Nigerian Students Vow To Protest Until ASUU Ends Strike
The National Association of Nigerian Students has said that it will continue to hold street protests, until the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) calls off its 14-week-old strike.
The group said this on Thursday during its peaceful protest at the entrance of the Federal Secretariat in Calabar, Cross River State.
Speaking on behalf of the association, Comrade Anthony Afufu, said they decided to embark on the protest to prevail on the Federal Government to settle with ASUU, so they could return to the classroom.
Afufu said that education is a right of every Nigerian and should not be trivialized by the government and elite in society.
“We will continue to storm the streets until this strike is called off. Today, we are at the Federal Secretariat, Calabar, the next protest, we will go to the airport.”
“The elite need to see us and feel our pains and urge the government to fulfil its promise reached with ASUU in 2009. We need to stop this perennial strikes because whenever two elephants fight, it is the grass, which represents the students in this case, that suffers,” Afufu said.
He further charged the Federal Government to stop paying lip service to education and invest substantially in the sector to ensure a better future for the nation.
ASUU’s industrial action commenced on February 14th as a warning strike before an indefinite one following the federal government’s unwillingness to meet ASUU’s demands.