Students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, AAUA, on Thursday blocked major roads around the institution in protest against a 68-day strike that has halted academic activities.
The protest, led by the Students’ Union Government, SUG, saw students shut the university’s main gate and roads linking the institution to the highway, disrupting vehicular movement in the area.
The students called for urgent government intervention to resolve the issues behind the industrial action and reopen the university.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions including, “Every pending graduate, shey na our lives be these?”, “NASU, NAAT, SSANU have joined strike” and “Enough is Enough.”
Addressing journalists during the protest, the SUG President, Comrade Folagbade Greatness Ayoola, said the students could no longer remain silent over the prolonged closure of the institution.
Ayoola alleged that students were still required to pay school fees despite the disruption to academic activities, while lecturers’ salaries were also allegedly unpaid.
He said the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had presented its demands to the government and embarked on an indefinite strike after several meetings failed to resolve the issues.
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According to him, students had continued to receive promises without seeing concrete action, making the protest necessary.
“We will continue to use legitimate means to press for the resolution of this crisis until the strike is called off,” he said.
Also speaking, the SUG General Secretary, Oluwatimileyin Amos, said students had spent more than two months at home and were increasingly anxious about their academic future.
Amos said the strike had caused hardship, particularly for pending graduates whose examinations were due. He added that many students were uncertain about whether to remain at home or return to campus.
The Students’ Senate President, Comrade Adebiyi Kehinde, said the union had previously engaged the university management and other stakeholders over the crisis but had yet to achieve a resolution.
Kehinde appealed to the government to intervene and address the issues responsible for the strike, stressing that the students’ primary demand was to return to their classrooms. He also urged the students to remain peaceful and support the union’s efforts to resolve the crisis.
Other students who spoke during the protest also appealed to the government to meet its obligations and resolve the outstanding issues to enable academic activities to resume.
Vanguard
