By Ghazali Ibrahim
Student activism appears to be making a return at the University of Lagos following the election of new leaders into the institution’s Students’ Union Government (SUG), ending nearly a decade without a fully functioning union.
The university on Friday conducted an election that produced new SUG leaders for the 2025/2026 academic session as part of efforts to restore student representation on campus. Bolaji Akinpelu of the Faculty of Arts emerged as President with nine votes, while Daniel Solomon of the Faculty of Computing and Informatics was elected General Secretary with the same number of votes.
The election, coordinated by the university’s Directorate of Student Affairs and supervised by the Dean, Professor Johnson Agunsoye, took place at the Moremi Hall common room on the campus.
University authorities said the exercise marks a major step toward the full restoration of the SUG, which had been suspended since April 2016 after protests and unrest by students over issues such as poor electricity and water supply on campus.
Speaking after the election, Agunsoye said the restoration of the union fulfils a commitment made by the Vice-Chancellor, Folasade Ogunsola, to revive the students’ representative body.
According to him, the union will provide a platform for students to express their views and develop leadership capacity.
Observers say the return of the SUG could revive the tradition of student activism at the institution, which historically played a significant role in national and campus political debates.
With the emergence of the new leadership, many students believe the union could once again become a strong voice for welfare issues and governance on campus after years without a formal student representative structure.
