The Federal Government, on Wednesday, revealed that members of the National Association of Nigerian students, NANS, who blocked the ever-busy Lagos Ibadan express road are “violating” the law of the country.
Babatunde Fashola, SAN, the Minister of Works and Housing, made this while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister revealed that the Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) has recognition for citizens’ right to public protests, but the constitution does not give any Nigerian the power to “inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.”
The minister made this remark in reaction to the manner the students’ protes on Tuesday triggered a gridlock on the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan road, leaving motorists and persons stranded.
The protest occurred just after the Sagamu Interchange section of the express road, towards Lagos.
The protesting students could be seen carrying placards with different inscriptions and singing solidarity songs as they decried the industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, that has lingered for seven months.
They made a vow that they will continue to intensify the capacity of the protest until their demands are met.
The Minister said “Once again, I apologise and empathise with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. It’s the place we left to the last really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometers into Lagos; very densely populated and occupied. There’s very little room for alternative routes for people. So, you just have to bear with us.
“I also heard that some aggrieved students under the aegis of NANS are going to the road to protest. My respectful view is that is not helpful at all to the citizens.
“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.”