FUNAAB STUDENTS UNION AT 25.

Today we recognize the 25th anniversary of the federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta Students Union, its achievements and its future. I will like to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be President of our dear Union at this Historic time.


Twenty-five years' activity is a landmark worth celebrating. But what makes FunaabSu special is more than its longevity. It is truly a remarkable success story of Students Unionism in Nigeria.

The courage and Vision of our founding fathers is what has brought us here today. It is the courage of these leaders to bring students together to organise, and form a group that is representative of their ambitions and aspirations in this citadel of learning that has got us here today. We thank them and we appreciate the numerous leaders who have served this Union over the years in one capacity or the other.

Twenty-five years on, FunaabSu is a different place. We have had our downtimes, we have had our ups. There were times the Union was placed under a ban but we thank the unrelenting spirit of our forefathers that we are still here. We are happy to be moving the University forward through our constructive contributions and intellectual discuss. We are redefining the spirit of students Unionism, moving away from emptiness and hooliganism to substance and intellectualism.

In twenty five years, we have been able to give our students a voice, as the people who are the major stakeholders in the University. When you Compare and contrast where we are, in relation to where other unions are we can confidently say that we have come a long way.

My administration is working so hard not to deviate from these traditions, we are working so hard to ensure that all legitimate concerns of students are brought to the notice of the authorities in real time and prompt action are taken. We are consistently representing the interest of students as exemplified by our leaders. Though, we have our challenges, but we are mustering those challenges . We are making sure that only when we have a United Union devoid of rancorous mummering , infighting, and unnecessary biases, only then, can we achieve what we set out to achieve and continue to leave a union that our past leaders can be proud of behind.. This Union was handed over to us, and we shall handle it over in good health. We are only lucky and through divine Providence that we are the leaders at this time.
Greatest Funaabites, let me re assure us that we are aware that the Mandate of over 17,000 University students given to us is not an ordinary mandate it's a mandate of dynamics. And we are going to be consistently mindful of this

Let me turn for one moment to our Ambassadors and past leaders. Today, I'm happy we have many past presidents around us, From Dr. Oni who is now the ASUU chairman and was President of the Union in 2001, to his Secretary the Secretary of ASUU , Dr. ogunjobi who was first secretary of the Union, and later president of the our students Union in 2000. To OgunPaimo Olayiwola (Longman) who was president in 2009, to Semighan Taiwo who was president of the Union in 2010, to Bamigbade Abdul Kareem (Obama) who was president in 2011/2012, to Tope Adesipo (Loco) who was President in 2012/2013, to Awosanya Kehinde (pkennie) who was president in 2013/2014, to Olajumoke Olawale (hollarhollar) who was president in 2014/2015, we are indeed grateful to have them as our past presidents and offering their contributions for the progress of the Union and our dear University. We assure you sirs, and all other past leaders, that the Union is strong. Under my leadership, the Union will continue to wax stronger.

Worthy of note is the special sacrifices of Wole Aluta. Who led one of the Greatest struggle in the history of our Union and even in Nigeria at large. We appreciate your sacrifices sir and to leader Assorted who raised the flag of our Union at local, zonal, national and international level when our Union needed recognition and leadership, we appreciate you sir.
To the friends of our Union who has been supportive over the years we appreciate you. I will also want to recognize the effort of Hayzed, Adeyemi, Kira, skirtel, Zamora, Samielosanthis, Arobaba, Ajulo, Olawata, Nath, Jao, fasasi, leumas, paparazzi, tesmakesi, hafsalt, Moro, Awo, and others who are our heroes.
Our administration plans to celebrate this silver jubilee anniversary with a week long program to bring together our numerous heroes and past leaders to meet with the present students populace to a series of special sessions we hope to do sometimes in July and we look forward to having all our leaders presence at this occasion.

 Ladies and gentlemen,

We live in a world in constant transformation: our societies become more and more complex and diverse; our schools are a permanent work-in-progress. Our young people have to cope with increasingly complex tasks and constant change. The jobs of today – and even more those of tomorrow – call for new mind-sets and attitudes. We are not unaware.

On a personal level, Funaabsu makes people more open, more confident and better prepared to face the unknown. On a more general level, the experience students leaders garnered and bring forth, also contributes to making their own higher education institutions become more modern.

So our challenge here today is to come up with ideas that will help us do even better in the future, especially in those areas where there is room for improvement - for instance, how to ensure equal access; Hostel and transportation Challenges, Security and over crowded lecture rooms. how to enhance our mobility and its positive impact on the modernization of higher education; how to reach out to neighboring universities and even countries - and of course how to strengthen the links between education and the world of work.

Before I conclude, I would like to congratulate all of you who are involved in the students Union at this time, and in these past 25 years. You have really achieved some impressive results, and I look forward to the progress we will continue to make together in the future under a UNITED Roof.
Congratulations Funaabites!

Long Live Funaabsu.

May the Spirit of our Forefathers continue to smile on us.

Dennis Olusegun Nwenonye (Denco)
Students union president, funaab. (2015/2016)
May 1st 2016.