Clash Imminent In Ogun, As Students Warn Abiodun To Reconstitute Schools Reopening Committee

By ABIODUN JIMOH, ABEOKUTA

The non inclusion of Students in Ogun State in the Committee on Schools Reopening set up by the state government led by Governor Dapo Abiodun has met a stiff resistance from the students.

They hereby warned the state government to rescind its decisions and urgently correct these anomalies to avoid a clash between the student community and state government.

Similarly, they registered their displeasure on the state government’s exclusion of students in the committee set up on the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) act, to tackle incessant rape incidents in the state.

These were stated in a statement jointly signed by the National President, National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS), Comrade Oluwagbemileke Ogunrombi, and State Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Tomiwa Bamgbose in Abeokuta on Thursday.

They narrated: “We want to register our dissatisfaction and displeasure over the decision of the state government to set up a committee on the reopening of schools without appointing a representative from the student community to be part of that committee.

“We want to question the rationale behind the composition of the school reopening committee when the student community which is the major stakeholder in the education sector, does not have a single representative in that committee.

“It is not only disheartening, but also embarrassing and unprofessional for the student constituency to be excluded where decisions that mainly concern them would be made without them being part of such decision making body.

“This is another flaw by the state government and we want to believe that this is caused by the absence of a commissioner in the ministry of education.

“We also want to register our displeasure on the state government’s exclusion of students in the committee set up on the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) act, to tackle incessant rape incidents in the state.

“It is no longer news that the majority of the victims of the incessant rape cases are female students.

“It is therefore disappointing that such a committee would set up to fight rape and other violence against girls without the input of students, who are often the victims of the evil act.

“We are using this medium to call on the state government to rescind its decisions and urgently correct these anomalies to avoid a clash between the student community and the state government.”