Strike: Motorists stranded as students block Lagos-Ibadan highway
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Segun Adewole, Deborah Tolu-Kolawole and Edward Nnachi
September 14, 2022
A protest organized by members of the National Association of Nigerian Students on Tuesday caused a traffic jam on the Lagos-Ibadan highway.
The protest took place just after the Sagamu Interchange section of the highway, towards Lagos
One of our correspondents, who was on the scene, reported that students chanted songs of solidarity while deploring the ongoing strike by the University Academic Staff Union.
Students said they would continue to occupy major highways to protest the ongoing ASUU strike demanding an immediate end to the strike.
The protest caused a traffic jam that left motorists and passengers stranded.
Speaking to The PUNCH, Giwa Temitope, NANS South West public relations officer, criticized the government for not responding to requests from ASUU, which had left students on the beneficiary side.
He said, “We are here to vent our anger. We are not happy, we are sad. The federal government has played with us, played with our hearts, our feelings and our future. They underfund the education sector. That's why we're here."
Asked about the traffic jam caused by their protest, Temitope said the protesters were controlling him and were being helped by police and some soldiers.
In an interview with The PUNCH, a motorist, identified simply as Taju, lamented the traffic jam caused by protesters.
"If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have taken a trip today as I still have to deal with traffic on the Magboro to Berger section of this road," said he declared. .
When our correspondent contacted Federal Road Safety Corps Ogun State spokeswoman Florence Okpe, she said she was aware of the situation.
"Yes, I am aware. Both sections of the highway are blocked due to the ongoing protest on that axis. FRSC officers are fully on the ground to handle the situation with other sister organizations like the police,” she said.
Meanwhile, NANS has urged the chairman, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retired), to rescind the no-work-no-pay policy on the union on strike.
According to a press release from the NANS Sud-Ouest coordinator, Emmanuel Olatunji, the association made this known during the demonstration.
The statement read in part: "Today we launched major action on the ASUU strike. There is no point in arguing over who is at fault or what It is very clear that the government led by Buhari is failing to deliver on its promises to revamp education.
“At present, no tertiary institution in Nigeria is world class! Yet our so-called civil servants travel all over the world and spend billions to send their children to study abroad."
Revitalization FundASUU President, Ebonyi State University Chapter, Dr. Ikechukwu Igwenyi has urged the national leadership of the union to go back to the drawing board and review the 2009 agreement he reached with the federal government.
It was then that the university pointed out that the exceptional 1.1 trillion naira revitalization fund for the country's universities was no longer sustainable, saying that the current economic realities did not correspond not to the pact hitherto concluded by the union with the authorities. in 2009.
He said so in a statement on Tuesday in Abakaliki.
Please share this story:
Segun Adewole, Deborah Tolu-Kolawole and Edward Nnachi
September 14, 2022
A protest organized by members of the National Association of Nigerian Students on Tuesday caused a traffic jam on the Lagos-Ibadan highway.
The protest took place just after the Sagamu Interchange section of the highway, towards Lagos
One of our correspondents, who was on the scene, reported that students chanted songs of solidarity while deploring the ongoing strike by the University Academic Staff Union.
Students said they would continue to occupy major highways to protest the ongoing ASUU strike demanding an immediate end to the strike.
The protest caused a traffic jam that left motorists and passengers stranded.
Speaking to The PUNCH, Giwa Temitope, NANS South West public relations officer, criticized the government for not responding to requests from ASUU, which had left students on the beneficiary side.
He said, “We are here to vent our anger. We are not happy, we are sad. The federal government has played with us, played with our hearts, our feelings and our future. They underfund the education sector. That's why we're here."
Asked about the traffic jam caused by their protest, Temitope said the protesters were controlling him and were being helped by police and some soldiers.
In an interview with The PUNCH, a motorist, identified simply as Taju, lamented the traffic jam caused by protesters.
"If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have taken a trip today as I still have to deal with traffic on the Magboro to Berger section of this road," said he declared. .
When our correspondent contacted Federal Road Safety Corps Ogun State spokeswoman Florence Okpe, she said she was aware of the situation.
"Yes, I am aware. Both sections of the highway are blocked due to the ongoing protest on that axis. FRSC officers are fully on the ground to handle the situation with other sister organizations like the police,” she said.
Meanwhile, NANS has urged the chairman, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retired), to rescind the no-work-no-pay policy on the union on strike.
According to a press release from the NANS Sud-Ouest coordinator, Emmanuel Olatunji, the association made this known during the demonstration.
The statement read in part: "Today we launched major action on the ASUU strike. There is no point in arguing over who is at fault or what It is very clear that the government led by Buhari is failing to deliver on its promises to revamp education.
“At present, no tertiary institution in Nigeria is world class! Yet our so-called civil servants travel all over the world and spend billions to send their children to study abroad."
Revitalization FundASUU President, Ebonyi State University Chapter, Dr. Ikechukwu Igwenyi has urged the national leadership of the union to go back to the drawing board and review the 2009 agreement he reached with the federal government.
It was then that the university pointed out that the exceptional 1.1 trillion naira revitalization fund for the country's universities was no longer sustainable, saying that the current economic realities did not correspond not to the pact hitherto concluded by the union with the authorities. in 2009.
He said so in a statement on Tuesday in Abakaliki.
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