The National Association of Nigerian Students protesters, who blocked a busy part of the Lagos-Ibadan highway on Wednesday, have been accused by the Federal Government of ‘violating’ the law.
This was said by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, which was held in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, and presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Nigerian Constitution (as amended), according to the Minister, recognises and defends individuals’ rights to participate in public rallies but forbids any Nigerian from “inflicting pain and annoyance on other persons.”
The Minister’s justification followed news that the NANS protest on Tuesday resulted in a traffic jam on the Lagos-Ibadan highway, leaving drivers and passengers stranded.
The demonstration happened just after the Sagamu Expressway Interchange portion, heading towards Lagos.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has been on strike for seven months. The protesting students held placards with various invocations and sang songs of solidarity as they expressed their outrage.
To make their point that the strike must end, they pledged to occupy a major highway and other locations.
Fashola, however, urged Nigerians to exercise greater patience as he fielded questions from media about the persistent bottleneck on the unfinished portions of the highway, claiming that there is no other path in the already developed areas.
Fashola said, “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 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 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.”