Strike: You've no rights to block Lagos-Ibadan Expressway - Fashola tells NANs

Nurudeen Shotayo 19:10 - 14 September 2022

Students troop out to protest against the protracted ASUU strike. (Punch)

Fashola argued that it's unconstitutional for any group to impede the movement of other Nigerians.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has faulted the action of some students who created a blockage on the busy section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during a protest march.

How it happened: He made this known while responding to questions from State House reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday, September 24, 2022.

Illegal action: Fashola, who accused the protesting students of “violating” the law, said even though the Nigerian constitution guarantees the citizens' right to public protect, it doesn't empower any Nigerian to “inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.”

What happened: Pulse reported that on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANs) created a gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway while protesting the lingering strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The protesters who converged on the Sagamu Interchange section of the expressway, towards Lagos, were seen chanting solidarity songs and raising placards with various inscriptions to condemn the now seven-month old strike.

Minister calls for patience: But, responding to questions on the recurrent gridlock on the uncompleted sections of the highway, the Minister appealed for more patience from Nigerians, saying there was no alternative route in the already built-up areas.

Fashola's word: “Once again, I apologise and empathise with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. It’s the place we left to be the last, really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometers into Lagos; very densely populated and occupied. There’s very little room for alternative routes for people. So, you just have to bear with us.

“I also heard that some aggrieved students under the aegis of NANS are going to the road to protest. My respectful view is that it is not helpful at all to the citizens.

“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.”