Nigerian students have threatened to shut down academic activities in private universities across the country if the Federal Government fails to urgently accede to the demands of striking Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities, ASUU, members
The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, said the action became imperative to compel government officials and prominent Nigerians whose children were in private universities to intervene in the matter.
The students spoke yesterday during a protest in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital. The protest was meant seek end to the over twomonth- old ASUU strike. NANS Director of Action and Mobilisation in the South-West, Mr. Sunday Asefon, said the placards-carrying protesting students were annoyed by the Federal Government’s insensitivity to the plight of the students and the falling education standard in the country.
Asefon wondered why the government could not meet the demands of the university teachers despite the huge resources accruing to it, saying such amounted to negligence on its part.
He said: “With the tremendous upswing in the revenue at the disposal of the Nigerian government, one would have expected such to translate to commensurate improvement in the quality of Nigeria’s public education as well as other social services”.
The students’ leader also urged state universities, including Ekiti State University (EKSU), Lagos State University (LASU), Osun State University and Olabisi Onabanjo University to reduce their school fees with immediate effect in the interest of education development.
Another student leader, the Co-ordinator, Joint Campus Committee (JCC), Mr. Bewaji Oluwadamilare, berated the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over her recent comment on the ongoing strike embarked upon by university teachers, describing the comment as unfortunate
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