The National Association of Nigerian Students has urged the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to reverse the no-work-no-pay policy on the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities.
According to a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja by the coordinator of NANS South-West, Emmanuel Olatunji, the association made this known during a protest on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Tuesday.
The statement partly read, “We have started a major action today on ASUU Strike. There is no point arguing about who is at fault or what is to be done. It is very clear that the rulers underfund education, and the Buhari government is failing in its promises to revamp education.
“As it is today, no higher institution in Nigeria is world-class! Yet, our so-called Public Servants travel all over the world, spending billions to send their kids abroad for studies.
“As major stakeholders in the educational sector, we are the ones who can save ourselves. We have monitored the yearnings of students from campus to campus through their social media platforms and in their public writings. Students all over Nigeria stand with ASUU.
“Our lecturers suffer the same hardships and mal-developments we suffer. The staff Houses are as bad as the Students’ Hostels. In South Africa, a Professor’s Laboratory is far more equipped than that of any university in Nigeria.
“History has been killed and undermined, so we the youths do not know where we are coming from, not to talk of knowing where we are headed. But we will not lament anymore. The new leadership in NANS is here to work with students to achieve our set aims and objectives. We believe that the student movement has its space in history. It is a task which we vow to fulfill. We will never let Nigerian students down!
“It is on this note that we declare forth: we stand with ASUU. We call on ASUU leadership for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss solidarity actions and plan for the next phase of the struggles.
“We pass a vote of No Confidence on both ministers of labour and education. We call for the proper funding of the educational sector against what has been attainable in the past 7years.
“We Call on the Buhari government to pay all outstanding arrears and salaries of the lecturers. The policy of “No Work No Pay” is a fascist one; it’s, therefore, condemnable and non-acceptable to all the millions of students in Nigeria!
“We will, by this statement, not beg again. We will be mobilising all students to shut down the country (without excluding the Presidential villa)”.
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