By Babatunde Ayedoju

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Motorists heaved a sigh of relief recently when students in the nation’s universities  put on hold their street protests.

Young Nigerians have been forced to put their academic pursuits on hold and stay at home since February 14 when ASUU members went on strike over the alleged failure of the federal government to implement an agreement that was reached with them in 2009.

Following an emergency meeting of the NEC in Abuja on March 13, 2022, ASUU extended the strike by eight weeks, citing that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) did not treat the matters involved with utmost urgency during the first four-week strike.

As if to complicate the matter, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Educational Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), under the umbrella of Joint Action Committee (JAC), also joined in the strike. On March 28, 2022, JAC directed all its members to embark on a two-week industrial action which it extended on April 13, citing that the FGN failed to address issues that led to the strike initially.

The  strike was further extended by another four weeks on April 21, 2022. Meanwhile, members of the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) had also embarked on a two-week industrial action in March.

On May 9, 2022, the university students received another bombshell that ASUU was extending the strike by another twelve weeks. That seemed to be a pill too big and bitter for the “greatest Nigerian students” to swallow.

On May 10, 2022, President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Sunday Asefon, announced a nationwide protest by members of the Association to register their grievances over the prolonged strike. According to the NANS leadership, the protest, codenamed Operation Test Run, would take place in all the 36 states of the federation.

Since then, the Nigerian media space has been awash with the stories of students barricading major highways, carrying placards, and in some cases cooking, all in the name of protesting over the strike. Vehicular movements have also been made difficult in affected places.

For example, students in Ogun State on last Monday blocked the Sagamu-Benin Expressway during their demonstration. The joint protest had in attendance students from Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye; Tai Solarin University of Education, Science and Technology (TASUED) Ijagun and Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the students stormed the TASUED axis and blocked the expressway, hindering travellers from moving.

The students carried placards with inscriptions such as “ #End ASUU strike now#”, “ We say no to educational stagnancy”, “ We are tired of deadlock meetings” and “Education should not be this difficult” among others.

Speaking at the protest ground, the Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in the state, Damilola Simeon, appealed to the federal government to respond urgently to the yearnings of ASUU, stressing that it was high time the federal government and members of ASUU agreed and reach a compromise to end the strike.

”We have been clamouring since the commencement of this ASUU strike that something should be done with immediate effect, but both ASUU and the federal government are not listening to us.

“They have to understand the fact that Nigerian students will always be at the receiving end at the end of the day. Our students are suffering, our students are fed up. This whole issue is getting out of hand.

“We do not pray that our students end up engaging themselves in criminal activities as we all know that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop,” he said.

Don Ayomide, President, Student Union Government of TASUED, said that the protest was necessary to let both the federal government and ASUU be aware of the plight of Nigerian students.

He added that the federal government should endeavour to respect the agreements reached between the two parties, saying that the students were most affected by the current strike.

In  Edo State, hundreds of protesting students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), also converged at the entrance of the  Federal Secretariat in  Aduwawa, Benin to protest and even included cooking and dancing as part of their activities to register their grievances against the ongoing strike by university staff unions.

Meanwhile, students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and  University of Nigeria (UNN)  blocked major highways in Ile-Ife, Osun State and Nsukka, Enugu State as part of the nationwide protest which the Asefon-led had announced.

Also, placard-carrying protesters from various tertiary institutions in the Oyo state, under the aegis of Concerned Student,  marched from the entrance of the University of Ibadan through Bodija to Iwo Road,  thus causing gridlock on the Ojoo -UI -Sango Road as well as Bodija Road.

Their leader, Solomon Emiola, said the incessant strikes by ASUU and other university unions had impacted negatively on education in public tertiary institutions in the country. He called on the Federal Government to,  as a matter of urgency,   reach a permanent agreement with the unions. However, the  UI  SUG President, Adewole Adeyinka, distanced the union from the Emiola-led protest,  saying the “real one “ would be held later.

Meanwhile, Ondo State was not left out, as students of universities in the state also converged on the Akure-Ilesa highway, to replicate what their colleagues in other states were doing.

The protest at the Akure-Ilesa Highway by students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), left many motorists and commuters stranded. The protesters sang  solidarity songs and displayed placards with various inscriptions like: “End ASUU Strike”, “Save our future”, and “Stop Toying with our Future..”

President of the institution’s SUG, Abiodun Ibiyemi, said: “Students can no longer bear the brunt of the feud between ASUU and the Federal Government.

“We call  for a well-established resolution of the disagreement  for the benefit of the students.”

Vice Chairman, National Association of University Students (NAUS), Ondo Chapter,  Shittu Afolarin, said that the strike showed government’s unconcerned posture towards Nigerian students.

Afolarin said:“We have been at home close to 100 days and that is why we chose to show our grievances by obstructing the activities in the state and that is why we have come this long to block the federal highway.

He added: “We are not leaving here until the government attends to ASUU and their demands.” he said.

The protest, however, took a different dimension on Tuesday, as some soldiers reportedly fired gunshots to disperse students who were protesting in Roadblock axis of Akure. According to a media report, the soldiers were not from the military unit in the state capital, but were in transit when they encountered the protesters.

The students could be seen, in videos posted online scampering for safety as gunshots could be heard in the background.

Meanwhile, students of the  University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Rivers State,  suspended their planned streets  protest  after meeting with the Commissioner of Police, Friday Eboka.

The SUG Press Secretary, Forum Fred,  said that Ebuka told them of a plot by some unknown persons to hijack the protest.