Clarion call to the ABUSRC to Intervene in the new 2019/2020 Calendar.
Comrade Muhammad Nazif
This is a clarion call to the ABU Zaria Students Representative Council (ABUSRC) to intervene in the just rescheduled 2019/2020 academic calendar on behalf of the students to adjust the calendar for good. It is very important to consider the situation of the students in this trying time.
We bear on our foreheads with a blend of superiority and conceit the “Naturally ahead notion” but to be candid, ABU students are one of the most tormented teams of students in Nigeria; psychologically, mentally, and emotionally!
We all know our institute is esteemed in reputation and thus, acknowledged within and outside the country as the most national University; whereas standstill among the best three in the country in terms of infrastructure and manpower, convincing the NUC University rating to position it on the forefront as it always been, and we’re all proud of that. It is truly a hard-earned reputation!
However, that should not necessarily be the reason the lecturers and the management keep on torturing the students, having their rights breached. We admit that without the staff surely we wouldn’t have been to this height of honour and prestige, whereas they should also bear in mind that without the students, there would not have been ABU at all! The rights and well-being of the students matter as well!
Many varsities across the country rescheduled a more student-friendly calendar; having a tri-semester session to cover the lost academic year due to the covid19 pandemic, which we all expected ABU Zaria to push into leveling the lost path while other universities follow our lead and footpaths.
We have a legacy of our own as the first University in Northern Nigeria and one of the subsequent first-generation universities in the country. In addition to that, ABU Zaria has been a research institution not only in Nigeria or West Africa, but to the rest of the wide world! We must not relegate that spirit to scrumble into memories and a lost glory!
We urge the ABU Zaria Students Representative Council (SRC), to intervene as a sole representative to get the calendar-adjusted to a three semester design and let everyone resume.
Subsequently, a lot of the students did register for elective courses in the previous levels, and we know that almost every ABU student possess one or two or three or even more carryover courses attached to the neck of that poor student; making it almost unbearable to breathe and to face the other on-the-spot courses. This is a very tough challenge for every individual in such a situation.
Not even a single student goes against the social distance claim or any other precautions of the covid19 policies. All that we are asking for the management is to provide other measures that will make it possible for all to resume.
The University management should not stress itself at all to build new structures to contain the students during lecture sessions, they could build polymer tents for every faculty, thereby improvising chalkboard, lecture podium and seats to facilitate for the social distancing policy, as the batchments resumption of students might lead to misappropriation or loss of items of yet to resume students in the hostels.
A similar address should be given to residing places of students on campus to contain the ABU students’ giant population. As the largest University south of the Sahara, I believe we have the resources to capacitate for all these and even more.
In conclusion, ABU Zaria is not just an alma institute to us, it’s a reputation we all bear on our conscience, and present it everywhere we find ourselves, so we must join hands to make our stay on the campus favorable, and the institute even greater!
Comrade Muhammad Nazif Abdullahi, Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
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