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Polls: NANS warns FG against disenfranchising students

By Rotimi Agboluaje, Ibadan
30 January 2023   |   2:44 am
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has warned the Federal Government against disenfranchising Nigerian students in the forthcoming polls, urging it to shut down schools to allow students vote.

National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)

Wants temporary closure of schools

National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has warned the Federal Government against disenfranchising Nigerian students in the forthcoming polls, urging it to shut down schools to allow students vote.

This was contained in a statement signed by NANS Vice President (External Affairs), Babatunde Akinteye, and made available to The Guardian, in Ibadan, yesterday.

Following the extension of deadline for the collection of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to Sunday, February 5, 2023, and considering that the general elections will commence in few weeks’ time, the NANS chief called on the Federal Government to immediately close all tertiary institutions temporarily to afford students the opportunity to collect their PVCs from their polling units and vote in the coming elections.

Akinteye said, in time past, the lack of flexibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the managements of tertiary institutions made it difficult, and almost impossible, for students to participate in the electoral process.

The case is different for the 2023 elections, he said, adding: “This is because during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), students were in their various homes due to the prolonged Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and about four million (according to statistics) of us registered newly for our PVCs.

“Now that we have registered for our PVCs and they have been processed and our tertiary institutions are not considering academic breaks for students during the general elections, despite having knowledge that most students registered outside their campuses, to go and collect our PVCs and have the opportunity to vote.”

He called on the Federal Government to mandate the National Universities Commission (NUC), the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), through the Federal Ministry of Education, to shut down all tertiary institutions temporarily until after the general elections.

“This is to allow students (who constitute 40.8 per cent of the newly registered voters across the 774 local councils of Nigeria) have access to their PVCs and vote for the candidates of their choice in fulfilment of their civic responsibility as patriotic citizens of Nigeria,” he explained.

He stressed that NANS could not sit and watch the schools disenfranchise students with unfavourable academic calendars that do not take into consideration timelines and dates for election.

“We hereby urge INEC to make special arrangement for the students to collect their PVCs in consolidation of the effort of the Federal Government to shut down schools temporarily for students to exercise one of their fundamental human rights – to vote.”

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