Hope Ajayi 
ABUJA, Nigeria – The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) is considering a system that could make proof of payment of its proposed ₦200 annual dues a requirement for students seeking mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
NANS National President, Akinteye Babatunde, disclosed the proposal in Facebook posts and a video on Sunday and Monday while explaining the association’s plans to change how it collects dues from students.
Babatunde had earlier stated that NANS would work with the NYSC and suggested that students could be required to present evidence of payment of NANS dues before mobilisation for the NYSC orientation camp.
“We will be working with NYSC and one of the criteria to be mobilised for camp is NANS dues receipt,” he wrote.
However, he later explained that the association was still considering how to establish a direct payment system that would allow students to pay their dues to NANS rather than relying on student union governments and institutional managements.
“We are considering moving from getting it due to capitation to having a platform where we can get it directly from students,” he said.
Babatunde alleged that between 80 and 90 per cent of student union governments were no longer in effective control of their dues, claiming that some institutions released only a fraction of funds collected to their student unions.
He cited the University of Benin as an example, alleging that the institution’s management frustrated the student union government’s efforts to access its dues after the union opposed an increase in school fees.
“One of the ways to cripple the organisation is to make it lack funds, to be short of funds,” he said.
The claims concerning individual institutions were made by the NANS president and were not independently verified in the statement.
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Oluwatobi Adu