How Nigerian students swept the polls at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
By JET STANLEY-MADU
The International Students Association of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi, Ghana, made up of students from other countries of the world other than Ghana, recently elected new executives to pilot the affairs of the body for the 2014/2015 session. Interestingly, the election produced an all-Nigerian student officials or executives.
They include Victor Obisike Amadi, who emerged the President. He hails from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and will steer the ship of the association for the next one year. Others are: Cornelius Kantiok from Kaduna State who, like his kinsman, Arch. Namadi Sambo, was made the Vice President; Ugochukwu Ukata, from Abia State, General Secretary, Richie Somadina Okonkwo, from Igbukwu, Aguata, Anambra State, Organising Secretary and Sandra Napoleon, also from Anambra State, Treasurer.
Education Review had the company of two of these victorious Nigerian students, during a recent visit to Accra.
Okonkwo, the 300 level student of Geological Engineering, who emerged the Organizing Secretary, described the result of the poll as fascinating. Ascribing the feat to the grace of God as well as hard work, he, nonetheless, pointed out that it is typical of Nigeria and her citizens.
“This is just by the grace of God,” he said, with a smile. “We have officers that will be added to the executives; those ones are by appointment. But these five were elected.” He cited large population of Nigerian students and innate leadership traits as factors responsible for the landslide victory.
“In my university, Nigerians are in the majority, beside the fact that Nigerians possess leadership potentials anywhere we find ourselves,” he noted. “We contested against students of other nationalities. But it’s a natural thing that Nigerians will always come out and dominate wherever we find ourselves. Here, Nigerian students picked all the posts. We give glory to God for that.
“The fact that we have such a huge population means that no matter where you find yourself, you will see a committee of your brothers and sisters ready to support your endeavours. And it contributed in a big way to our success. Against that backdrop though, I won’t say it’s solely because of that because we contested against other Nigerian students too. But, I think when you’re good and people love you and believe in what you stand for, despite their nationality, they will come out and support you.”
The experience, he said, now helps him to appreciate what professional politicians go through. “No matter the level you play it, the game of politics is not straightforward.” The future engineer, who revealed how he was, in 2011, denied admission to study Medicine at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on grounds of underage, admitted that the desire to be involved in students union politics started early for him at 100 level. Although he showed some interest then, he could not contest for any post immediately owing to laid-down rules, which reserved some posts for older and more experienced students.
. “I wasn’t quite used to students politics at that time,” he admitted. “But a man has to adapt to any situation he finds himself.” Speaking further, he revealed that even at the student level, politicking had a tint of godfatherism in it. But he said it was a Greek gift which the 2014/15 EXCO rejected and also resisted every attempt made to hijack and influence the electoral process.
“When we told those who wanted to impose their views and decisions on us that we weren’t interested, a lot of obstacles were put on our way. And I wouldn’t say they came up overnight. When you put two and two together, you’d find out that some of the obstacles were orchestrated. And that’s how the whole thing that was supposed to last a semester, lingered and stretched into two semesters. For instance, normally, we would just go and prepare for class tests. But owing to the undue stretch, we joggled between classes, exams and campaigns, for manifesto readings.
“Yes, it took its toll on us in the sense that I for instance, saw myself worn out at the end of the day. But I give glory to God that I was able to manage my time well, handled all the responsibilities well and still came out well. I think it’s sad that even at student level, university level, people would want to influence illegal politicking. This is what often gives rise to the ugly situation of politics such as we find in Africa. And I think the coming generation has the moral duty to change the situation. We, students, can change the trend.”
Having won the keenly contested election, Okonkwo noted that the Amadi-led team would work hand-in-hand with the university authorities to improve the welfare of foreign students in the university by ensuring that they have access to programmes that would inspire them to be good to themselves and to become great leaders in the society and in their fatherlands.
He also hinted that the all-Nigerian-led students government will also organize orientation courses for junior students as well as talent hunts designed to discover and possibly empower talented students studying in Ghana to become productive and self-reliant.
Asked about the challenges that Nigerian students studying in Ghana face, he said: “Nigeria and Ghana from earliest times, have very close ties. But because the two countries have English as their lingua franca, one may want to think that studying in Ghana would be without some challenges. But alas there are. There have been woeful or tragic tales of even murder suffered by Nigerian students studying in Ghana.
“This is not all. Personally, I think the first challenge is language. The Ghanaian country as it is, has English as its lingua franca. But the local dialect is still spoken in a lot of places like markets, even in the classrooms, in hostels. So, when you find yourself not understanding the local language, you are at a disadvantage because you’re marginalized naturally. And it’s nobody’s fault.
“Also, the currency is another factor. Because it has to do with exchange rates, you can find yourself losing money even before you get the chance to spend money. Generally, it affects us because not having money alone affects everything about you. Another thing affecting us, I would say, is racism. But because we are all blacks, maybe I should say nationalism or tribalism. Some of the people, at times, would feel, ‘oh, he is not a Ghanaian, so I would treat him in a certain way different from how I would treat my Ghanaian brothers.’ It’s a kind of discrimination – a mild discrimination in the sense that it’s not violent. But because we, Nigerians, are naturally blessed to adapt to any situation, we’ve grown thick skin to some of these things. So, we come out victorious at the end of the day.”
Asked to assess the efforts being made by Nigerian government through its foreign ministry and the House Committees on the Diaspora to meet the needs of Nigerian students studying abroad, he remarked that: “they’re trying. But it could be better. In not too distant past, the Nigerian High Commissioner, who took over from Musiliu Obanikoro, visited Nigerian students in my university. At that meeting, we had very interactive discussions. And he promised to aid us in any way he can, including providing jobs and all that. But after the visit, the students are still hoping that he would match his words with action. Basically, Nigerian students studying abroad are left on their own. They don’t even check on our progress and whatever we do. I want to see the House Committees pay us a visit, once in a while, and invite representatives of these student unions for regular meetings to chart a way forward. That is, if they truly believe that the nation’s tomorrow is in our hands.”
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