The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) says its next target is the Third Mainland Bridge as it intensifies efforts to force the government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to reach a solution on the 7-months strike embarked upon by the lecturers.
NANS had earlier on Monday, September 19, made good its threat as it grounded activities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport with its protest against the strike, causing traffic by blocking the road leading to the airport.
NANS in a statement issued on Monday by the Chairman, NANS National Taskforce on #EndASUUStrikeNow, Ojo Raymond, accused the Federal Government of deliberately denying the children of the common Nigerian access to quality education.
Ojo, who accused the Federal Government of mobilizing the armed forces and other security personnel against their genuine struggle, insisted that the protest would continue until the government makes the educational sector a priority.
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“We are using this medium to reiterate that this protest continues and that we will not for any reason back down until the Federal Government takes the educational sector as a priority. It is quite pathetic that the Federal Government is making use of the armed forces to quench a genuine struggle of Nigerian students despite the fact that these officers are also victims of the system whose children are also affected the same way we are.
“We maintain that this protest shall last a week here in Lagos State and would be held simultaneously at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Nigerian Ports Authority and the third mainland bridge until our demands are met.’’
Recall that on September 13, members of NANS started their protest against the lingering ASUU strike with the blocking of the Shagamu interchange of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Hundreds of the protesting students demanded an immediate end to the prolonged strike urging the Federal Government to meet the demands of the striking lecturers to enable them to return to class.
They defied the downpour to express their grievances at the airport, causing traffic around the airport amid the presence of a combined team of officers of the Lagos State Police Command, Rapid Response Squad, Lagos Airport Police Command, and other security agencies.
The students union had earlier condemned the Federal Government’s ‘No work no pay’, calling it a Fascist one and says it is unacceptable to all the millions of students in Nigeria.