Amina Yahaya has achieved the feat of
becoming the first female student union leader in northern Nigeria — for
the first time in more than three decades.
Aside breaking the norm of male leadership, Yahaya, a 400
level student of English, is also the first woman to lead the students of
Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto state.
Najatu Mohammed, prominent activist and politician, became
the first SUG president of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, more than 30
years ago.
She is believed to have contested the post and won in the
early 80s, which earned her the record of the first female to lead a student
union in Africa.
Speaking to the BBC Hausa service, Yahaya said she didn’t
always get the support of her female colleagues.
“When it comes to leadership issues we [women] are own
enemies”, the new student union leader said.
“We don’t support one another mostly because some of us
assume that ‘women are arrogant’ so I won’t support her. When I came to
this university, there was only one female professor in my department. She’s
been my role model.”
Yahaya, who was elected vice president of the school’s union
in September 2015, took over the office on Wednesday after the impeachment of
the elected SUG president.
On Wednesday, Umar Faruk Sai’d, the
former student union leader, was impeached after getting a ‘no confidence’ vote
from the legislative arm of the student assembly.
Sai’d was accused of abusing the provision of the
union’s constitution by withdrawing N200, 000 from the coffers without
approval, among other alleged misdemeanours.
In the interview with BBC, Yahaya
further disclosed her aspiration to go into national politics in the
future and possibly break more glass ceilings.
In May, Lauretta Obakpolo, another female 400-level Pharmacy
student, was elected president of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the
University of Benin (UNIBEN).
Obakpolo beat five other candidates to win the election
with 2,283 votes.
UPDATE
Beatrice Hamza Bassey led the student union of University of
Maiduguri (UNIMAID) in 1994.
TheCable reached out to Hamza, a New York-based lawyer, who
disclosed that during her time, “the chairperson of SUG was synonymous with the
president of SUG”.
The fact that both titles were interchangeably used over two
decades ago, makes her the second female SUG leader in the north, after Najatu
Mohammed.
“I am very pleased to see more women assuming that role. I
hope we continue to see more progress in that direction”, Hamza told TheCable.
Source: thecableng
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