The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 if he refuses to meet up with the demands of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union.
NANS Spokesman Azeez Adeyemi, spoke to journalists in Abeokuta yesterday after a peaceful protest over the alleged refusal by Federal Government to meet ASUU demands.
He said: “Mr. President, NANS is giving you this for free that, come 2019, we are going to show you the road through our votes to Daura if after today’s (yesterday’s) nationwide protest , you still not respect the voice of over 50 million Nigerian students.
“We hereby call on the federal government to implement the demands of ASUU and COEASU, because, we have resolved not to go back on this struggle”.
Adeyemi also expressed concern over the state of tertiary institutions across the country, accusing the Buhari-led government of budgeting low funds for the education sector.
“Our universities, polytechnics, colleges of education laboratories are no more updated, no research apparatus, our lecture rooms are dilapidated. Education that our mates got for free, food that you got from our cafeteria for free during the study is what you want to sell for us, we will resist it. Quality education and not just education is our property, we won’t buy it, and you cannot sell it to us”, he said.
Similarly, in Minna, Niger State, students in a peaceful protest tagged: “Save Education Rally” decried incessant strikes in the education sector and called on the federal government to shift ground on the matter.
They carried placards with inscriptions such as “FG should meet up their agreement with COEASU”, “Nigerian students are tired of unstable education”, “Save education save the future”, “stop mortgaging our future”, “Education is the future we have”, “No nation can survive without good education”.
NANS Zone A Coordinator, Umar Faruk Lawal, said there was endemic decay in the sector which required urgent intervention, adding that although the agreement which led to the ongoing faceoff was reached before the current administration assumed power, government is a continuum.
He urged the federal government to refrain from treating the issue with levity.
“We are not happy with the federal government, all our institutions are shut down, we are not happy with the way things are going in the education system. Nigeria students should be called back to the classrooms.
“We are not happy that all our institutions are shut down by ASUU, COEASU and NASU. The Federal Government should look into the sector and do something about it. The students are not happy sitting down at home”, he said.
