ASUU STRIKE UPDATE: Students give FG, ASUU 7-day ultimatum to end strike

Peeved by almost two-month old strike
by the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), the National
Association of Nigerian Students (NANS),
yesterday issued a one-week ultimatum
to the Federal Government and the
union’s leadership to resolve their
differences or face serious
consequences.
The students said if the impasse was
not resolved within the next seven
days, it will mobilise students on a
nation-wide riot in what it described as
‘operation occupy Nigeria’.
The students’ body appealed to ASUU
to return to the classroom and
continue negotiation with the Federal
Government since the latter claimed to
have released over N100 billion for
infrastructural development and
another N30 billion for allowances.
This was the highpoint of a protest by
the students who blocked the Asaba
end of the River Niger Bridge to press
home their demands. The protest
caused traffic snarl for several hours
as the students stalled movements to
the eastern part of the country even
as those returning were barred.
NANS coordinator in the South-South
and South-East, Comrade Chinonso
Obasi, stated that students were at
the receiving end of the strike and
vowed that they would take their
destinies in their own hands if the
parties failed to reconcile within a week.
“We are appealing to ASUU that since
the Federal Government has been able
to release N100 billion for
infrastructural development and N30
billion for allowance, they should go
back to classroom and continue their
negotiation or agitation. This is our
prayer and wish.
“We are giving them one week to open
the schools or be ready to face
corrosive consequences in form of
nation-wide demonstration and riots.
We are ready to mobilise for that and it
will be operation occupy Nigeria,” he
said.
Lamenting the effect of the strike,
Obasi said students have become prone
to accidents on the highways and the
female students have been reduced to
s*x hawkers on the streets.
His words: “I stand to tell you that a lot
of accidents have been recorded and
99.9% of the victims are Nigerian
students. If they were in classrooms,
they would not have fallen victims of
road crashes.
“Our female students have become
commercial s*x hawkers on the
streets in order to make ends meet.
This colossal effect is more than what
ASUU is agitating for. Hence, we can no
longer fold our arms and watch things
go wrong.”