OF NAPOLEAONS: THE NIGERIAN CONTEXT AND STUDENT ADMINISTRATION

Ladeh

one day the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich

one day the poor will finish eating one another then turn to the rich

The story of the debtor who was cleared of his debts but threw his fellow servant into prison for owing him much less is not strange to any. That is exactly how the system of the world works. George Orwell in his novel Animal Farm has done well to present the exact picture of not just the Russian state but of the world.

Remember the story of Nigeria’s colonialism and the so called ‘independence’? What happened after 1960? Everything became worse. The political system in Nigeria is a rather funny yet disturbing one. An office holder is voted out of power and another person whom is thought to be ‘better’ is voted in. He get to the office and makes everything worse than it was. Another election is conducted and the cycle continues.

Nothing gets better. Everything gets worse, not just because of the vicious cycle, but because of the attitude of the people. Authorities are not our problem, we are our own problem. Every day, we complain of oppression and hardship yet we are the tools used to wreck the havoc. It is the poor man that kills and destroys for the rich man, volunteer to lose his life for him as a political thug, cheat a fellow poor man for him and prevents justice for him. Yet we say the rich are not the rulers of this world, they indeed are.

It is a fact that poor leadership is a major factor militating against the progress of the Nigerian state. However, the attitude of the citizens towards the problem is a greater problem. The non-chalance of citizens is the fuel to the fire of destruction in Nigeria. Injustice has pervaded the society so much that everything looks normal and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. We are all very ok with it. It happens and we move on.

It is often said that children are the leaders of tomorrow. However, what happens when children of today are worse than leaders of today. Student administration is very guilty of this. Very many student leaders complain of hike in tuition fees by the school management as well as payment of some unnecessary dues. Sadly, the irony is that students’ administration is only a Napoleon to the Mr. Jones.

Very many student leaders make fees that are entirely unnecessary (shirt and dinner) compulsory for students who gave their mandate to them. It is not an unknown fact that very many students struggle to fend for themselves and still meet up with deadline for school fees payment. Expecting students to pay fees that are totally unnecessary is entirely unreasonable. Payment for dinner and shirts made compulsory in some associations is the height of wickedness. The sad thing is that the funds may eventually end up being embezzled by a thief in the guise of an ‘exco’.

What exactly is the benefit of an association where members only pay ridiculous dues and have nothing to show for it? A friend was not allowed to write a test in the Department of Biochemistry just because he had not paid his school fees. Surely, that department does have an association. What is wrong with setting up a platform to help students struggling with the payment of their school fees? What exactly is the point of an association that cannot help its members but dances to the tune some ‘higher power’ all of the time.

We are the change we seek but what happens if we are only recycling what we ought to change? Your guess is as good as mine!