The National Association of Nigerian Students has scheduled its next protest for Ondo State on Friday.
NANS has been on a week-long protest since Tuesday, as it kept major highways grounded in reaction to the prolonged strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The PUNCH reported that on Thursday, the students blocked a major road in Gbongan, Osun State, for hours, with motorists and other commuters stranded.
A statement issued Thursday by the Chairman, NANS National Task Force on #EndASUUStrikeNow, Ojo Raymond, read, “The national leadership of NANS, since the commencement of this struggle has declared that it is a “no retreat, no surrender” agitation. And, the implication of that, is that, what is being witnessed today is more like a preamble to the real struggle of Nigerian students to come whereby economic activities in the country would be grounded by the mass of Nigerian students.
“And, in living true to the threat of sustaining the struggle that we have begun is why we are here today in protest against the gross failure of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s administration to invest in the educational sector. It cannot be overemphasised that Nigerian students have been robbed of education, not even ‘quality’. We can only talk about quality when there is the presence of education. But, in this case, there is no education at all for the Nigerian students.
“And, this governmental failure has led to the invention of a phrase which is gaining momentum amongst Nigerian people, both old and young that “education is a scam”. Meanwhile, education is not a scam. But, unfortunately, this phrase has really endangered the values that clothes the institution of education in Nigeria.
“This government is working effortlessly to weaponise ignorance in the country while embarking on an expansion of their attempt to commercialise the educational sector and take it out of the reach of the poor. Alas! They will be the one to approach Nigerian youths with a slogan that has already become a cliché in the political terrain that “youths are the future of the country.” Regrettably, the youths are not being empowered with education which would fortify them to be the future that they ought to be.
“As you could see, we have the National Public Relations Officer of NANS, Giwa Temitope, Deputy Senate President, Ekundina Elvis, Vice-President (External Affairs), Akinteye Babatunde, NANS/Joint Campus Committee Chairmen from Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Lagos and Ondo states at the forefront of the struggle. Tomorrow, we shall be at the Benin-Ore Expressway in continuation of the protest. We already have a line up event and we shall sustain it until the Federal Government heed to our demands.”
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