ASUU STRIKE: Students Give FG, ASUU 7- day Ultimatum

The National Association of Nigerian
Students (NANS), yesterday issued a
one-week ultimatum to the Federal
Government and the union’s leadership
to resolve their differences or face
corrosive consequences. The students have vowed that they
would take their destinies in their own
hands if the parties failed to reconcile
within a week and that they will go on a
nation-wide riot in what it described as
‘operation occupy Nigeria’. The students’ body appealed to ASUU
to return to the classroom and continue
negotiation with the Federal
Government since the latter claimed to
have released over N100 billion for
infrastructural development and another N30 billion for allowances. “We are appealing to ASUU that since
the Federal Government has been able
to release N100 billion for
infrastructural development and N30
billion for allowance, they should go
back to classroom and continue their negotiation or agitation. This is our
prayer and wish. “We are giving them one week to open
the schools or be ready to face
corrosive consequences in form of
nation-wide demonstration and riots.
We are ready to mobilise for that and it
will be operation occupy Nigeria,” he said. Lamenting the effect of the strike,
Obasi said students have become
prone to accidents on the highways
and the female students have been
reduced to s*x hawkers on the streets. His words: “I stand to tell you that a lot
of accidents have been recorded and
99.9% of the victims are Nigerian
students. If they were in classrooms,
they would not have fallen victims of
road crashes. “Our female students have become
commercial s*x hawkers on the streets
in order to make ends meet. This
colossal effect is more than what ASUU
is agitating for. Hence, we can no
longer fold our arms and watch things go wrong.”

NANS Plans Massive Protest To End ASUU Strike

National Association of Nigerian Students,
NANS, plans to hold a nation-wide protest in
a bid to force the Federal Government and
the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU, to end the protracted strike of
university lecturers. Responding to allegations that the
students’ body was not bothered by the 60-
day-old strike, NANS President, Yinka
Gbadebo, said the union had been
employing other matured approaches to
appeal to both the government and ASUU. “NANS is not relaxed but we have decided
to take approaches that don’t require us to
make noise. We have been meeting with
executive members of ASUU, the Nigerian
Universities Commission, Minister of
Education and the FG. “We have also written to meet with the
universities NEEDS Implementation
Committee chairman and Governor of
Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswan. If we don’t
receive any response by the end of the
week, we would issue an ultimatum and take it up from there. “I have been consulting with all SUG leaders
in the affected schools so that we would
speak with one voice. Going to the streets
would be our last option but we would do so
to protest how long this strike has
lingered,” Gbadebo said.