By Toba Adedeji, Osogbo, Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja and Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU) and University of Nigeria (UNN) yesterday blocked major highways in Ile-Ife, Osun State and Nsukka to register their displeasure over the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
But President Muhammadu Buhari appealed to the students, under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerians Students (NANS), to exercise patience as the government tries to a truce with ASUU.
Buhari also enjoined ASUU to consider the plight of students by having a rethink on the strike which enters its 90th day this week. The appeal was said to have been spurned by the ASUU leadership at a ‘tripartite-plus’ truce meeting chaired by the President’s Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari yesterday evening.
In Ife, the students, who dubbed themselves GreatIfe Concerned Students Fund Education Coalition, first converged at the OAU main gate from where they proceeded to Ife/Ibadan Expressway.
The placard-carrying protesters sang anti-government songs and made bonfires thereby causing traffic snarl on the busy highway.
The inscriptions on the students’ placards read: “Fund Education Now”, “End ASUU strike now”, “Education should not be a scam”, “Employment comes with age limits, Federal Government no spoil our life”, “When we fight, we may win, when we don’t, we lose.”
Hours after, the Commissioner, State Police Command, Olawale Olokode, led a team to the scene to remove the barricade. His appeal to the students to vacate the scene was met with booing.
In Nsukka, students numbering about 3,000 stalled vehicular movements in the town and its environs for hours.
Their protest started at the UNN first gate and terminated at Opi junction that links Enugu and 9th Mile as well as roads leading to Benue state.
Passengers travelling to Abuja and Enugu were the worst hit by the protest.
Like their OAU counterparts, the protesters displayed placards with inscriptions like “No suspension of ASUU strike, No party primaries, “We are tired of staying at home, “FG should settle with ASUU,” ”We want to go back to school,” and ”Politicians have N100m to buy election forms but no money to meet ASUU demands.”
Chairman, NANS Joint Campus Committee (JCC), Enugu State, Emmanuel Obi, led the protest.
Obi said: “Students all over the country are not happy staying at home for almost three months because of Federal Government’s inability to resolve its face-off with ASUU.
“Last Monday, ASUU extended the strike by three months and if nothing is done, students will be at home for another three months.
“Government should meet ASUU demands now so that the union will suspend the strike and students will go back to school.”
A passenger, Mrs Esther Ani, who said she was not worried about the hours she had spent waiting for the students to disperse, added that she was in support of the protest..
“How can government convince Nigerians that it has no money to meet ASUU demands when those in government have N100m to buy election forms.
“Government should do something serious to end incessant strikes in public universities in this country,” Ani said.
University of Ibadan Chairman of ASSU, Prof. Ayo Akinwole lashed out at Senate President Ahmed Lawan for cautioning students against disrupting the primaries of the political parties.
Akinwole said that it was inconceivable for a high ranking political office holder to prioritise political activities over education.
He added that ASUU had lobbied the National Assembly to prevent the strike but got no positive response from the members.
NUT yesterday appealed to the Federal Government and ASUU to embrace peaceful dialogue in order to end the strike and have students resume classes.
Its Secretary in Ogun State, Samson Oyelere,, noted that the strike has had negative effects on students, universities and the national economy.