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Photo Credits:Tayo Johnson, THE NATION
The Independence day celebration in Ibadan was marred by protests by members of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), South-West zone. According to the students, the action was triggered by what they described as government’s under funding of the education sector, including the ongoing strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
According to THE SUN, the protest which started around 9.00am lasted for more than three hours, with over 1000 students marching through Agbowo, Mokola Round-about, Total Garden, Agodi-Gate before terminating the protest at the Iwo-Road inter-change. At each point, the students barricaded major roads, thereby disrupting the flow of traffic. As they marched along the streets, the protesters sang anti-government songs.
Speaking during the protest, Monsuru Adeyemo,NANS, South-West coordinator said" As a result of poor government funding, in spite of stupendous wealth of the country, public education, from the primary to tertiary level is bedeviled by lack of adequate facilities for proper teaching, learning and research. Hostel facilities in the few schools where they still exist, are dilapidated and insufficient. This is why over 10 million children are out of school in Nigeria"
“Only this year, about 1.7 million candidates sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and from the available space in the public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country, less than 29 per cent of the candidates will be admitted, thus leaving out over 1.2 million candidates",he added.
The protest was carefully observed by men of the Ibadan Police Command to prevent Hoodlums from from hijacking the protest.