Traffic was chaotic in Benin City on Wednesday, as students protested the continued ASUU strike.
The students mobilized themselves after the government refused to meet their demands and have vowed to continually protest. They want intervention by the government.
Protesters with various messages blocked a popular square in Edo State to express their grievances and this caused traffic jams.
When asked about his thoughts on the issue, National Vice President of NANS Idiahi Thomas blamed the government for bastardizing education in Nigeria. He continues to criticise Nigerian leaders for being too focused on buying school forms for 100 million nairas rather than spending time and money investing in certain students.
If the government doesn’t want to see us around, they have ways to force us out. They know what to do in order to achieve this goal. The time taken for a course has increased from three years to five years. Students who were supposed to spend 18 months in postgraduate study are now spending 2-3 years and some are getting frustrated and abandoning their studies.
A student union leader in Ekpoma, Abumere said “We want to go to school. In the past three months we’ve been attending classes and I was supposed to graduate in April but as it is now I don’t know when I will graduate.” It has been two years he has been in one level so they are tired.
President of UNIBEN’s Student government, Foster Amadin, said “The lectures’ strike is suffocating the dreams of Nigerian students while the government pursues their electoral processes, and the striking lecturers are going about their individual businesses.”
Kola Edokpayi, a civil right leader, lamented the government does not respect the wishes of the Nigerian people. The government values money more than education.
