Students from public tertiary institutions in Ondo State, today converged at the gate of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, to protest the prolonged strike action of the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the country.
The protesting students barricaded the busy Akure/Ilesha/ Owo road as early as 8 am, hindering vehicular moments while travellers and residents were stranded on the road for several hours.
The protest is coming two days after students of Adekunle Ajasin University blocked the Akungba-Ikare highway to register their grievances over the continued closure of public universities in the country.
The students from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), and the Olusegun Agagu University of Technology, Okitipupa (OAUSTECH), were armed with placards of various inscriptions such as “End ASUU Strike,” “Save Our Future,” FG, We’ve Had Enough” among others.
The students who condemned the government over its insensitivity toward the plight of Nigerian students and for not yielding to the demands of university lecturers vowed not to stop the protest until the Federal Government attend ASUU and opened schools.
Combined security agents including the Police, Amotekun and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps
are on the ground to prevent the breakdown of law and order.
Speaking with newsmen, Mr Abiodun Ibiyemi, the President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of FUTA said: ”We can no longer bear the brunt of the feud between ASUU and the Federal Government.
Also speaking, the Vice-Chairman, National Association of University Students (NAUS), Ondo Chapter, Comrade Shittu Afolarin, stated that the move became imperative after it was discovered that the federal government is not concerned about the plight of students.
Afolarin said “This is not just FUTA students alone, we have joint university students present here for the protest.
“We have been at home close to 100 days and that is why we choose to show our grievances by obstructing the activities of the state and that is why we have come this long to block the federal highway.
“We are not leaving here until the federal government attend to ASUU and their demands.
“We are promising Nigerians that we are not leaving this particular place until ASUU demands are met. We understand that the federal government is not taking us seriously and they think we are joking.
“We will be here until attends to ASUU. If it takes them three weeks, we will be here. We will not be tired.
“We have our pots and foodstuffs here with us, we will cook on the highway and eat. We even came along with our beds to sleep. So we are not leaving here.
“If it takes us three weeks we will stay until the federal government answers ASUU. They are just playing us. All of them have been obtaining forms, not N10,000 forms but a whooping sum of N100 million.”
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ASUU strike: Students protest in Ondo, block varsity gate, highway
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ASUU strike: Students protest in Ondo, block varsity gate, highway