ASUU: Students Protest Strike, Block Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

As planned, students affected by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike have on Tuesday blocked the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Shagamu Interchange).

The protesting students, under the auspices of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), took to the major road in protest against the prolonged strike by public university lecturers in the country.

A statement signed by the NANS Coordinator, South-West Zone, and National Public Relations Officer, Adegboye Emmanuel and Giwa Temitope, respectively and issued on the protest ground expressed the disappointment of the student at the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government in remoulding education as promised.

“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.

Police Officers On Protest Ground

“As it is today, no higher institution in Nigeria is world-class! Yet, our so-called public servants travel 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. 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 not to 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 fulfil. We will never let Nigerian students down!” the statement read in part.

Nigerian police officers have also been spotted on the protest ground.

Students Protesting ASUU Strike

The protesting students had in a statement by the South-West zone NANS Coordinator, Adegboye Olatunji, made available to The Punch on Monday said: "...We declare a protest against the prolonged ASUU strike which has ultimately affected the progress of Nigerian students for the past six months.

“The protest shall be held simultaneously till the strike action is resolved. Convergence point: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway (Sagamu Interchange).”

The deadlock between ASUU and the Federal government is over seven months old and Nigerian students in public universities have been kept out of school ever since.