Hundreds of commuters were stranded on Tuesday along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, following a protest by the National Association of Nigerian Students.
Our correspondents gathered that the students had blocked the expressway, protesting the ongoing one-month warning strike imposed upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, having failed to strike a bargain with the Federal Government vis-a-vis the 2009 FG-ASUU Agreement.
The students who had gathered at the Redeemed Church axis of Mowe as early as 8 am, also protested against the current fuel scarcity in the country, thereby causing an obstruction on the ever-busy highway.
The NANS Chairman in Ogun State, Mr Damilola Simeon, who spoke on behalf of the students, urged FG to accede to the demands of the ASUU, noting that students were the most affected by the strike.
Simeon made a special appeal to both the FG and ASUU, to return to a roundtable and find a lasting solution to the incessant strikes that had paralysed academic activities in the nation’s universities, making the oppressed students helplessly idle.
“Our time is being wasted. Age will be against us by the time we graduate and go into the labour market.
“We will be forced to pay extra rents as most of us are staying in private hostels while some of our colleagues will be distracted, discouraged and will probably jettison schooling for illegal activities,” he said.
He further appealed to the government for more funding in tertiary institutions to ensure good working conditions for teaching and non-teaching staff.
On fuel scarcity, he noted that it had far-reaching adverse effects on the masses, particularly the ousted great Nigerian students, adding that the agencies concerned should do the needful as soon as possible to calm down frayed nerves and restore normalcy in the already heated polity.
