ASUU strike:Faggae •Students protest in Ibadan

THE President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr  Nasir Fagge, has stated that no amount of intimidation and insinuation by the Federal Government would make the union cave in, insisting that the struggle continues.
Dr Fagge stated this on Tuesday while addressing newsmen in Makurdi, the Benue State capital after holding consultation with the union members of the Federal University of Agriculture  and the Benue State University, all in Makurdi.
The union leader said that what the union was fighting for was to salvage university education that had gone into the abyss, stressing that the decision of government to single out the earned allowance as the major issue was unfortunate.
The don described as “laughable” the remark by the president during a media chat that the earned allowance was to be made through the respective universities’ internal revenue, admonishing the president to take a critical view of the Memorandum of Understanding to  see whether the quantum of sources to determine the payment of the allowance was stated.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone D South-West, on Tuesday, held a peaceful protest round Ibadan, on the state of education in the country.
The protest, which commenced around 9.00a.m. under the Mokola flyover, took them through UCH road, Total Garden, Gate and terminated at Iwo-road interchange.
With  security operatives on standby to ensure the protest went on peacefully, the students had stopover at major roundabouts and junctions to address the public on their demands and reasons for the protest.
The Coordinator, NANS (South-West),  Monsuru Adeyemo, in a chat with the Nigerian Tribune, said the group agreed to converge on Ibadan for the protest to demand for total resolution of all crises affecting the education sector in the country.
While the protest lasted, vehicular movement along the axis was hindered. Traffic wardens and police officers led by the Mokola and Sango Divisonal Police Officers (DPO) were neck deep in ensuring there was no traffic gridlock.
He said “education in Nigeria is currently embroiled in too many crises. The South-West branch of  NANS scheduled this protest for a proper end to all crises engulfing our education sector of which the ongoing ASUU strike is one. We call on the Federal Government  to honour the agreement signed with ASUU, ASUP, COASU and others.
“We are also demanding for proper funding of the education sector which is the best way to save the sector from collapse.”