The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has directed its members across the country to start blocking all federal roads for at least three hours daily to protest against the closure of public universities in the country owing to the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
NANS gave the directive on Tuesday, May 10, in response to the Monday announcement by ASUU that its ongoing strike has been extended for three months.
Public university students in the country have been out of school since ASUU in February this year embarked on a warning strike over the Federal Government’s failure to meet up with the agreement they both entered into and other issues.
NANS National Public Relations Officer, Victor Ezenagu, said when he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday that the student body had declared a mass action tagged ‘Operation Test Run’ and had requested students to ensure federal roads are blocked daily for at least three hours until the Federal Government resolves its impasse with ASUU.
“We are poised at ensuring that our campuses are reopened and as such, the instruction has gone out to all the 36 states and the FCT calling on all our structures to begin (the mass action) immediately, starting from today, by barricading and blocking every federal road, every road leading to the airports, and ensuring they remain on the street for at least three hours every day until the Federal Government does something as regards to settling their impasse with ASUU for us to return to our campuses,” Ezenagu said.
He added that ‘Operation Test Run’ would be a precursor to a total shutdown that would be decided during its Senate meeting/pre-convention on Saturday, May 14.
Saying that as long as the ASUU strike persists students will keep on occupying roads leading to airports, Ezenagu added that Nigerian students may be forced to disrupt 2023 political activities.
He said, “There shall be no primaries, there shall be no political activities if our future is not resolved if our future is not decided well if the issue concerning the Nigerian students is not resolved because we cannot be talking about next elections, we should be talking about next generation.
“If we are only concerned about elections, then what happens to the next generation? Education is the only thing that can ensure and ascertain the existence of Nigeria and make Nigeria a better place. We cannot sit back and watch our fathers who are almost in their dying age toy with our future; we will not allow that.
“There shall be no primaries, there shall be no political activities in Nigeria except the ASUU strike is resolved. We are not deterred, we are formidable; we are coming to shock Nigerians, we are coming to shock the government, we are coming to shock everybody.”
