REPORT OF THE JUST CONCLUDED NANS-GHANA CONGRESS 2016/2017.*

Greetings from the National Association of Nigerian students - Ghana chapter, the umbrella body of all Nigerian students in tertiary institutions across Ghana. We bring you the detailed report of the just concluded NANS-GHANA congress 2016/2017 administration held at Westend university on the 8th of July, 2017.
  The NANS-GH Congress was duly held, well represented by all the registered member unions of NANS-Ghana in accordance with section 8 (3a) of our constitution which states that; *a quorum in a congress shall be considered to have been formed, if at least half of the entire REGISTERED members of NANS-Ghana are present at a general congress.* It is important to note that 23-member union were registered out of which 16-schools participated fully which formed a quorum in accordance with this provision.
Same section 8(1) talks about the composition of Congress which includes:
(a) The Executive council
(b) The Senate
(c) The Judiciary
(d) Two accredited delegates from each member union.
(e) The chairman of the various committees as stipulated in Section 7(e) above who are not members of the stipulated bodies stated in 8(e) (i) (ii) (iii).

(f) Any life member of NANS-Ghana.

Given the provisions above as to what Congress is consist of, the Executives were duly represented, The Senators, The Judiciary and two accredited delegates from each member unions and the EC as a committee that was duly formed by NANS-Ghana.
No life member as been adopted at Congress as such none was present.

The congress was duly convened in accordance with section 8(2) of our constitution and the chairperson of congress was duly elected in accordance with section 10(a & b) which state thus; delegates gathered therein shall elect a Chairman at the beginning of each convention. (b) No individual aspiring to hold any office in the incoming cabinet shall be allowed to contest for the post of the chairman of congress." To this extent, the Chairperson of Congress was duly elected and wasn't an aspirant but was an executive who is a member of congress.

Following the functions of congress as provided for in section 9(5) which state" that the congress shall elect the members of NANS-Ghana executive council and DISSOLVE the outgoing executive council and committees." The Executives of NANS-Ghana 2016/2017 has been dissolved by congress on the last congress held at Westend University college on the 8th July 2017. A new executive council has emerged for 2017/2018 term and were duly sworn in by the NANS-GH Chief Justice. Therefore, 2016/2017 administration ceases to exist and all officials of the administration remain EMERITUS.

This was done in accordance with the above constitutional provisions of NANS-Ghana.

NANS-GHANA MEMBERSHIP DEFINED:
NANS-GH has never had its members documented which we are being fought against. Even the churches have their members documented. How much less a student union body like NANS-Ghana. It is imperative to note that an association is by;
(i) MEMBERSHIP
(ii) PARTICIPATION
Membership means you must fulfill the requirements outlined in section (3) of the constitution which States as follows; 
(i) NANS-GHANA membership is a confederation of autonomous unions of tertiary institutions in Ghana fully REPRESENTED and DEMOCRATICALLY elected by students.
  (ii) Where there is no Democratically elected NSA (Nigerian Students Association) , The Nigerian EXECUTIVE(s) in I.S.A (International Students Association) shall represent the institution. However, if there are no Nigerian Executive in the I.S.A, then the ISA would DELEGATE a Nigerian to represent the school. 
   (iii) In the absence of a Democratically elected ISA, The Nigerian EXECUTIVE  in the SRC shall represent the school, if there are none, then SRC delegates a Nigerian to represent the school in NANS-Ghana.
  (iv) Finally, In the absence of a DEMOCRATICALLY elected SRC, The school registrar or dean shall delegate a Nigerian to represent the school.
    NOTE;:
The platforms [NSA or ISA or SRC] from which the school representative is coming from MUST be DEMOCRATICALLY elected by students and recognised as such by the school management. 
This is by applying to the association through a membership form and meeting the requirements as stated in section 4 of NANS-GH constitution.

By way of participation, it is clear that you cannot be a member of an association without paying the dues therein and observing the resolutions in all decisions regularly adopted by the organs of NANS-GH as provided for in section 5 as the basis of operation of NANS-Ghana. Bearing it in mind that same section provides for a penalty for failure to adhere to the basis of NANS-GH operation stated in section 5(2).

It is also important to note HOW NANS-GHANA SENATE IS COMPOSED & WHO A #SENATOR IS?
  
  (1) The NANS-GH SENATE shall be composed of:
(i) The Executive Presidents OR
(ii) The DELEGATED representatives as stipulated in section 3 stated above.

(2) The nomenclature for the President OR DELEGATED representative of this member union of NANS-Ghana is what is called "a SENATOR".
   (NOTE:
From time immemorial, it has been the practise that in the absence of a formal application which has never been, the leader of the local member union herein known called Senator must present an INTRODUCTION LETTER from his school management to authenticate his position as a leader of that institution who is representing the Nigerian students in NANS-Ghana.

These position of the requirements was communicated to SP Emeritus Blessing Ekanem and the senate house which they all agreed to in the presence of the EC Chairman, Chief Justice and the executives there present.

However, Fellow Nigerians students, NONE OF THE ABOVE WAS FOLLOWED by the SP EMERITUS Blessing Ekanem. Instead, he provided a list for us to use for the election which was rejected. 
   Meanwhile, earlier in the year immediately after the opening of NANS-Ghana secretariat, we deem it necessary to document the membership of NANS-Ghana to lay a foundation for a proper structuring of the association and also create a subdomain for ALL #REGISTERED member union schools on NANS-GHana website and as well create a unique email address for every "Senator" for smooth communication to the NANS-GH leadership and Secretariat. We designed the membership form and distributed it. The SP Emeritus got a sample copy on MAY 27 at Pentecost university senate meeting, and on the 10th of June at the senate meeting hosted by GIMPA, We brought plenty copies to distribute. The senate accepted the form on the basis that the fee attached (100¢ contributions) should be waived. We #agreed and waived the fee. SP emeritus Blessing emphasized on the need to use the form for verification and proper identification for participating at the annual convention which was scheduled at the sitting. That was the LAST meeting we had. 
We distributed the form in hard copies and also soft copies were made available to Senators OUTSIDE Accra and extra copies given to the SENATE CLERK emeritus.
We started arranging for the convention, looking for venue when the high commission stated that the auditorium wasn't available. Initially, Westend University would have hosted but we thought of the distance of the school location as a difficulty, We then spoke with Bluecrest management because of their central location at circle, they gave us the auditorium.
  Now, as we are putting all these in place, the SP EMERITUS Blessing Ekanem has already given a counter instruction WITHOUT our consent to senators not to fill the form as earlier agreed by all at GIMPA. Instead told them to forward names to him on whatsapp. Some senators submitted their form in the background, some filled it and kept it with them saying the SP emeritus asked them not to submit. We were perplexed what exactly could be the issue. If you are legitimate in your school, this could be done in a matter of hours so why this act?
All the forms submitted were compiled and furnish the EC with all copies of the 16-schools that submitted nationally.
We arrived Bluecrest, and the blue crest saga ensued. (Long story told already)
  Now, from the date of bluecrest saga and the rescheduled congress at Westend was two weeks space, still they refuse to submit the forms neither did they bring the introduction letter (which the EC emphasized acceptability) Instead, the SP Emeritus , Senate Whip Brain Roy and Charles from GTUC went to Westend university (the school of the President emeritus Mr. Kayode Abubakar) submitted a letter signed by SP EMERITUS Blessing Ekanem demanding the financial record and his status as a student  (thereby invading in his privacy and acting ultra vires in the process as this is NOT part of their constitutional duties as senators) They used the whole week preceding the congress at Westend University probing the status of the emeritus President as a student of the school even still pushing till 24-hours to the convention, instead of ensuring all forms are duly endorsed or letters brought. In the end, their efforts yielded no result.
The EC had announced earlier that the deadline for submission was 4pm on Friday preceding the convention to enable proper verification of the endorsed forms.
  Even at this point, some forms were still received after 4pm and some were asked to scan and send for verification.
However, some schools did not submit at all and did not even appear while some brought theirs at the entrance of congress as against the stipulated instructions.

For the records, below are the member union leaders herein known as senators and their accredited delegates (and their respective universities) in accordance with the constitution that participated at the convention.

1) METHODIST UNIVERSITY (Form  filled by the ISA President, endorsed and submitted alongside 2-delegates)
*SP Emeritus had presented a name of a former exco member.*

2) KAAF UNIVERSITY (Form endorsed and submitted by the NSA President Williams)
*SP Emeritus Blessing sent in name of former President without his consent*
Meanwhile the former has guided the new leader to fill the form and he accompanied him to congress as a delegate.

3) E.T.I (Form submitted early Saturday)
SP Emeritus sent in name of someone that has finished school since 2015/2016 awaiting certificate.
However, the SRC Vice President duly represented ETI and participated.

4) GIMPA (Formed filled, endorsed and submitted)

5) WISCONSIN (Form filled, endorsed and submitted by the NSA President alongside a letter of introduction from the SRC)
This is the school of emeritus Blessing. He had earlier submitted a name of the former NSA President who after over 45-days of conducting NSA Election refused to handover.

  6) ALL NATIONS KOFORIDUA (Form filled , endorsed and submitted)

7) PENTECOST UNIVERSITY (Form filled, endorsed and submitted)
This is the school of the Senate clerk emeritus, he complied but submitted late due to SP's instruction. Was accepted.

8) ISLAMIC University (Form filled, endorsed and submitted)

9) WESTEND UNIVERSITY (form filled, endorsed and submitted)
*SP Emeritus had submitted a name of a student that has TRANSFERED to C.A.C university in Kumasi to represent my school*. Same guy sold them the rumour of the President not being a student and connived with them in the blackmail.
the list was rejected because Westend has a duly elected SRC Vice President (a Nigerian) who represented westend at the congress.

10) A.I.T (Form filled, endorsed and submitted)
Infact, the vice President emerged from AIT.

11) University of Applied Management (form filled, endorsed and submitted)

12) KNUST (Formed filled, endorsed and submitted)

13) GARDEN CITY (Formed filled, endorsed and submitted)

14) Akim State Uni (Form filled, endorsed amd submitted)

15) Kumasi Technical University (Form filled , endorse and submitted)

16) Christian service university ( form filled, endorsed and submitted)

17) Bluecrest College (form filled, endorsed, submitted) no attendance by the delegates.
  Several other schools like UCOMS, SMU, MOUNTCREST, KNUTSFORD, DOMINION, GHANA BAPTIST had theirs form filled but didn't make it to the convention due to travel schedules.

The below schools had special cases.

1) MARSHALL (Form filled, endorsed, submitted an hour to congress)
It was accepted, cleared into Congress but #decided to walk out alongside the Emeritus Blessing Ekanem who had demanded authoritatively while congress was ongoing that the below schools be allowed entrance into congress without the requirements and he threatened to walk out on the congress if his demands were not granted. Finally he stated "I wish you a successful congress," and then took a bow.

2) GTUC (Form not filled, letter which couldn't be verified was brought by an individual who was NOT an elected leader in that school thereby breaching fundamental provision of the constitution in section 3 stated above.

3) JAYEE ( no form endorsed , no letter)

4) ZENITH (They brought a letter from NSA)
ZENITH university has no NSA recognised by the school management.
They were rejected on that basis.

5) BRIGHAM (Brought an introduction letter that morning but his form of ID having a different #valid residence permit of a different school)
The status of Brigham by NAB isn't in conformity with accreditation. Even Ghana Immigration Service does NOT recognise the school and would NOT issue a residence permit for anybody studying there.

6) MASTECH (no form filled, but brought a handwritten note at congress) which does not meet any official requirement and was rejected.

Therefore, we will like to state categorically clear here that the convention was successfully carried out. Senators and delegates of the aforementioned schools (except GTUC, BRIGHAM, ZENITH, MASTECH) were duly accredited, and all in attendance, participated actively in all the proceedings. 
The convention was covered from the beginning to the end by IFN TV and had in attendance the NANS national Vice President from Nigeria who gave a goodwill message and registered his displeasure towards the divisive actions of SP Emeritus Blessing Ekanem and encouraged the house to remain united, this he said after the elections were concluded.

The general public is advised to disregard any information contrary to this position. We also use this opportunity to congratulate once again the newly sworn in Executive council of NANS-Ghana.

Long live NANS-Ghana!!

Signed:
Tunji Abioye,
Emeritus P.R.O,

For: NANS-Ghana 2016/2017 administration.