The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), south-west zone, has shut down the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in protest over the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Motorists and commuters were stranded along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Tuesday after students took to the streets to protest against the ongoing industrial action and the fuel scarcity in the country.
The protesters blocked both sides of the expressway at Car Park C, Mowe, Ogun state carrying placards and chanting songs.
The group also gave the federal government seven workdays to address the situation, threatening to block all major roads in the southwest.
Sunday Asefon, president of NANS, who spoke to TheCable Lifestyle about the protest on Wednesday, charged the government to find a common ground with ASUU and speak to the lecturers “in the language they understand”.
“This thing is affecting our students. They are stuck back home. FG should do whatever it can to quickly resolve the situation. If it means releasing money to address the demands of the lecturers, then so be it,” the president said.
ASUU had embarked on a warning strike on February 14 after the union’s national executive council deliberated.
The union had accused the government of reneging on the agreements it reached to suspend its last industrial action in 2020.
ASUU also argued that the latest strike followed the government’s attitude towards the renegotiation of salaries and allowances as well as the adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payroll software.
The lecturers’ agitations cover the funding for the revitalisation of public universities and promotion arrears.
Other demands are the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement and the inconsistencies in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
The federal government has since been meeting with the union to deliberate on ways to end the industrial action.
The government recently inaugurated a committee to renegotiate its 2009 agreement with ASUU and also promised that the strike would end soon.
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