The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) notes with concern, a recent call by one group, the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) for the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), to Declare Statewide Strike and Mass Protests.
While we concede that it is within the rights of any person or group of persons to call out trade unions to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression and of association, we hasten to caution that such rights should be exercised responsibly.
Without an iota of doubt, it breaks the heart to see children sent by their parents and guardians to school to study, end up as pawns and objects of negotiations in the hands of kidnappers.
It should, however, be noted that no government worth its salt, would, especially in an election year, fold its hands and watch terrorists keep children away from their parents and loved ones.
Rather than call on labour unions to shut down the country, which is exactly what these terrorists want to achieve, we should, as it happened in other climes, use the period to unite against terrorists and reflect on how to make Nigeria better.
When Hamas struck Israel in 2023, killing over 1,000 of her citizens and kidnapped hundreds, Israeli citizens didn’t play into the hands of their attackers by protesting and calling on unions to shut down the country. They forgot all their differences and rallied around the government to hit back at their adversaries. The Israeli government continued to negotiate for the release of those taken hostage by Hamas. In some caes it took 738 days to secure freedom for the last batch of Israeli hostages by Hamas. God forbid that our children spend a day longer than necessary in the hands of these terrorists.
Tough times, they say, don’t last. It is tough people who do. Between 1967 and 1970, we fought a very bitter civil war, losing over a million people from both the federal and the Biafra side. We pulled back from the brink. Even when one diplomat reportedly predicted that Nigeria would disintegrate in 2015, we united to prove that doomsday prediction wrong. If we were able unite against doomsday prediction in 2015, we can successfully unite against terrorism in 2026.
NANS, as a critical stakeholder, reminds that governments will come and go. The citizens shall remain. We have since 2010 carried on as if terrorism is the burden of government. It is high time we changed that mindset. Nigeria is a very blessed country. It is best to unite against terrorism and solve this problem once and for all.
Signed: Comrade Akinteye Babatunde Afeez,
National President
