ASUU strike: NANS block traffic to airport
Hundreds of students who are angry over the protracted strike by lecturers and consequent suspension of studies in Nigerian universities launched a protest in Lagos on Monday, blocking off main access to the airport.
The Oracle Today reports that the students have been at home for nearly one academic session as resolution of wage disputes with government which led to a strike that has lasted since February reached deadlock.
Chanting and holding placards, students gathered on Lagos International Airport Road, causing gridlock in a city that already struggles with daily traffic congestion and leaving motorists and air passengers stranded.
The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) had at the weekend threatened to occupy major airports to send a message that the students were tired of the pay stand-off between lecturers and President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.
“We are here to ground the economy at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport so that the government, the first class people, can be aware that our students are off campus now (for) seven months,” Awoyinfa Opeoluwa, NANS spokesperson for the southwest region told newsmen.
Desperate passengers were forced to walk with their luggage in the rain to and from the airport under the gaze of armed policemen who maintained a safe distance from the students.
It would be recalled that youths in Nigeria are not friends of the police following organized violent protests against brutality by security forces in the country.
