By Cajetan Mmuta, Awka
Students under the umbrella National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Southeast zone on Tuesday blocked the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha Expressway for several hours in protest over the closure of universities and other higher institutions following the warning strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

The students with placards drawn from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (Unizik) Awka, Anambra State and other institutions from states in the condemned what they described as ASUU and Federal Government’s loggerheads over the poor welfare condition of lecturers, staff and rot in the nation’s universities.

They issued ultimatum to both ASUU and the federal government to quickly resolve their disagreement to allow universities and other higher institutions to resume their studies as the yearly strike actions have never allowed for smooth academic studies and sound learning among students across the country.

The aggrieved protesters also pointed out that they were yet to come to terms with the challenge posed by Covid-19 pandemic which has continued to ravage homes,schools, states and the entire nation, yet ASUU and the federal have not thought it wise to resolve the strike impasse which they said has added to their woes as youths who are the hope of the country.

They further warned that if in few weeks time the two parties (ASUU and Federal government) failed to settle the impasse caused by the strike, the would come out in full force and the consequences would be better imagined than experienced.

Speaking on the protest, Comrade Peter Onyemaife who is the chairman of the Joint Taskforce Committee of NANS campuses in Anambra State said, “This is just a warning protest, we are here to register our grievances ; the students are not happy and they are frustrated and they want to tell the federal government, to tell ASUU and every person in government that enough is enough.”

He noted that “Every six months,every year you hear ASUU going on strike and they will be doing business with students and we are saying that enough is enough. Whatever the federal government has with ASUU, they must resolve it within a few weeks and if they fail to do that we are going to back to occupy the streets, roads and everywhere to shutdown the country and the states and nothing will change until they get the students back to the schools and campuses.”

Comrade Onyemaife cautioned that the repeated strike actions have forced some of the students to get themselves involved in acts of criminality such armed robbery, prostitution while others have died in road accidents due to constant closure of higher institutions.

“Some parents are frustrated, if you get into the university when you are supposed to graduate in four years but because of ASUU strike you will be graduating in six years with extra school fees and other challenges. So, our protest is directed to both ASUU and Federal government but more to the government because it is the duty of government to provide for the welfare of ASUU to improve on the academic needs of the students and any country that is not serious with education is playing with the future of the students.

The Presidenr of the Students Union Government (SUG)of Unizik, Awka,Comrade Charles Obinna Ijeoma said, “Our position is very clear, our students are here; Nnamdi Azikiwe University is a very big institution in Nigeria and as you can see more emphasis is being made that our position is that we want to go back to the classrooms,we don’t want to be left out of this session.”

“After all this thing (strike) they will come back and tell us to hurry up to write our exams and that’s why the higher institutions are making half hazard graduates. How can you run a session for two or three months and you expect people to pass. We have ample time to go back to the class than asking us to go home. We don’t know why it has to be like that; we have a federal government that refuses to abide by its agreement with ASUU since 2009 and we wonder why that agreement has failed to hold.”

However, motorists had tough moment as the aggrieved students refused to leave the expressway despite the pleas by teams of armed mobile policemen in their patrol vans deployed from the state command headquarters on the protesters to vacate the road for ease of vehicular moment.

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It took the intervention of various leaders of the NANS to prevail on the students before they could leave the Secretariat junction at popular Aroma before they moved down towards Roban Stores junction along the expressway before long articulated vehicles began their jurneys again thro and fro Onitsha and Enugu areas.