What The Papers Say
The Guardian, Nigeria
Playing games with students
Reports from Zaria indicate that once again, student- government relations are sinking into their usual and predictable slot. Ten members of the banned National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) from about seven institutions were arrested by the police in the town last week Friday for holding an illegal meeting, but were granted bail on Monday morning. They were to be re-arrested and detained, this time presumably by the Nigeria Security Organisation (NSO) shortly after.The students were informed by the police that NANS, being a banned union, would be congregating illegally in Zaria, as they planned to do. Nevertheless, they went ahead, for which they were arrested and taken to court. All this is perfectly in order. What is not clear, indeed what is un-acceptable, is why the security forces got to hurl in their big hammer in a matter that is of no more than the simplest civil interest. The issue has therefore needlessly been promoted out of all proportion. An attempt at an overkill cannot be avoided, and the unfortunate impression is given that the students are being used to demonstrate a political point.
Whatever may become of these students and of the case, it is regrettable that at the level of principle our students have continued to be denied a legitimate union and right of assembly. At a time that they find their accommodation and feeding subsidies being withdrawn, it is only logical to expect that they would want to meet to analyse the situation and to seek a way out.
Clearly, it cannot be that they are being told that they have no autonomous personality and interests; that such an aspiration is invalid and of no importance; that if they do not like their new conditions, they can go to hell.
The students may have been daring to have undertaken to hold the Zaria meeting even when they knew their union was illegal and their gathering forbidden by the police. But what option was left to them? They say they wish to talk to officials of the federal government and nobody is interested.
Nigerian students are an integral part of this society. Often berated for failing to seek 'peaceful' means to resolve issues, they should not be driven into acts of illegality because of a blockage of legal or 'peaceful' avenues.
In any case, if the idea is to stifle dissent, the kind of game currently being played with Nigerian students is guaranteed only limited and short-run success at the very best. On the contrary, what is required today is not confrontation, but a nation-wide understanding and acceptance of the country's problems in order to maximise both our goodwill and our resources in the effort to resolve them. It cannot be argued, a priori, that Nigerian students are so unpatriotic that they would refuse to understand or accept the challenge, and that the best course of action would therefore be to prevent them unifying as students.
The security forces should release the NANS officials now in their custody to the Nigerian Police so that prosecution, fair prosecution, can be continued. Meanwhile, this govern- ment can do no less a rational, just or magnanimous act than to recognise that body. They may be an off-shoot, but who said off-shoots have fallen out of fashion here? And even if the former National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) did fall out of favour, we must remember that infamous fathers often give birth to famous and noble sons; just as famous fathers no less frequently bear rather regrettable and ignominious offsprings.
Ghanaian Times
Towards a common goal
Ghana and Nigeria, this week stressed the need for greater co-operation between them. During a call on him at the Castle, Osu, by the Nigerian High Commissioner, Brigadier Harris V.O. Eghagha, to discuss matters of mutual interest, Flt-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, Chairman of the PNDC, noted that if Ghana and Nigeria had maintained the strong ties which existed between them at the time of independence, a lot could have been achieved.Instead, he noted, both countries tried to develop on their own and, with that, left themselves open. However, the two countries are now finally beginning to appreciate a new kind of independence which facilitates uninterrupted transformation, and which will bind the two countries together socially, politically and economically.
In reply, the Nigerian envoy re-echoed the sentiments of the PNDC Chairman and suggested that the two countries should initiate an exchange programme because Ghana and Nigeria were like twins and called for the revival of the annual Ghana-Nigeria sports festival.
It is no gainsaying the fact that Ghana and Nigeria share a common historical and cultural background. They have identical problems and it is necessary for the two countries to seek common ways and means of improving their relationships at all levels.
Until states of the sub-region started declaring republican status, they had many things in common. There were the West African Court of Appeal, the West African Airways,
the West African Cocoa Research Institute, the West African Currency Board and many others which facilitated interaction among countries in the sub-region for their mutual benefit.
But largely due to individualistic approaches to solving their problems as sovereign states, these institutions, in whose activities Ghana and Nigeria actively participated, were destroyed. It is now obvious that this individualistic approach has rather retarded their progress and made them vulnerable to neo-colonialist exploitation.
There is the need for interchange of ideas, experiences and co-operation in various fields - culturally, economic- ally, militarily, etc.
For instance, there is the need for exchange of students at the university and even secondary school level, in order to avail the youth of the two countries of the overall natural environment and historical development of each other, and extensively enhance attempts at unifying the peoples of the two countries, for the solution of the common problems facing them.
Active inter-trade is also very necessary in pursuance of the same goal. Ghana has many industries, and so has Nigeria. A lot of foreign exchange would be saved if the two countries exchanged essential manufactured, and semi- manufactured goods and raw materials, to enhance the growth of their respective national industries, taking into account the global recession. Obviously, this would also promote co-operation among countries in the sub-region. The ultimate goal, undoubtedly, would be peace, unity, progress and development.
If Ghana and Nigeria worked closely together to further strengthen their relationship in these fields, then there would be the need to work together, to protect these interests through military co-operation
