The B zone of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Monday advised the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) to resolve their crisis and end the ongoing strike of the union for the sake of the students.
NANS said ASUU should consider that they rig elections for politicians, adding that the union needed not to go on strike whenever they had a disagreement with the same people they helped into offices.
Speaking at a protest held at the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council, the Southwest Coordinator of NANS, Tegbe Steven Fiyinfoluwa, vowed to block all the federal roads on Tuesday, if the federal government and ASUU failed to reach an agreement.
Inscriptions on the placards displayed during the protest read: “FG and ASUU, Stop the madness”, “Stop the strike and revitalise our education”, “After the end of the strike, only students lose”, “FG should learn to respect agreements”, “Age is irreversible, house rents are not refundable stop disrupting our life plans”.
Speaking further, the state coordinator said; “We are holding our peaceful demonstrating here today because of the lingering crisis between the ASUU and the federal government which has been a reoccurring event over the years.
“Unfortunately, we students are always 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.
“We are calling on the federal government to learn how to respect agreements.
“We have seen in many occasions when the federal government and ASUU reached agreements but the federal government failed to fulfil the pledge.
“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 but we need to say the truth.
“Again, ASUU members should have 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.
“The protest is holding across the country today.
“If the Federal government refused to settle today, we shall continue to return to the 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 peradventure ASUU and the federal government refused to make up today, we will block all the federal roads tomorrow.”
