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Aspiring NANS President, Newton calls for Post #ENDSARS restructuring
By Abiodun Adebayo
One of the Presidential aspirants of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Olaseinde Adeyinka has urged Nigerian Students to start the Post #EndSars restructuring by electing real young students to lead association and do away with the older ones currently leading the apex students’ body in the country.
Adeyinka, fondly called NEWTON, said this as NANS Convention starts on Friday 27th November 2020 in Abuja with 14 presidential aspirants.
Adeyinka, who is seeking election into the the students’ association’s apex position, said the youths are the agents needed at this generation to lead the battle for the reformation of the value system of the students body.
In a chat with our correspondent, the former Students Union President of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), emphasised that the Union needs young students who possess the intellectual capacity and erudition to lead NANS.
The 23-year old activist believed that having led FUTA students to a successful point, he possesses the experience and ability to lead NANS if elected.
According to him, it is time for real students to take over the leadership of NANS from those he describes as “Career Students”, saying “the post #EndSars restructuring should start from NANS to show the world that we are a serious generation.”
Asked how he plans to wither the storm at the NANS Convention despite being the youngest person ever to run for NANS presidency in the last two decades, NEWTON, as he is called, said: “In the course of my campaign, I’m elated by the way stakeholders are willing to be part of the revolution to ensure a new reality emerged in NANS.
“The hunger and thirst for a NANS Rebirth seems to be on already, and I am more than glad to be pioneering this movement. By the grace of God, the movement to bring back NANS to the young majority, to the actual students who can relate more to students’ peculiarities will be actualized at the coming convention.
“Every system is subjected to change. The Nigerian mainstream political structure has witnessed a breakthrough with the #NotTooYoungToRun bill. I believe the best way to effect this change is to begin with NANS. Let young capable heads rule NANS and deliver, then it will be easier for Nigerians to believe that the younger “Soro Soke” generation is up to the task.”
Speaking on his programmes if elected as NANS President, NEWTON said his aspiration for the office was strategically planned and ordained by God.
He explained that he has a programme he refers to as REBIRTH Agenda to rebrand and register the NANS brand for the progress of Nigeria.
According to him, the interest and dignity of Nigerian students remain sacrosanct while maintaining a cordial relationship with the government and other organisations.
He plans to bring back the young vibrant majority, initiate a lasting and cheap internet access for Nigerian students in accordance to the demands of the global reality.
Also to revive and revitalize the state of the Student Union and accord more relevance to the office of the president, find a lasting solution to the continuous strike action affecting students and help build a NANS that balances intellectualism with sagacity, a NANS that is taken seriously by men and women of valour and institutions of unquestionable integrity globally.
He said: “I left a legacy of true unionism, with fierce agitation for students’ welfare in FUTA.
Before my tenure, there was this narrative that the SUG was only a puppet in the hands of the school management hence, there was usually a little incentive for student politicians to agitate for students’ rights in that respect.
But my tenure ensured that students were top priority in every decision and all of our negotiations with those at the corridor of power.
One evident outcome of that was the reduction of the acceptance fee by about 20 percent.
“I left the mark of the “People’s President” – I was easily approachable, I received calls at midnight from students harassed by some unit of the police force, and I’d rush down to rescue the situation.
I made a conscious effort to solve off-campus electricity problem because I was part of the struggle myself. The mutual inclusiveness of the hardship students’ face was clear to me, and it helped me to solve the challenges better.
I workedfor history and posterity and today, I thank God I did that. I thank God for His grace, wisdom, knowledge and understanding all through the time I held the insignia of power at FUTASU.”
