NANS GET NEW PRESIDENT

Bashir Babale of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), yesterday in Abuja emerged President-elect at the unity convention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). Prior to the election, the association had broken into two factions necessitating moves to unify the members.

One of the factions was led by Yinka Dada of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, while Femi Osabinu, of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, led the other. At the end of the convention at the Old Parade Ground, Abuja, Babale polled 98 votes out of a total of 192 votes to become the new president.

Bashiru Maru of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, polled 71 votes to place second among 10 candidates who contested the election. Two candidates had earlier withdrawn from the presidential race. In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Babale thanked the delegates for their support and mandate to serve Nigerian students. He said having been elected on a unity platform; he would carry everybody along in the administration of the affairs of NANS.

Babale called on the losers to cooperate with him in the renewed drive to unite the students and restore dignity to students’ unionism under the umbrella of NANS.

``As a united body, we will command more respect from the government and stakeholders in the education sector,'' he said. Malam Bashir Baballe, the President-elect of NANS has called for a marshall plan to revamp the nation's education sector. Baballe made the call in an interview in Abuja shortly after his election.

He said such plan had become imperative in order to move the sector forward and redeem the nation's image. Baballe said that to realise the objective, government must inject more funds into education. ``Funds injected into education cannot be too much because the cost of ignorance to any nation cannot be estimated,'' he said.

``The political and socioeconomic development of any nation is tied to the educational development of that country,''he said. Baballe called for the provision of modern facilities in educational institutions to make their products more competitive. ``For us to get the education sector of our dreams, its managers should also give priority to planning. ``The plan must provide statistics/data on the required manpower and facilities to meet future enrolment needs.

``This would facilitate adequate budgetary allocation by the three tiers of government to take education to the next level,'' he said. He promised to sustain the unity achieved in the ``2008 NANS Unity Convention''. ``You will recall that before the convention, we had two factions of NANS and we came together for unity,'' he said. Baballe, a final year Education student of Bayero University, Kano, was elected today at the Abuja convention. Ten candidates contested for the position.