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From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has give a 24-hour ultimatum to the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end the ongoing nationwide strike embarked on by the academic staff, or face the full wrath of the Nigerian students.
The students’ body vowed shut down the country by barricading all federal roads in Oyo State and other states of the federation from Tuesday March 1, 2022, if the the Federal Government and ASUU, failed to reach a compromise that will end the ongoing strike.
The B zone of NANS made the vow on Monday during a peaceful protest staged by members of the association in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The students’ body advised the Federal Government and ASUU to resolve their crisis towards safeguarding the future of Nigerian students.
The protest, which kicked off at the Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council, Iyaganku, Ibadan, was led by the South West Coordinator of NANS, Fiyinfoluwa Tegbe.
The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions specifically pointed fingers at the university lecturers, saying many of them were responsible for the way the Federal Government has been treating them, because they have been the ones rigging election results for the politicians, that have been maltreating them.
The inscriptions on the placards displayed during the protest included: “FG and ASUU, stop the madness’, ‘Stop the strike and revitalise our education’, ‘After the end of strike, only students lose,’ ‘FG should learn to respect agreement’, ‘Age is irreversible, house rents are not refundable, stop disrupting our life plans.”
Tegbe, in his address,, said: “We are holding our peaceful demonstration here today (Monday) because of the lingering crisis between the ASUU and Federal Government, which has been a reoccurring event over the years. Unfortunately, we students have always been at the receiving end. If the Federal Government and ASUU refused to resolve today, we won’t hesitate to go by the way of violence. It is going to be a violence for violence and war for war. They cannot continue to be wasting our time. When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
“We are calling on the Federal Government to learn how to respect agreement. We have seen on many occasions when the Federal Government and ASUU reached agreement, but the Federal Government failed to fulfil the pledge.
“We are also calling on ASUU to have a decisive ways of spending their resources, even when their demands are met. This is because we want to see the projects they are doing with the subvention they are receiving from the Federal Government. Our people are complaining that they don’t use to see what they are doing with the money being released to them.
“Meanwhile, it is the same members of ASUU that rig elections for politicians. Though we don’t have any issue with them because they are our fathers and teachers, we need to say the truth.
“Again, ASUU members should have a decisive ways to deal with issues, rather than going on strike all the time because they are wasting our time. We are appealing to the Federal Government and ASUU to resolve the issue and allow us to go back to our various classes.
“All the attempt to send us back to the street will be resisted. The protest is holding across the country today(Monday). If the Federal Government refused to settle today, we shall continue to return to street for protest until our demands are met. The instruction from the national office of NANS is that all the federal roads should be blocked but as a coordinator, I have to consider many factors, including security implications before given such instruction to block all the roads.
“If ASUU and Federal Government refused to make up today (Monday), we will block all the federal roads tomorrow (Tuesday).”
