The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Tuesday directed students within the South-Western region of Nigeria to stage protest against the long-running Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU strike, which has lingered for no lesser than seven months.
The angry students in their hundreds stormed the highway and barricaded the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Shagamu Interchange.
The Informant247 recalls that the university staff union embarked on industrial strike on February 14, 2022.
While speaking on the demonstration, the National Public Relations Officer of NANS, Giwa Temitope, said that the President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government has failed on its promises to restructure education.
A statement by NANS said, “There is no point arguing about who is at fault or what is to be done, it is very clear that the rulers underfund education and the Buhari government is failing in its promises to revamp education.
“As it is today, no higher institution in Nigeria is world-class! Yet, our so-called public servants travell all over the world spending billions to send their kids abroad for studies.
“As major stakeholders in the educational sector, we are the ones who can save ourselves. We have monitored the yearnings of students from campus to campus through their social media platforms and also in their public writings.”
The statement further reads, “Students all over Nigeria stand with ASUU. Our lecturers suffer the same hardships and mal-developments we suffer. The staff houses are as bad as the students’ hostels. In South Africa, a professor’s laboratory is far more equipped than that of any university in Nigeria.
“History has been killed and undermined, so we, the youths, do not know where we are coming from nor talk of knowing where we are headed. But we will not lament anymore. The new leadership of NANS is here to work with students to achieve our set aims and objectives. We believe that the student movement has its place in history. It is a task that we vow to fulfill. We will never let Nigerian students down!” The statement is partly read.
Below are the demands of the student body:
“We call on ASUU leadership for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss solidarity actions and plan for the next phase of the struggles;
“We pass a vote of no confidence on both Ministers of Labour and Education; We call for the proper funding of the educational sector as against what has been attainable in the past seven years;
“We Call on the Buhari government to pay all outstanding arrears and salaries of the lecturers. The policy of “No Work No Pay” is a fascist one, it’s therefore, condemnable and nonacceptable to all the millions of students in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, the students have made a vow that they will continue to mobilise and even shut down the Presidential Villa if the government refuses to meet demands of ASUU and restructure education in the country.