Nigerian Female Students Elect Leaders, Lament Fuel Subsidy Removal

Members of the Association of Nigeria Female Students (ANFS) have elected their new executives at their national convention held in Abuja at the weekend.

The election, which was conducted in a calm atmosphere, had a large turnout of delegates from 12 institutions, which the members attributed to difficulty in movement due to the removal of fuel subsidy, which has resulted in a hike in transportation fares.

The institutions that participated in the convention were represented by 12 delegates each, from which three delegates were selected to bring the total number to 48.

Comrade Olorungbemi Opeyemi Mary from Nasarawa State University and Princess Omoniyi Alice of the Federal College of Education, Okene, squared it up for the presidential position after other contestants stepped down.

On Sunday, Opeyemi addressed a press conference, where she introduced herself as the new president of the association. Efforts by LEADERSHIP to authenticate the true leader of the group did not yield result as none of them could be reached.

Similarly, 12 contenders for other offices were returned unopposed after their rivals stepped down.

At the counting of the votes cast, Opeyemi got 10 ballot votes while Omoniyi got 34 to emerge the president of ANFS.

On the issue of funding, a co-founder of the association, Princess Sylvia Sarki, said to avoid political interference, “we don’t look for political sponsors or individual support for the aspirants. The aspirants get individual support from people; hence we conduct the election in a very conducive environment. But we must not forget that we face some challenges as students. We plan how to make an impact in political mentorship, logistics of getting them together from 36 states of the federation and Abuja, and do the practice by knowing how the political arena is in Nigeria.

“I must sincerely, as a co-founder, urge the losers to know that in an election, you must have a winner and a loser; that is the election for you. I know we must handle things amicably, though tension and anger are high now, we will resolve the same as family.”

In her acceptance speech, the new ANFS president, Omoniyi promised to work with all.

According to her, the most important thing in her mind right now is to work with wives of the 36 state governors to achieve success.

In her address, foundation member of ANFS and chairman 2023 convention, Hon. Safiya Ibrahim Ogoh, said the convention was held under a very good environment.