NGO threatens to carry out a mass protest if ASUU strike is not called off soon

The academic activities of many government-owned tertiary institutions have been on hold for close to five months.

A non-government organization known as The Save Public Education Campaign has threatened to carry out a mass protest if the ongoing strike is not called off soon.

It has been a worrisome four months for Nigerian students in various government owned tertiary institutions due to the ongoing ASUU strike, which has brought a stop to their academic activities.

With the strike approaching the five-month mark, there is still no agreement between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government.

This has influenced the decision of The Save Public Education Campaign to carry out a mass protest if the strike isn’t called off soon.

According to the Convener of the campaign, Vivian Bello, the insecurity in Nigeria is traceable to the failure of the education sector.

While speaking with reporters on Monday, she noted that the plight of Nigerian students was worrisome, adding that tertiary education is at a near-collapse.

Bello also added that since the beginning of the Buhari administration, ASUU has been on strike for over 725 days, and still, no conclusive agreement has been reached between the two.

“This amounts to an entire two and half years’ loss in the educational lives of innocent Nigerian children/students in public universities,” she said.

“The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, ASUP and COEASU are all also currently on strike on similar issues as ASUU.”

Speaking further, Bello warned that the “all-around collapse of tertiary education” is on the cards if the situation is not fixed soon.

The co-convener of the campaign, Dimeji Macaulay added that they were only waiting for the outcome of meeting between ASUU and the government before declaring a 14-day ultimatum.

A mass protest to address the issue will commence after if an agreement is not reached between the two before the ultimatum elapses.