Barely 4 Years After, OAU Moves To Reinstate Students’ Union

Barely four years after The management of Obafemi Awolowo University suspended the activities of students’ Union over alleged security report as contained in a release signed by the then Registrar, Dotun Awoyemi, the institution has disclosed its plan to reinstate the union.

The plan to reinstate the students’ Union was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the Dean of of Students’ Affairs, Prof. Isiaka Olamilekan Aransi, on Monday.

The statement reads, “It has come to the knowledge if the University Management that the National Association of Nigerian students Zone D is plannin to stage a protest in respect of “resuscitation of Students’ Union in OAU.

“The university management wishes to inform all students that prior to the commencement of COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, OAU had taken steps to ensure that Students’ Union was resuscitated on two diferent occassions but the processes were truncated due to the activities of some group of students on our university campus.

“Meanwhile, protest or no protest, the university management has already determined to reinstate the suspended Students’ Union before the end of this current 2019/2020 academic session.

“In recognition of the right of freedom of association and assemmbly as well as the right to ensure that students play their roles actively in decision-making processes as one of the major stakeholders in the university, the management, through the Dean of Student Affairs, took another step in January this year 2021 to present another proposal to the university senate with a view to ensuring that the students union was resuscitated.

“Accordingly, the University Senate considered the proposal at its virtual meeting in January 2021, and in its wisdom advised that resuscitation of students union being an exclusive preserve of students should not be executed virtually while the students were not on ground in the university.

“The University management hereby wishes to inform all students (and other stakeholders) that as soon as all students return to campus fully during the Rain Semester of the current academic session, machinery will be put in place to set the ball rolling concerning the resuscitation ofthe students union in OAU.”

Recall that the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, South West Zone, last week issued 7-day Ultimatum To the Management of UI, OAU, FUNAAB, and LASU Over Suspension and Rustication of some students Union leaders in relation to their active roles in students unionism, NANS had however vowed to stage a protest in the aforementioned campuses should the management fail to do the needful.