leaders in higher institutions is connected to victimization. This occurs when a student leader is perceived as stumbling block to the interests of the school authority and some lecturers.

How it began
Student unionism in Nigeria is traced to 1925, after the emergence of the West African Student Union (WASU) which was partly pioneered by some Nigerian students in London. The students used the union to fight the colonial masters for the rights of Africans. National Union of Nigeria Students (NUNS), which was later to be referred as National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) inherited the same idealism from WASU. Today unionism has been extended to various faculties, departments and social clubs in higher institutions.

Compromised
Nevertheless, student unionism has taken another shape, compromised and exposed to all kind of negativities.
Abuja Metro reached out to experts and Student Union Government (SUG) leaders of some schools and got their opinions and how their position has affected their academic performances which is the primary aim of going to school.

Some confessed that they no longer attend classes because of their demanding positions. They only come to the classrooms during exams.
The lecturers or examiners do not also give them preferential treatment. According to the opinions of some experts: “Students unionism was known to be a positive force in the past. In the sweet old days, student leaders were always among the most intelligent ones in the school. They were known to stand firm for the right of the students and criticize any injustice from our leaders.”

For Comrade Martins Abdur-Rafii, SUG President, University of Lagos, participating in school politics is nightmare as it does great harm to academic performance. He believes that a student politician might be unable to attain his academic goals once entangled with the vicissitudes of the responsibility, but he still sees reasons why the schools cannot do without it.
“Being an executive member of a student union is the worst thing that can happen to a high flying student. It’s very difficult to remain on first class or even second class as an executive except you decide to be inactive and fulfill the promises made during your manifesto.”

It’s distraction
Another student leader and unionist, Comrade Oji Peter Ekene, President, SUG, University of Nigeria, Nsukka also spoke  to Abuja Metro. He said that student politics is unavoidable as it is a stepping stone to other things in life. He asserted that despite the huge challenges encountered in the course of carrying out his duties as a president, he only needs to balance his activities as it is the only way to be exceptional.

He said: “I view leadership as a college where the people involved build themselves for eventual involvement in nation building. Nobody can start to climb a tree from the middle of the stem, at the same time, somebody must be a child before he becomes a man. Though I will not claim ignorance of the fact that, leadership obligations of a student in the school make academics very challenging. This is because the student politician is faced with two tasks – the quest to fulfill your mandate to your electorate, and the need to strike the balance academically. This above all makes a leader exceptionally strong as it takes a great mind to handle great things.”

“If I was not going to do well in my studies, I would still not do well because the commitment might not be there. It is therefore, not the extra responsibility that will make me not to do well. This is because, I might at the end of it all devote my extra time to something else, knowing full well that nobody gives his academic pursuit complete 24 hours attention. I am also the president of Rotary Club of UNN and I have been doing well in those positions.

To Comrade Alao John, SUG President, Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan, he sees it as sacrifice. He feels that for him to deliver on the promises that got him elected as the union president, he must sacrifice his time to fulfill those promises. He equally confessed to have attended only 20% of classes and lectures held so far since his ascendance as the president of the union.
“It is part of the sacrifice I see as a student union government leader. During my election campaigns, I made some promises in my manifesto, which helped me to secure votes from them. And I must deliver on those promises.”

Unionists that excelled
Another student union leader Comrade Alamin Ibrahim, SUG president, MAUTECH, Yola, gave a different opinion, saying that student unionism has helped mostly those from poor background and should be more encouraged. He gave instances where many people have been elevated to higher political positions through student unionism. His opinion is that making good grades is dependent on individuals as many student leaders have made wonderful grades despite the tedious nature of their responsibilities.

He said “the youths more especially those from poor background have grown politically through student union bodies. For example, NANS president, Baballe from Kano State won election to the House of Representatives through students’ unionism. The former SSA on youth and student Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan got the appointment with roots from student unionism. All these youths have been lifted and developed through student unionism.

Its effect on academic performance depends on the persons involved. I say so because some of the student union leaders have graduated with excellent results. For instance, the past Secretary General of the National Union of Adamawa State Student 2013/2014, Pukuma Simon graduated in first class grade in Geology. In another instance, a former SUG president in the 2013 session from Federal College of Education, Yola, graduated with ‘Excellent’ grade in NCE, Maths/Education. These are equally student union leaders of high level.

Pat Utomi
Abuja Metro equally sought the opinions of experts in leadership and academics. Despite the decline in both academic output and student unionism, most experts would still want it encouraged.
According to Prof. Pat Utomi, a former presidential aspirant, the impact student unionism made in his grooming stage as a student is enough to prove that student unionism should be encouraged. He nevertheless decried the situation now as compared to the good old days. He however gave his voice in not only encouraging student politics but also a need to help keep it in the right track.

“I was a student leader myself when I was in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The student union is perhaps one of the best leadership development grounds for students. Unfortunately, over the last 20 or more years, the quality has deteriorated very badly. To my understanding and I have no proof because I am not in the university community now, but many of those who pose as student union leaders have been in the university for many years and should have graduated if they were serious students.

“That could be very sad, I think the university authority should play a major role in helping guide the students to set up student government that need leadership testing opportunity and growth opportunity to the students. This is because they do definitely need that kind of opportunity to show how they can influence their peers. Through that influence, they can make decisive choices in terms of where the student body should be looking towards in student issues and the larger society.”
Prof. Utomi also gave a flash back of what he achieved through student politics and why it should not be discouraged.

“The fact that unionism has gone wrong and away from what it used to be is not enough to say that students should not organize themselves and have the opportunity to leadership growth. I think we should help them clean it up, help them understand that the university is a place for character moulding and among the many platforms of building characters is through participation in student union life or public life in students community. Some of the strongest grooming opportunities I had came as a student leader.

 One of my viral stories which was on telex in London was about a 19-year-old student leader saying that students union of the University of Nigeria should play a critical role in the foreign policy making of Nigeria, at a time when foreign policy was clearly Nigeria’s most critical area in policy activities and in the policy activity during the struggle in southern Africa.

“Against or beyond the expectations of the entire university community including the administration, I was able to get the foreign minister to come to Nsukka in 1975/1976 to debate on that issue. The minister then, during the visit, engaged us in an intellectual debate on Nigerian foreign policy. So, what we need to do for the students is broaden the opportunity, make sure we get real students who are serious minded, who can learn leadership art through student unionism rather than thugs who turn to politicians for sustenance and noise making.”

Linus Okorie
Mr. Linus Okorie, president and founder of Guardians of the Nation International said reasons why students perform poorly is not because they took positions as student leaders or participate in school politics, rather they perform poorly because they study courses that are against their wishes. He lamented on the situations where a student is forced to even go to the university, stating that some people’s calling has nothing to do with the university in the first place.

“First, I will lay a foundation to this. What happens to academic performances has to do with parents forcing their children to do courses that they have no passion for. God gives every child talent or gift from birth. And that means that economies of the world that will make progress is the economy that will harness the talent of those young people. It means that before a child gets into the university or higher institution, there must be a deliberate talent discovery that will help the young person to decide his or her future, to choose whatever courses that are pleasing and that can strengthen his/her talent.
He said also that: “Some people don’t need to go to the university, they might rather need to attend a fashion school, because that is where their passion lies. Some might want to go to football school, some would want to go to catering or music school as the case may be. When that happens, the young people operate from the highest level of their calling.”

Okorie, who was equally a student union president also recalled how enlightening the positions he occupied as student has been. He also blamed some situations of poor students’ performance on the government and some institutions that work directly with the education sector. He said that the neglect in the leadership development systems in higher institutions should be a great concern as it is one of the ways of training and bringing up bright students that will be leaders of tomorrow.

“For instance, I was a senior prefect at Government College Owerri. And I loved the responsibility with passion and was also doing very well as a student. I was so passionate about it and when my results came out. I made 5cs and 4As. But at the same time I was a very good senior prefect. When I got into the university, I became the president of Student Union Government, at Imo State University. I graduated with a shortfall of second class upper. But the experiences I got from those two positions are unprecedented. They have boosted my capacity to work with people, my self confidence, my learning system and all that.

Dr. Raymond Udeajah, a former Head of Department in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka told Abuja Metro there is no established fact to prove that some student leaders have been performing poorly due to their political engagements in the school. He is of the opinion that there is still great need to support and encourage them, and that it would be unfair to conclude a whole is rotten because of a part. He also stated that since their academic pursuit is just a starting point of their sojourn to the real life in the society, it should be encouraged.

“It is not established that the participation of students in school politics results in decline in academic performances of involved students. I think it’s still an assumption. There is still evidence that there are students who get involved in politics, who get involved in social activities and yet they don’t neglect their academic pursuit. Those that knew why they were in the university still maintain the standard to the end.