After being outlawed by the University of Lagos' (UNILAG) management team since 2005, the university's Students' Union has been reinstated.
The university's management team and student representatives met at the Age Babalola Hall on campus on Friday to draft a constitution to pave the way for the reinstatement of the student union. Professor Brahman Bello, the university's vice chancellor, led the management team.
[slideshow]35989[/slideshow]
[story_link align="left"]34846[/story_link]The Students' Union was outlawed in 2005 after students reacted violently to management policies of which they did not approve. Students were particularly frustrated by the university management's poor handling of common welfare demands of students, according to Mr. Dele Ashiru, one of the university's lecturers, who was also a union leader before it was banned. Since then, students have been operating without a union. The Council of Faculty Presidents was recently formed to compensate for the union's absence, but students refused to recognize the council.
There were initially disagreements over the draft constitution. Students criticized the constitution's stipulation that the Electoral College should elect the union's student leaders. They also expressed concerns about the constitution dictating a method of conflict resolution that would allow UNILAG and the Directorate of Student Affairs to make judgments. But at today's meeting, the different parties agreed that only students should be able to amend the constitution in the event that they find that the constitution if it does not sufficiently serve the union's interests.