After the ‘conditional’ suspension of its 9 months old strike, the officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students are in disagreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities over its plans to resume strike if the Federal Government does not meet up to its demands.
In an exclusive chat with Punch, NANS President, Sunday Asefon, said its members would embark on a mass protest should ASUU resume its just suspended strike.
But the Public Relations Officer of NANS Zone D, Kazeem Israel, disagreed with the NANS president over his reaction to the suspended strike, saying, “Federal Government must meet all agreements with ASUU or face the wrath of Nigerian students.”
Israel said this in a statement titled, ‘Threat to ASUU by NANS president; a clear misrepresentation of the interests of Nigerian students!’
He said, “As a zonal body, we do not align ourselves with the statement credited to the President of the association that students shall form a resistance against ASUU if another strike is embarked upon by varsity lecturers. We make bold to assert that the statement does not reflect the position of Nigerian students of South West extraction (and nationally).
“The statement does not only negate the principle of solidarity but also grant permission to this irresponsible and irresponsive government to sustain the trend of not investing in the education sector.
“As a zonal body, we believe that the strike action of ASUU is justifiable and that we need a proper integration to foster a successful outcome and, this has been a basis for us at Zone D, on numerous occasions, establishing our position as following with close marking the demands of ASUU as the Union is one part of our academic world.
“It on record that the Nigerian students’ movement has never been neutral in a struggle for better funding of education and that the students’ body in the country has never aligned itself with members of the ruling class.”
Source: Punch
