Professor Wole Soyinka, a prolific writer and a Nobel Laureate once said “students are the barometer by which one measures the trend of times.”
Prof Wole Soyinka also added “students are the eyes and the mouth of the people”, adding to their mandate of being tomorrow’s leaders.
In the 1930s, the movement “La negritude Politique”, a francophone phenomenon reacting against French Colonialism in Africa and the Diaspora, was birthed in a University by students in Paris namely, Aime Cesaire (Guyana), Leone Damas (Martinique), Leopold Sedar Senghor (Senegal) etc.
Their first line of action was in their writings. Different literary genres like Poetry, Prose and Drama.
A sensitisation and a wake up call, so consistent, that a guy like Leopold Sedar Senghor eventually emerged to be the Leader of his country Senegal, after independence.
Students functioned as the interface between the masses and the government, a very respectable position, with a firm passion not to betray the aims and aspirations of their people.
Right through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, students were very instrumental in the anti-colonial and anti-racial struggles in Southern Africa namely in countries like Rhodesia-Now Zimbabwe, Mozambique, former South West Africa-Now Namibia, Bechuanaland-Now Botswana, Angola, etc.
Looking at the vintage movie “Sarrafina” putting on scene the Soweto Massacre of 1976, this was just a typical example of a passionate protest by secondary school children against apartheid in Soweto let alone University Students.
Again the question that always came up in the heat of students’ union activities at F.B.C., by then what was the primary objective of students going to University?
Is it just to pass examinations and become career persons or to carry the yearnings, groaning and pains of their societies and cry against them?
Is it to trumpet the injustices of society? This debate can go in any direction like any debate of its kind till the rapture of the saints.
But coming back to Sierra Leone, I can vividly recall students’ union activities in the days of Dr. Siaka Probyn Stevens.
There was fierce anti-government resistance to what they considered to be a despotic regime headed by Hindolo Trye in 1977, now a Government Minister.
Freetown was virtually crippled for days consequent upon sporadic anti-government protests involving secondary school students.
The slogan was “No School, No College, No government, No President”.
Rather interestingly, my entire school days were under the Stevens and Momoh regimes. Upon gaining admission at the Fourah Bay College in October 1989, the first choice university of any ambitious school leaver in Sierra Leone, the Students’ Union was on a long ban after another terrible relationship of the then SU President, Allie Kabbah of the (Virtue Government).
Fresh as we were on campus (in 1989), we met the steering committee in place headed by a rotational leadership to avoid repression from the college administration which later birthed an Interim Government headed by Ansu Sillah.
An elected SU government was then installed with Mohamed Pateh Bah being the leader. After M.P Bah, Joe Cabineh Howard was the next elected President.
By the way, J.C Howard in his capacity as NUSS (National Union of Sierra Leone Students) President was the one that gave former President Momoh a one week ultimatum for Sierra Leone to go multi-party or check out.
In the final meeting, even members of the opposition SLPP present in the meeting were begging the student representatives to drop their demands in the interest of peace as it was then clear that a blood bath was looming to be followed by a crackdown on the opposition on allegations of incitement.
The SU position was “Now or never!” and so we embarked on our big Sunday evening demonstration that was violently quelled.
When JC Howard opted for the leadership of the National Union of Sierra Leone Students (NUSS), Gibiril Samura became President till the emergence of the NPRC coup that brought Captain Valentine Strasser to power.
The peculiarity of this dispensation was that Students Unionism was driven by firm student’s solidarity.
Students’ solidarity by then superseded party affiliations, tribal or religious boundaries.
What are we seeing today? BLACKMEN AND WHITEMEN
The unity that propels students’ solidarity is now no more. As it was in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, when Oberieka asked Okwonkwo on the latter’s return from exile.
“How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us?”
Hey guys of the academia, wake up, discover yourselves and live up to your expectations!
ADVERTISEMENT