By: Patrick Ezihe

A wise person has a big heart, a curious brain, and open ears. – Abhishek Ratna

Student governance in Nigerian universities exists as the Student Union, with a president at the top of the hierarchy, and the Student Representative Council (SRC) acting as checks and balances. The Student Union began in the 1940s during the colonial period as a response to both academic and political concerns. The earliest student body formed at the time to advocate for student welfare was the University College of Ibadan Students’ Union (UCI SU). Now known as the University of Ibadan Student Union (UI SU), being the first university in Nigeria.

The union became a platform for addressing student grievances and also contributed to the nationalistic struggle for Nigeria’s independence. The 1961 anglo-defense pact struggle is one notable event in Nigeria’s post-colonial history. With the expansion of higher education in Nigeria, more universities established Student Unions modeled after democratic principles. The National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) was formed afterwards to unite student bodies across institutions. Generally, these unions played key roles in activism, notably opposing military rule, resisting unfavorable government policies, and advocating for better funding for education.

Later, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) emerged in 1980 as a successor to NUNS, continuing advocacy at the national level. Similarly, the Student Representative Council (SRC) in Nigerian universities has been a crucial organ of student governance, often functioning as the legislative arm of the Students’ Union Government (SUG). Its origin and role are rooted in the desire to uphold democratic values and ensure checks and balances within student leadership structures.

The idea of the SRC was modeled after Nigeria’s legislative system and introduced into university student structures to promote internal democracy and accountability. As student unionism matured in the ’60s and ’70s, there was a growing need to separate powers within the union to prevent abuse and promote representation. The SRC was created as the legislative counterpart to the Students’ Union Executive Council (SUEC), akin to the relationship between Nigeria’s National Assembly and the executive arm of government. Before long, most Nigerian universities officially recognized the SRC in their student union constitutions. Since then, the SRC has served as a representative and oversight body.

The Executive Council and the SRC, while not direct parts of the school administration, operate within the university system and interact closely with the administration. They are semi-autonomous but function under university oversight, itself subject to the fundamental laws of the country, serving as the official link between students and authorities. They participate in decision-making processes, including attending senate and faculty board meetings, where required.

The roles of the Student Union include representation, advocacy, welfare, support services, and conflict mediation, among others. Meanwhile, the SRC carries out legislative oversight, budget approval, impeachment and disciplinary processes, crisis mediation, and lawmaking, with the promotion of accountability and transparency as its primary objective.

‘The First and the Best,’ as UI is popularly known, operates on a system that recognizes both the Executive Council and the Student Representative Council. The tenets of good governance, some of which are responsibility, accountability, transparency, equitability, and inclusiveness, are essential to any government. It is on this basis that the Aweda Bolaji-led tenure must be recalled and evaluated for accountability, or the lack of that.

On Saturday, 20th April 2024, the date of the last SU election, Aweda Bolaji, popularly known as ‘Oloye,’ was announced the winner and president-elect of the SUG, with Hammed Erinola falling short by over a thousand votes. It goes without saying that the insignificant fraction of Uites who participated in that election supported ‘Oloye.’ The Aweda leadership, Team Amelioration, launched the campus transportation initiative, raised funds for students affected by the fee hike, witnessed protests against the hike often commenced and initiated by students, organized a leadership and financial summit, initiated GES free transportation, and introduced the Food Bank initiative. Aweda Bolaji himself presented a 2-page report of his stewardship to the Students’ Representative Council in January 2025.

That report full of trifle did not state several major issues which the administration unsolved or ignored. In some cases, Aweda Bolaji and his co-travellers had to be coerced to address issues. It is no exaggeration to say the Aweda leadership and the 11th Assembly, led by Busoye Matthias, failed the student community.

The turning point of this unsettling trend began with the protests over the school fees hike. The hallmark of great leadership is action, yet contrary to its name, Team Amelioration had to be pressured by students before showing any response. Even then, their stance was passive, despite the arrests of students — Nice Linus, Mide Gbadegesin, and Aduwo Ayodele — whose only ‘crime’ was raising placards to decry the excessive fee increment.

With the UISU failing to take charge of the protests, unrest followed, prompting the SRC to call a Congress. The Union’s reluctance to convene the Congress seemed to stem from fear of confronting student criticisms and an overwhelming fear of the University management. Their inaction ultimately weakened the students’ resistance against the fee hike, resulting in the abrupt closure of the university and a three-week suspension of academic activities.

Students, for an incident never to be forgotten, were left in dire straits. The university management issued a memorandum giving only six hours for students to vacate their halls of residence. Many were dazed, some stranded, and others scrambled for transportation. Yet, amid the chaos, the Student Union leaders remained silent, the Union President particularly disappeared, all adamantly silent during a moment that demanded strong representation and defense of students’ interests.

Another disappointing move by the leadership was their unapologetic maneuver of the eventually held Congress. The UISU has earlier postponed and delayed the congress until a petition was filed by students activists against the executive council. Another petition followed following another manipulation of the held congress resolutions; disrespecting the highest organ of the Student Union. The executive walked out before the session was formally adjourned.

Undeterred, UI students demanded that Oloye resign if he could not address the fee increment issue. At that particularly congress, an aggrieved student remarked, “What we have is not a Student Union but the children of the school management,” implying that the Union under Aweda prioritized appeasing the school management over representing student interests.

Though the SRC Disciplinary Committee eventually sanctioned the president to tender a written and oral apology to the general student body, the fact remains: the Aweda administration failed the students. Other sanctions levied on the President cannot be ascertained to have been fulfilled or perfectly monitored by the committee in charge of that in the 11th Assembly. Incredibly bad.

A new leadership has since emerged following the last UISU election on 22nd February 2025, where Covenant Odedele, ‘The Visionary,’ won and became the president-elect. Now, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the newly elected executives to usher in a tenure of action, not self-glorified inaction, of active participation, and not passive diplomacy.

Only as expected, the Covenant Odedele-led administration must build on the ashes of the previous one to create a strong and fearless platform that will air student issues without bias or illogical allegiance to the university management, at the expense of students’ lives. A tenure whose protests will stem from students’ involvement and yield favorable results, where students will not be harassed or arrested for raising their voices. A leadership where the chaos of the Aweda administration will be absent.

The pillars of The Visionary’s leadership must be accountability, transparency, responsibility, equitability, and inclusiveness. Tenets which political scientists have deemed important in leadership. The Aweda administration lacked accountability. The phrase ‘Poverty of Leadership’ was coined in response to the Aweda’s failure as a tenure. Same may be extended when Team Visionary refuses to honour the essence of the Union.

Leadership is a call to serve and not a strategy to hide behind titles or appease authority at the people’s expense. When those entrusted with power choose silence over action, comfort over courage, and pride over accountability, they betray the very essence of their mandate. A leadership that turns its back on the people in moments of crisis has failed, no matter the excuses or surface-level achievements. We can only hope that The Visionary administration learns from these failures lest history repeats itself and it perishes. Remember, titles and ambition fade, only pro-students interests will posterity applaud.