NANS: Robbery, prostitution now favoured by students… because man must survive

Chinonso Obasi, the president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has said the country’s economic outlook has become a grave cause for concern.

In a statement released by the association, the 31st president of the association said that students now resort to atrocities and social vices to survive.

Obasi noted that parents are struggling to pay the school fees of their wards while many undergraduates are dropping out.

“Since the inception of this present administration headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, if we would be sincere to ourselves, retrogression has been the other of the day. The suffering and agony in the land call for the concern of every Nigerian Students because this was not the change we voted for. Change we demanded, not chain.

“In today’s Nigeria, students and parents are struggling to pay their school fees, some have even deferred semesters or withdrawn from the school because things are not auguring well.

“The pathetic situation of this country has called for a curious but serious concern, why are Nigerian Students always be at the losing end? This is a question that is eagerly begging for answer from the Nigerian government.

“Lack of better alternative to get oneself financed in school has led many of Nigerian students to engage themselves in all form of atrocities and inimical social vices, in our various campus, people hide under the slogan of “man must survive” to perpetuate their evil.

“Robbery and prostitution are now the reigning vogues in our institutions because truly, man needs to survive. Imagine, frustration even made secondary school students burnt down their school building in Oyo State.”

Obasi said students cannot continue to pretend that all is well, saying the present day government administrators enjoyed scholarships while studying.

He also urged the president and government agencies to work towards easing the agony of Nigerian students.

“We can remember vividly how the people at the helms of government today were been taken care of in their days in school. They were been fed and their clothes were ironed by third party.

“They paid no dime and rode on different scholarships, it was little increment in school fees that led to Ali Must Go in late 1970’s that almost turned the country upside down. The generation of today’s leaders were not molested, they disavowed cheating but delighted in molesting the able youths and students of today.

“We cannot continue to pretend that all is well. All concerned agencies of government should garner and gather themselves to ease the agony of Nigerian Students. We urge the president and his cabinets to make policies that are favorable to Nigerian masses.

“We demand for special social academic intervention for Nigerian Students in our institutions to calm down the heightened tension, so that action will not lead to reaction that would be too grave to dismantle. Change we demanded, not chain.”