BREAKING -ASUU Strike: Students Block Ibadan-Akure-Abuja Expressway

 

Students from higher institutions of learning in Ondo State under the auspices of the National Association of University

Students (NAUS), on Wednesday, protested over the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) across the country.

The students who converged on the ever-busy Akure/Ilesha road as early as 8 am, blocked the road causing vehicular traffic on the road while travellers were stranded for several hours.

The students who are armed with placards of various inscriptions such as “End ASUU Strike Permanently Now,” “After Strike Government Officials Get Paid, Who Pays Nigerian Students for Time Wasted,” ‘Employment Comes with Age Limits,” “Age is Irreversible,” “Stop Wasting our future” among others.

Motorists travelling to nearby communities along the highway resorted to take alternative untarred routes, while the protesting students vowed to continue the protest until ASUU and the Federal Government reach a compromise.

They accused the Federal Government and the striking lecturers of toying with the future, saying frequent disruption of academic activities on the campuses of both the state and federal universities has negatively impacted them.

The leader of the protesters, former Student Union President of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Esedere Abraham, said the students would continue to block some major roads within the capital as long as the government and ASUU fail to resolve their differences.

He frowned over the incessant strike by the ASUU, noting that the union has gone on strike for more than four years between 1999 till date.

Esedere stated that students should not be made to suffer any problem between ASUU and the federal government, urging the government and ASUU to find a lasting solution to the strike.

Vice-Chairman of NAUS, Ondo State chapter, Shittu Folarin, said the students want to ensure this would be the last action by ASUU, describing as worrisome the industrial actions by the lecturers.

He urged the Federal Government to fulfil its part of the bargain noting that public tertiary institutions have been taking a downward slope in recent years and there is an urgent need to fix the system.

“Many parents no longer trust the education outcome of our tertiary institutions as a result of the incessant strike and infrastructural neglect from the government.”