Idris Idowu
STUDENTS Of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile- Ife, yesterday, staged a peaceful protest to demand an end to the ongoing strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The students who converged at their campus gate marched down to the major highway which connects commuters traveling from Ife to Ibadan and vice versa.
According to the students who gathered under the aegis of Fund Education Coalition, the protest will continue until their demands are met by the Federal Government.
The students were joined by some concerned members of the community. They held placards bearing various inscriptions like “Fund Education Now”, “Education is not a Scam” among others, as they chanted “End ASUU Strike”.
One of the organisers of the protest, simply identified as Comrade Teemat, while speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, said the Federal Government’s failure to come into agreement with the striking lecturers shows that Nigeria leaders are not concerned about the future of the students, since their children are not schooling in the country.
Teemat noted that the government values political activities than education as they prefer to spend millions of naira on their political ambition than to find lasting solution to the ongoing strike action.
She said: “They don’t have our interest in mind, they are careless about us, the government has refused to fund education, they are all only running around spending million for their futile ambition.
“The ministers who are now resigning shouldn’t be resigning because of their ambitions, they should be sacked because of maladministration, incompetence and ineptitude.
“We are here to demand an end to this incessant and prolonged strike. For how long are we going to continue like this? Enough is enough.”
The medium gathered that efforts by the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Wale Olokode, who visited the protest scene to calm the protesting students proved abortive as the students didn’t allow him to talk to them.
