The National Association of Nigerian Students has called on state-owned universities to resume academic activities.
This was as the student body described the decision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to declare a “total and indefinite strike” as “unpatriotic and wicked”.
NANS President, Sunday Asefon, who made the call in a statement on Wednesday, alleged that the decision to extend the industrial action after six months was easy for ASUU because they keep employment at various private universities around the country.
The statement read partly, “We have taken the time to review the decision of ASUU to declare an indefinite strike after the ongoing six-month strike. We consider the decision not only unpatriotic, unnecessary but wicked and definitely not in the interest of our nation nor the tertiary education system in Nigeria.
“We call on State Government to forthwith liaise with Vice-Chancellors of state institutions to announce the resumption of academic activities and grant the Vice-Chancellors authority to enforce the resumption as state universities should never have joined the strike in the first place.”
Asefon, therefore, urged ASUU leadership in state institutions to toe the path of honour and called off the strike.
ASUU commenced strike on February 14, 2022. On Monday August 29, its President, Emmanuel Osodeke announced in a statement that the National Executive Council of the union in Abuja “resolved to transmute the roll-over strike to a comprehensive, total and indefinite strike action beginning from 12.01 am on Monday, 29th August 2022.”
He said the academic union had endured a “lot of deceit of the highest level in the last five and half years as the Federal Government of Nigeria engaged ASUU in fruitless and unending negotiation without a display of utmost fidelity”.