By Aisosa Agbondimwin
Students of Auchi Polytechnic marched out in their hundreds in a peaceful protest to express their dissatisfaction about the persistent strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) over a number of issues such as unpaid salaries, undue demotion, sack and suspension of some lecturers alleged to be corrupt, and other issues which are yet to be addressed by the government and the polytechnic’s management.
Academic activities in the school have been in perpetual undulation due to the serial strike actions by the union. This has cause a setback for the students who until this moment still have their fate hanged on a limbo.
The academic and administrative atmosphere in the institution is very tense at the moment. Efforts by the Students Union Government (SUG) to bring the lecturers and management to a round table to reach a compromise have proved abortive as the lecturers are more agitated than ever.
Students, in demonstration of their frustrations took to the street in a peaceful demonstration to raise the consciousness of the government to their challenges and frustrations. They carried boards and placards with several inscriptions that signaled to the government their plight. However, their protest caused the blockage of a federal road, shutting down movement for two hours.
The SUG pleads with the government to come to the aid of the students and academic staffs alike because as the saying goes, “when two elephants fight, it is the grasses that suffers”. Students are at the receiving end of the struggle between the lecturers and management.
Also, The constant encroachment of the previous year’s academic calendar into this year, non-mobilisation of students for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), and the giddy flow of academic activities (to mention a few) in the institution is one too many. The government should intervene with swiftness before the situation degenerates to a barbaric and bestial stage.
