Students under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), on Tuesday, protested and blocked the Ogun end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway over the lingering strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The student’s body also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign from office over what it described as gross incompetence and failure.
They had gathered as early as 8.00 am very close to the Redemption Camp in Mowe, Ogun State, to express their sadness over the continued disruption in academic activities in all public and state universities as a result of the ASUU strike.
This development led to traffic standstill on the busy highway for several hours, on both sides of the highway.
It took the intervention of the Divisional Police Officer attached to Mowe Division and some other Nigerians before the protesting students vacated the highway.
NANS chairman in Ogun State, Comrade Damilola Simeon, asked the Federal Government to honour the agreement reached with the lecturers rather than setting up a new committee to renegotiate with ASUU.
“We have observed with dismay the avoidable suffering and inconvenience the lackadaisical and irresponsible policies of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has brought to the Nigerian people in the last few weeks due to the scarcity of fuel in the federation.
“In the same vein, our concern, as directly affected people by the ASUU strike remains another effect of governmental failure that should be condemned by the well-meaning Nigerian people.
“The Nigerian University students across the federation are on abnormal yet compulsory leave out of school due to the ongoing ASUU strike. Our time would be wasted. Age would be against us by the time we graduate and go into the labour market.
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“We will be forced to pay extra rent on accommodation as most of us are staying in private hostels since the government has failed to provide adequate, affordable and sufficient accommodation for all of us on our campuses. Above all, some of our colleagues would be distracted, discouraged and would probably jettison schooling for other things if not at worst, illegal activities.
“The government continue to make a monster out of many of us due to their irresponsibility and poor education in our public tertiary institutions.
“These are some of the reasons Nigerians are all over the different countries of the world suffering humiliations and racism just to get qualitative education as evident in the manner Nigerian students in Ukraine were been treated in past few days.
“All of these would not have surfaced should the government have done the needful by providing good working conditions for our University teaching and non-teaching staff while aiding it with facilities needed for qualitative and easy learning,” he said.
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