The newly elected leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) will be meeting the Nigerian government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) towards ending the eight-month-old strike by university lecturers.
The new NANS president, Comrade Umar Barambu, disclosed this during an exclusive interview with SaharaReporters on Saturday.
Barambu, a student of Economics and Development Studies of the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State, was on Saturday declared the NANS President.
He got 292 votes to defeat his closest rival, Umar Farouk Lawan who scored only 8 votes.
According to Barambu, the aim of the meeting is finding a centre point for amicable resolution to ensure that students in public universities return to school.
ASUU had embarked on strike on February 14 over the government’s failure to honour agreements signed by both parties.
The lecturers demands include the revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for payment of university lecturers’ salaries, among others.
“My administration will ensure peaceful coexistence and uninterrupted academic activities in all tertiary institutions in the country,” he told SaharaReporters.
Barambu also said NANS would fight against victimisation of students’ leaders and activists on campuses.
He said the new leadership of the students’ association would build strategic partnership with development organisations to ensure students on campuses enjoy better welfare in terms of ICT, Smart Campus, and access to resources for research and academic productivity.
The new NANS President warned Nigerians to be wary of an imposter parading himself as the leader of the organization.
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