The National Association of Nigerian Students has proposed an annual ₦200 membership levy for students, with its leadership indicating that payment of the dues could eventually be linked to mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps scheme.
The proposal was disclosed by the NANS National President, Akinteye Babatunde, in social media posts and a video explaining the association’s plans to change the way its dues are collected from students.
Babatunde said NANS was considering working with the NYSC and other agencies connected to students to facilitate direct payment of the association’s annual dues.
He had earlier indicated that students might be required to present proof of payment of NANS dues as part of the process for mobilisation to NYSC camp.
However, the NANS president did not provide details of how such an arrangement would operate or when it would take effect. Any requirement connecting NANS dues to official NYSC mobilisation would also have to be formally established and recognised within the relevant mobilisation framework.
Explaining the proposed levy, Babatunde said the annual amount would be ₦200 per student and argued that it was not intended to impose a significant additional financial burden on students.
He said the proposed direct-payment system was primarily aimed at improving NANS’s financial independence and ensuring that the organisation had adequate resources to represent students and respond to their concerns.
According to him, the proposed dues would be distributed across different structures of NANS, including its zonal and state structures as well as affiliated student bodies.
Babatunde said the organisation had experienced difficulties obtaining expected financial contributions from student union governments in recent years.
He alleged that many student union governments no longer had full control over funds generated through student dues, claiming that some institutions released only a portion of such funds to their unions.
The NANS president argued that the financial challenges had weakened the association’s ability to intervene effectively in student-related matters.
He said NANS was therefore considering moving away from the existing system of receiving funds through student union governments and institutional structures to a platform that would enable students to pay the association directly.
Babatunde also argued that financial independence was important for the credibility of a student organisation that regularly engages government institutions and agencies over policies affecting students.
He said reliance on politicians, government officials or other individuals for financial support could potentially affect an organisation’s ability to challenge government agencies when students’ interests were involved.
The NANS president further disclosed that the association receives thousands of complaints from students and incurs expenses when responding to emergencies and student-related cases.
He cited interventions in cases involving abducted students and other emergencies as examples of situations requiring financial resources.
He maintained that students should contribute to the sustainability of an organisation established to represent their interests.
Babatunde said NANS would seek the necessary institutional backing for the proposed collection system, including amendments to its internal laws and the development of proposals governing how the new arrangement would operate.
The proposal comes at a time when the financial obligations associated with tertiary education and students’ transition from university into employment remain significant concerns for many Nigerian students.
While ₦200 annually is relatively small compared with tuition, accommodation and other education-related expenses, linking payment to NYSC mobilisation could have broader implications for students because participation in the NYSC scheme is an important post-graduation requirement for many Nigerian graduates.
For now, the proposed NANS levy should not be regarded as an established NYSC requirement. NANS’s statements indicate that the association is considering the arrangement, but no evidence in the announcement establishes that payment of NANS dues has become an official condition for NYSC mobilisation.
The development therefore leaves questions around the legal and administrative basis for linking an association’s membership dues to a statutory national service mobilisation process, as well as how such a system would be communicated and implemented if eventually approved.
NANS said the proposed reform was intended to strengthen its institutional independence and improve its capacity to respond to students’ needs.
The association is expected to develop further proposals and amend its internal regulations as it considers the transition to direct collection of its annual dues.
