The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has proposed a system under which students may be required to pay its annual ₦200 dues directly to the organisation, with its president, Akinteye Babatunde, suggesting that proof of payment could become a criterion for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) mobilisation.
Babatunde disclosed this in Facebook posts on Sunday and Monday while explaining NANS’ financial challenges and plans to overhaul the way the association collects its dues.
In an earlier post, the NANS president said the organisation would work with the NYSC and suggested that students could be required to present evidence of payment of NANS dues before being mobilised to camp.
“We will be working with NYSC and one of the criteria to be mobilised for camp is NANS dues receipt,” he wrote.
However, in a video posted on Monday, Babatunde explained that NANS was considering a system that would enable it to collect its dues directly from students instead of relying on student union governments (SUGs) and institutional managements.
He said the annual dues amounted to only ₦200 per student and argued that the proposed arrangement was not intended to impose an additional financial burden on students.
“This is not an avenue to stress the students further because the due is as low as 200 Naira per student in a year, 200 Naira one year per student,” he said.
According to Babatunde, the dues would be distributed among the various structures of NANS, including its zonal and state structures and affiliated student bodies.
He said the organisation had struggled to receive expected financial allocations from SUGs in recent years and was therefore considering moving away from the existing collection system.
“We are considering moving from getting the due to capitation to get it to have a platform where we can get it directly from students,” he said.
Babatunde alleged that between 80 and 90 per cent of SUGs were no longer in control of their dues, claiming that some institutions released only a fraction of the money collected to their student unions.
He said the situation had weakened NANS financially and affected its ability to intervene in issues involving students.
The NANS president cited the University of Benin as an example, alleging that the institution’s management frustrated the SUG’s efforts to access its funds after the union opposed an increase in school fees.
“One of the ways to cripple the organisation is to make it lack funds, to be short of funds,” he said.
Despite the financial challenges, Babatunde said NANS had continued to intervene in student-related matters, including campus visits and cases involving students in distress.
He argued, however, that the organisation could not be expected to operate effectively without a reliable source of funding from its members.
“How can you feel the impact correctly, if you are not putting your money where your mouth is? This is an organisation for all of us,” he said.
Babatunde also argued that NANS needed to become financially independent of politicians, government officials and other individuals whose financial support could potentially compromise the organisation’s ability to challenge government agencies on behalf of students.
“How do you want people to run to politicians or government to seek their support and when they have issues with the agencies, they still want to stand and fight those agencies?” he asked.
Proposed direct payment system
Babatunde said NANS was considering working with agencies and institutions connected to students to establish a system through which the ₦200 annual dues could be paid directly to the organisation.
“We are going towards [agencies] to cooperate with to get this due directly to the organisation, no more to the management, no more to the SUGs, but directly to the organisation,” he said.
He added that NANS would amend its laws and develop proposals to provide the new collection system with the necessary institutional backing.
“We are going to amend our laws, we are going to have different proposals and see how we will start getting our due directly to the organisation,” he said.
Babatunde acknowledged that the proposed changes might not fully benefit the current NANS administration but argued that they would strengthen the organisation and future administrations.
He also disclosed that NANS had received thousands of complaints from students, saying the organisation needed stronger financial capacity to respond to such cases.
“When I speak to you, I have about 3,000, 4,000 emails of student complaints… genuine complaints,” he said.
According to him, NANS had also incurred expenses responding to student emergencies, including cases involving kidnapped students and accidents involving its buses.
“Where are those money coming from? Organisation that does not have dues,” he said.
While Babatunde’s comments indicate that NANS is considering linking payment of its dues to the NYSC mobilisation process, he did not provide details of any formal agreement with the NYSC, how such a system would operate or when it could take effect.
The NYSC has its own statutory eligibility and mobilisation procedures. Any requirement making payment of NANS dues a condition for mobilisation would therefore need to be formally established by the relevant authorities before it could become an official requirement.
Babatunde maintained that the proposed direct-payment system was aimed at making NANS financially independent and giving the organisation greater capacity to represent and advocate for Nigerian students.
“This is not to pressure the student, it is just about doing the right thing that is necessary, so that the other organisation can also be independent, so that the organisation can also stand on its own and do things properly,” he said.
