ASUU strike: Students protest in Benin

Thousands of tertiary institutions students drawn from various schools in Edo State, on Wednesday held Benin City, the state capital, by the jugular for hours, as they protested the continued closure of their schools due to the warning strike called by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to press home the implementation of the 2009 agreement between the union and the government.

The protest, held at the popular Ring Road, the commercial nerve centre of Benin, created a chaotic traffic situation in several parts of Benin City for several hours, as commuters had to find alternative routes to their destinations.

Led by the students of the University of Benin, UNIBEN, who said that had changed the acronym of the school to UNISTREETS, the students vowed to make the protest a daily affair until the government intervened.

The protesting students were mobilised from UNIBEN, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, AAU and the Federal Polytechnic Auchi.

They carried placards with various inscriptions and blocked the Oba Ovonramwen square popularly called Ring Road to express their grievances which resulted in traffic jams around the axis, including Akpakpava, Mission Road, Sokponba Road and Sapele Road.

Speaking on the issue, the National Vice President, Special Duties of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Idiahi Thomas, faulted Nigeria’s educational sector, saying that “our leaders have bastardised it, and, as it is, Nigerian students are at home and yet the government officials are busy purchasing forms for over a hundred million Naira; an amount presidents of other countries cannot earn constitutionally throughout their own tenure.

“If the Federal Government does not want us to remain here, they know obviously what to do. You are taking a course of four years to five years, now they spend six to seven years. Post-graduate students, who are supposed to spend 18 months are spending two to three years and some get frustrated and abandon them”, he lamented.

A student Union leader from AAU, Ekpoma, Abumere Joseph, said “We are tired of staying at home, for the past three months we have not attended classes, I was supposed to graduate in April but as it is now, I don’t know when I will graduate, I have been in one level for close to two years, so we are tired”.

On his part, the President, Students Union Government (SUG) of UNIBEN, Foster Amadin, said the strike is “suffocating the dreams of Nigerian students while the government is going about their electoral processes and the striking lecturers are going about their individual businesses”.

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