Nigerian Students give government 7 days to meet lecturers' demands

The National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS) has issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to me the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

In a telephone interview with Pulse on Wednesday, November 4, 2018, the President of the students' body, Denilson Bamidele Akpan said government's failure to meet the previous agreement between them and ASUU prompted the union to go on strike again.

He said, ''we have given the Federal Government seven day ultimatum to reconcile whatever crisis they have with ASUU and get our students back to their classrooms. Of course, without taking sides, all the facts available have shown that there is an agreement between them and the Federal Government has reneged on their part. We can not progress as a people if we continue that way, their failure to meet ASUU demands has led us to where we are.

''However, we feel they have what it takes to meet the yearnings, aspirations and even the demands of ASUU and they should''.

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Bamidele also blamed ASUU for going on strike every time saying the union is selfish.

''We know that ASUU members have their problems because the truth of the matter is that all their agitations over the years have always been about them. Forget about when they talk about the poor funding of the university as a reason for their agitation.

''Over the years, whenever they suspend the strike, they have never suspended it because the government says they are going to build new structures or new libraries on our campuses. They have always called it off because their remunerations have been taken care of, you can see they are selfish, that's the truth.

''But we will not because of that allow them to continue with the strike, we are calling on the Federal Government to meet their demands. And in a case the government fails to meet up within this period, then we can deploy our arsenal,'' Bamidele said.

On Sunday, November 4, 2018, ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi following the union's NEC meeting at the Federal University of Technology, Akure declared an indefinite nationwide strike.