COMMUNIQUE OF THE ALL NIGERIAN STUDENTS SUMMIT HELD ON 8TH OF SEPTEMBER 2016 AT THE AWOLOWO HALL CAFÉ, OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE, OSUN STATE
Following the numerous attacks on the education sector and the rising spate of unprecedented economic hardship that characterises this present epoch, students from various institution saw the imperative necessity to come together in discussion of this absurdities.

The summit which started with a public symposium witnessed the active participation of mass of students, activists from various campuses, Labor activists and trade Unionists. The summit focussed its discussion on the themes “Nigeria’s economic recession; what roles for the Nigerian Students in the Defence against backlash on the working masses” AND “Reclaiming NANS as a fighting democratic platform of struggle for interest of Nigerian students; the role of activists, students and organized labor.” There were exhaustive deliberations and vituperative condemnations on the inability of NANS to act in defence of Nigerian students despite numerous outbreak of struggles of students across different institutions. This outbreak of resistance have not gone without despotic management making a scape goat out of Union leaders and activists at the fore front of this struggles.
The summit equally raised concerns over the ignominious state of the economy that has compounded the economic woes of mass of Nigerian who long before now have been living below poverty line. This economic recession which without any doubt is the creation of the inept ruling elite and a characteristic failure of global capitalism, has not come to mean a reduction in the outrageous emoluments and extravagant lifestyle of political office holders, neither has it made any fundamental difference in the huge profits the Bosses milk out of the impoverished workers; It is a recession that has only come to make the Nigerian masses( who did not in the first instance enjoy any fundamental benefit from the period of oil boom) pay for the problem they have not created.
It was on the basis of the aforesaid that the summit made the following resolutions and declarations

The summit scorned the ignoble state of the Nigerian tertiary institutions especially as it pertains to the parlous state of halls of residence, lecture theatres, erratic power and water supply, inadequate laboratory equipment, obsolete laboratories and many other absurdities that trailed the Nigerian campuses. This despicable state of our respective institution remains an effect of years of underfunding of our education system. While there were unanimous agreement to the gruesome effect of underfunding of our Universities, it was also gathered that the Undemocratic management of our Universities permits mindless looting of bulk of the little allocations from the federal government.

Despite the 100billion naira NEEDS assessment fund distributed across Nigerian Universities and many arbitrary attempts at commercializing education via vicious fee increments, this has not stopped students from hitting the street for things as basic as power and water supply. It is our belief that the task of a diversified economy and real socio-economic development that is not depended on the imperial hegemony of the west, remains a function of a well-funded and structured educational system. It is on this basis that the summit made the following demands;
Government must take seriously the task of upwardly funding of the education system
The government must earmark at-least 26% of our budget for the education sector
We demand democratic Management of our tertiary institutions to include representatives of Staff and Student Unions.

For the immediate probe of Vice chancellors and management of our tertiary institutions especially institutions such as OAU, UNILAG, LAUTECH, UNN, UNIJOS, UNIPORT, AAUA, UNIBEN ETC. and conduct a detailed financial audit of the respective schools.
For an immediate reversal of all astronomically increased school fees
The summit denounces any attempt to increase fees in LAUTECH or any other Nigerian campuses; We maintain an absolute no to commodification and commercialization of education

The summit lamented with utter disdain the growing waves of the ridiculous tradition of “scapegoatism” and the inglorious rein of political victimizations in our higher institutions. We denounced as barbaric and unacceptable the abhorrence of dissent and subjugation of students’ democratic right to express their views/disagreement/protest over contentious issues pertaining to their very well-being and the University community at large. Development in any society comes from the disclosure of internal contradictions.

Needless to say, development even from the western example has been shown to emerge from the gates of the tertiary institutions. This development ranges from political ideas, economic alternative to advancement in science and technology. It however becomes very disgraceful when the very institution that is supposed to be armed with the nations’ academic elite, make rigorous attempt at subduing dissent and patiently stabs logic in the head. This once again places a big coma on the fate of the Nigerian democracy if the country’s ivory tower is not civilised enough to permit the free rein of democratic practices in our academic institutions. It is on this basis that the summit condemns in totality the rustication of eleven students leaders and activists at the University of Lagos and other Nigerian tertiary institutions such as OAU where this vicious traditions currently prevails. The summit premised on the afore-analysed made the following declarations
We demand the immediate reversal of the rustication order issued on the eleven student leaders and activists of the University of Lagos.

We maintain that the OAU management immediately reinstate the studentship of Great Ife Students’ Union Owolabi Olawale a.k.a Ogunruku
That University authorities must respect right to independent Students Unionism.
Immediate reopening of campuses that are despotically shutdown by high-handed University administrations e.g. AAUA
The meeting bemoaned with deep regret the current despicable state of the umbrella body of the Students Movement NANS. It took exception to the sharp deviation from the founding principles of the Students’ Movement as contained in the NANS charter. It expressed huge dissatisfaction over the inability to rise to the mounting challenges of mass of Students and the Nigerian masses at large. It is upon this that the summit abstracted and adopted the following;
The fall of NANS is a function of the not so obscure ideological decadence that currently bedevils the Student Unions of various campuses. The inability of mass of students to prevail over their Unions leaves behind a Union tied to the apron strings of University administration. It is the conglomerate of such corrupt and pro-authority Unions that produces a Pro-government/establishment NANS that is utterly disconnected from the lives of mass of students and the terrible realities of the Nigerian masses.
That mass of students must begin to hold their union responsible and hook its leadership at the jugular to ensure such Union defend the rights of its members and sustain the ideals of Students’ Unionism.

That mass of students and Students’ Activists begin the task of reclaiming the national student’s movement as fighting body of students.

The summit expressed deep concerns over the worrisome state of the economy that has further plundered the economic livelihood of the Nigerian masses. It decried every neoliberal policies of the Buhari led government centred at enriching the handful elite at the expense of the toiling masses. We condemn the scary rate of inflation that has not witnessed a commensurate increase in salaries of workers. The summit dissents from the effort of the government at patronizing the Nigerian impoverished populace into making vain sacrifices to salvage the profit of the bosses but repackaged as economic recovery. The program scorned the devious attempt at making the poor majority pay for an economic crisis they have not created. Especially in situation where the downtrodden majority did not in the first instance reap any monumental benefit from the years of boom. This is in addition to the fact that the salaries of political officers continue to rise and the perceived recession has done little to reduce the extravagant lifestyle of public officers, yet salaries of toiling workers remain stagnantly low and inadequately paid. It is on this basis that summit demanded that;
Government accedes to the demand of Labour for 96000 naira minimum wage
Government immediately pay the backlog of arrears owed to the workers of various states such as Ondo, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Ogun etc.

We demand that government meets the demands of the striking Staff Unions of Universities such as LAUTECH, OOU etc
We maintain that all political office holders including the members of the National assembly be placed on the salaries of an average skilled worker
We demand that government reverses its policies of deregulation and privatization which is the ground basis for the unprecedented and sudden rate of inflation that currently plagues the economy

We opine that government renationalizes the the privatized sector of the economy such as power, oil sector etc. it is our opinion that such nationalization be done in the sense of placing its democratic management in the hands of the workers.
The summit maintains that the economy must be restructured out of these current neoliberal lines but must be anchored on a system of planned production that places the commanding height of the economy under the democratic management of the workers.

It was unanimously agreed that there is no justification for making the masses pay for an economic burst they have not created. It decried the government devious attempt at forcing austere policies down the throat of the Nigerian poor masses and resolved that mass resistance be built against this wave of attack on the living standard of the poor.
IT IS ON THE NEED TO PRESS-HOME THIS HIGHLIGHTED DEMAND THAT THE SUMMIT AGREED TO STAGE A MASS ACTION TAGGED “1MILLION MAN MARCH AGAINST AUSTERITY” ON THE 1ST OF OCTOBER 2016. WE CALL ON NIGERIAN STUDENTS, ACTIVISTS, LEFT ORGANIZATIONS AND ORGANISED LABOUR TO JOIN US AS WE MARCH AGAINST FRESH ATTACKS AT STRANGULATING THE LIVING STANDARD OF THE POOR MAJORITY AND DEMAND THE REINSTATEMENT OF VICTIMIZED STUDENTS ACTIVISTS ACROSS NIGERIAN CAMPUSES.
Signed:
Wole Olubanji Sanyaolu Juwon
Pro-tem Convener Pro-tem Secretary
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