The West African Students’ Union (WASU) was founded in London on August 7, 1925 by a group of twenty-one law students led by Ladipo Solanke and Herbert Bankole Bright.
WASU was a West African student association based in London whose aim was to promote policy research and unite West Africans abroad. The WASU’s main goals were to fight for the independence of West African countries and to end the racial discrimination that was at its peak at that time.
The West African Students’ Union grew out of the activities of earlier student organizations such as the Union of Students of African Descent, the Gold Coast Students’ Association and the Nigerian Progressive Union, founded in London in July 1924 by Ladipo Solanke and Amy Ashwood Garvey.
Ladipo Solanke
Ladipo Solanke was the founder and general secretary of the union, while J.B. Danquah was its first president. The leader was Joseph Ephraim Casley Hayford, a pioneer of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA), who, under the influence of his position, promoted African nationalism among the peoples of West Africa.
In 1926, WASU began publishing a magazine called WASU Magazine, which was also distributed throughout Europe and Africa. The union also published many other pamphlets which had an enormous influence on West Africans abroad and at home.
In 1929, with the support of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), the union managed to stop a planned African Village Exhibition in Newcastle on the grounds that it would lead to the exploitation of some African communities.
WASU Magazine
Ladipo Solanke founded over 25 WASU chapters in Nigeria, Gold Coast (Ghana), Sierra Leone and other West African countries. The West African Students Union has also managed to establish some unions and movements in Africa such as the Gold Coast Youth Conference and the National Union of Nigerian Students etc. Some WASU members were also prominent members and administrators of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM ), a political party founded in 1935.
In 1949, Ladipo Solanke resigned from the position of general secretary of WASU due to disagreements between union members.However, the union existed and operated until the 1960s.
Contributions/Achievements from the West African Students Union (WASU).
1. WASU sought to promote racial equality and popular self-determination.
2. Served as an intermediary or liaison between the British Parliament and West African leaders.
3. The Union succeeds in uniting West Africans in Great Britain.
4. The West African Students Union stirs up nationalism among West Africans.
5. It proved to be a training facility for West African leaders and intellectuals. For example, Kwame Nkrum from Ghana.
The WASU Project is currently producing a film documenting the history of West Africans in the UK.