Tired of staying at home, hundreds of Bayero University, BUK,
students in Kano, northwest Nigeria, on Thursday, staged a peaceful
protest, and gave the Federal Government and Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, one week to resolve their issues or face the wrath
of Nigerian students.
The students also called on President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to increase the annual budget for education to
26 per cent, insisting that doing so will solve the myriad long-term
challenges facing Nigerian universities.
According to them, ASUU
would not be asking for too much if they insist on the full
implementation of the 2009 ASUU/FG Agreement, which to their views, will
bring about the required face-lift needed in the universities across
the country.
Comrade Sani Ibrahim President of Students Union
Government, SUG, BUK chapter said Nigerian students must register their
disappointment over government’s insensitivity to their well-being,
adding, “we decided to take this action because we are tired of staying
at home. Our mates in other countries are in school; why should the case
of Nigerian students be different.”
In his words, “as part of the
struggle to fight for our right is being pursued, I will like to salute
our students for their patience while receiving the negative
consequences of bad governance. We believe that the delay in resuming
lectures in our Universities is not only lamentable but also
devastating. We believe even more strongly that now is the time to let
our leaders know that enough is enough and we shall wake up and say no
to injustice being meted out to Nigerian students.
“Similarly, we
call on the Federal Government to respect the 2009 agreement reached
between government and ASUU. We also call on the government to review
the annual budget for the education sector from eight per cent to 26 per
cent, so as to ensure adequate rehabilitation of infrastructures in our
universities, including hostels, laboratories, potable water and
constant supply of electricity.
“In the same vein, we are calling
on ASUU to give government more opportunity to dialogue so as to quickly
resolve the differences for the best interest of Nigerian students. We
are giving ASUU and Federal Government one week to sort themselves out
and resume lectures; otherwise, Nigerian students will look for other
alternatives to fight for our right. Education is our right and no one
should take it away from us,” Ibrahim stated.
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