25/08/2026
*Purposeful Leadership, Sustainable Development and the Future of Students’ Unionism in Kwara State*
By Mohammed Funsho Abdullahi
Almost 20 years ago, I was a student on this same campus. Like many of you, I attended lectures, worried about examinations, argued about Nigeria, attended meetings, made friends and wondered what the future would look like. I was also deeply involved in student activities and politics. I had the privilege of serving as Public Relations Officer of the Ilorin Emirate Students’ Union, as a Departmental Senator and also as Chief Whip. At some point, I decided I was ready for the big one: I wanted to become President of my department. Trust me, that did not go well.
My political name at the time was Mandate, while my opponent was my friend, Azeez, whom we called AZ. On manifesto day, his supporters came prepared. As I spoke, they beat the tables, made noise and did everything possible to drown out my voice. Then came the dinner before the election, and that was where things became really interesting. I was supposed to be campaigning for myself and the slogan was simple: “Vote Mandate!” Mandate was me. But for reasons I still cannot explain today, I found myself repeatedly screaming, “Vote AZ! Vote AZ!” AZ was my opponent.
My campaign manager at the time, whom we called Egbon because he was far older, kept trying to correct me. He kept shouting, “Mandate! Mandate! You are Mandate!” But apparently, on that particular evening, I was determined to run the most generous opposition campaign in the history of student politics. I continued campaigning vigorously for my opponent. It was only after I left the venue and my head became clear that I realised what I had just done. Whether it was excitement, confusion, a miracle or jazz, as some of my supporters insisted at the time, almost 20 years later, I still cannot tell you what happened that night. What I can tell you is what happened next: I lost the election.
At that age, losing an election you desperately wanted could feel like a major tragedy. You have printed your posters, assembled your supporters and imagined yourself winning. In my own case, I had even started rehearsing what my first speech as President would sound like. Suddenly, it was over and somebody else had won.
Almost 20 years later, however, I am standing before you on this same campus, not as a former departmental president, because I never became one, but as someone whose journey after this university took him through journalism, the private sector, specifically marketing communication, public service and, eventually, to the heart of government, where I now have the privilege of working alongside the Honourable Minister of Youth Development and contributing to conversations and decisions affecting millions of young Nigerians.
And AZ? He won that election and, after our graduation and national service, relocated to the United Kingdom. Life continued for both of us. That experience taught me something I did not fully understand at the time: sometimes, the position you think you desperately need is not the purpose for which you are being prepared. I wanted a title, but life was preparing me for a journey. There is a difference between the two, and that is why I chose to speak to you today about Purpose Before Position.
Somewhere in this hall is somebody desperate to become something: President, Chairman, Senator, Honourable, Governor, Minister, perhaps even President of Nigeria. There is nothing wrong with ambition. In fact, ambition can be a powerful force for progress. But never make the mistake of believing that a title determines your value, and never believe that losing a position means losing your future. I lost an election on this campus, but I did not lose my future. That distinction matters.
Robin Sharma captures something similar in his book, The Leader Who Had No Title. You do not need a title before you can lead. Leadership does not begin when somebody calls you Chairman or Honourable, nor does it begin when you receive an office, an official car or a microphone. Leadership begins when you decide to take responsibility, add value, improve what is around you, serve, solve problems and make your presence useful.
There is another story that illustrates this point. In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, America’s equivalent of what we call the National Space Research and Development Agency, NASRDA, here in Nigeria. At the time, America was pursuing the extraordinary ambition of putting a man on the moon. During the visit, President Kennedy reportedly encountered a janitor carrying a broom and asked him what he was doing. The obvious answer would have been, “Mr President, I am cleaning the building.” Instead, the man reportedly replied, “Mr President, I am helping to put a man on the moon.”
Think about what that means. The man had no impressive title; in fact, he was holding a broom. But he understood the mission of the organisation he worked for and saw what he was doing, no matter how small, as contributing to the achievement of that goal. That is purpose. Your title tells us where you sit, but your purpose tells us why it matters that you are sitting there. This is therefore the first challenge I want to place before the newly inaugurated leadership of NANS Kwara today: do not become so fascinated by your title that you forget your mission.
You have not been elected so that people can call you Chairman. You have been given an opportunity to make something better. When your tenure ends, therefore, the important question will not be how many people knew your name. The questions that will matter are: What changed because you came? What problem did you solve? Whose life became easier because of your leadership? What opportunity did you create? What did you leave behind that continued working after you were gone?
That is leadership, and that is why I believe we undersell student unionism when we describe it merely as a training ground for future leaders. Student leadership is not merely preparation for leadership; it is leadership. The office may be smaller, the budget may be smaller and the constituency may be smaller, but the moral questions are exactly the same. Will you listen? Will you account for the resources entrusted to you? Will you tolerate criticism? Will you choose competence over friendship? Will you respect those who opposed you? Will you remember the people who elected you after the election is over? Those are not student questions; they are leadership questions.
This is where we must be willing to challenge ourselves. We complain about corruption in government, but what happens when a student leader cannot account for union funds? We condemn election manipulation nationally, but what happens when we manipulate elections in our departments and faculties? We demand that governors tolerate criticism, but what happens when a student leader wants anybody who criticises him removed from the WhatsApp group? We complain about leaders surrounding themselves with cronies, but what happens when we win a student election and every appointment immediately goes to our friends and supporters?
There is a contradiction there because power does not manufacture character; power reveals it. If ₦500,000 changes your character today, ₦500 million will not cure you tomorrow. If you cannot tolerate opposition as a student leader, becoming a governor will not suddenly make you a democrat. Perhaps I understand this particularly well because I have been on the other side of an election. I lost and AZ won, but I did not become his enemy for life. The department did not collapse, the world did not end and life continued.
There is an important lesson there for student politics. An election is a contest; it is not a war. Your opponent is an opponent today, but he may be your partner in building the community tomorrow. If our politics destroys every relationship that existed before an election, then the price of victory has become too high. If we cannot learn that lesson in our universities, where exactly do we expect to learn it?
Nigerian student movements have a proud tradition of activism, and that tradition must never disappear. Students must speak when something is wrong. But the world has changed, and student unionism must evolve with it. The student leader of yesterday needed a megaphone. The student leader of today still needs a voice, but he also needs data, ideas, partnerships, technology, negotiation skills and financial literacy. Above everything else, he needs the ability not only to identify problems but to organise solutions.
Activism says, “This is wrong,” and sometimes we must say that very loudly. Purposeful leadership, however, must go beyond simply saying something is wrong to asking, “What can we do about it?” If students have transportation problems, speak up, but also negotiate. If students struggle with accommodation, challenge exploitation, but also gather data and propose workable solutions. If graduates are leaving our institutions without employable skills, our student organisations should be connecting students to training, internships, entrepreneurship and digital opportunities. If students do not know about scholarships, grants and government programmes, why shouldn’t NANS become a bridge between those students and those opportunities?
Imagine a NANS Kwara that becomes known not simply for statements and protests, but for solutions. Imagine that at the end of one year, the leadership can say that it connected thousands of students to skills opportunities, helped students find internships, created a scholarship and opportunities database, connected young entrepreneurs to mentors and funding opportunities, and established partnerships that the next administration can inherit. That is purposeful leadership, and that is also where sustainable development becomes real.
Sometimes, when we hear “sustainable development,” it sounds like one of those expressions reserved for conferences. But strip away the big grammar and sustainability becomes a simple question: What are you doing today that will still matter tomorrow? Your tenure will end and another person will sit in your chair, but students you never met can still benefit from something you created. That is sustainability. That is legacy. Therefore, I want the new leadership to remember this: do not measure your administration only by what you do; measure it also by what remains when you are gone.
Perhaps there is another lesson that purposeful leadership must teach us, and that is the principle of fairness. We live in a democracy, and democracy recognises the power of numbers. The majority will often have its way because that is how elections work. But a good society cannot be built only on the principle that the majority has the numbers and can therefore do whatever it wants. Democracy is not only about the right of the majority to lead; it is also about the responsibility of the majority to make the minority feel that it belongs.
This is something I want you, particularly as student leaders, to understand very early in your leadership journey. The majority will always need the minority, and the minority will always need the majority. Today, you may be in the majority; tomorrow, on another issue, you may find yourself in the minority.
I am from Ilorin in Kwara State. Ilorin is majority in Kwara, but when we discuss Northern Nigeria, a man from Kano sees a Kwara man as a minority. So, if I support injustice in Kwara, what moral authority would I have to challenge a man from Kaduna who sees me as a minority in the North simply because I am from Kwara State? That is why fairness is never optional, and I pray those who have embraced the “born to rule” mentality among us would embrace logic.
Today, your group may have the numbers. Tomorrow, you may need the cooperation, knowledge, experience or support of people outside your group. That is life and that is democracy. It is why fairness matters and why I will always be on the side of fairness on any issue. You do not build a strong institution by making those who lost an election feel that they have lost their membership of the community. You do not build unity by telling people, “We have the numbers. We don’t need you,” because sooner or later, you will discover that numbers alone cannot build anything lasting. You need ideas, trust and cooperation, and sometimes the person who has what you need may not belong to your group.
As you take office, therefore, I urge you to embrace all those who contested against you and work with them in unity and in the collective interests of the students you represent. I learnt that you have a unity government already. If so, that is commendable, and I applaud your maturity as student leaders. But the principle of fairness goes far beyond student unionism. Nigeria itself teaches us this lesson every day.
We come from different states, ethnic groups, religions, languages and political persuasions. Even here today, although we are gathered under NANS Kwara, I am conscious that not everybody sitting in this hall necessarily comes from Kwara State. But you are all here, learning together, living together, building friendships, sharing classrooms and preparing for the same future. That is the Nigeria we must learn to build: a Nigeria where our differences do not become excuses for exclusion and where the majority understands that strength is not demonstrated by how effectively it can silence the minority. Rather, strength is demonstrated by having the confidence to accommodate the minority. That is how societies remain united, and that is why I want you to remember this: fairness is not weakness; fairness is wisdom.
To the incoming NANS Kwara leadership, congratulations once again. But remember that inauguration is not an achievement. Inauguration gives you an office, but service gives the office meaning. As your tenure begins, remember that a day will come when another person will stand before another set of student leaders and ask what your generation did with the chance you now have to do good and to mobilise for a cause greater than yourself.
When that time comes, I hope and pray that history will say that your generation of student leaders found problems and solved them, and that you found opportunities and opened them to others. When your time in office is over, I pray that your greatest achievement will not be that you once occupied a position in NANS, but that you left that position better than you met it.
May God be your guide, and thank you very much.
* Being a lecture delivered at the 2026 NANS Kwara Inauguration Ceremony and Launching of ACME Magazine on Saturday, 22nd August, 2026, at the University of Ilorin
