Bolanle Akanji
Moderator
Nigeria’s commercial nerve
centre, stood still for many hours yesterday, as
over 1,000 university students, lecturers, human
rights activists and other stakeholders took to the
streets. They staged a peaceful rally to show their
displeasure over what they termed ‘poor funding
of education in the country.’As early as 6:00a.m,
participants began to converge on the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC), secretariat annex in Yaba,
Lagos, for the protest. The rally eventually took off
at 8:00a.m.The nationwide indefinite strike
embarked upon by members of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to protest poor
funding of education by the government has
been on since July 1.
The protest, organised by the Joint Action Front
(JAF), a coalition of students and civil right
groups, was led by Comrade Abiodun Aremu.
Leaders of the group who participated in the rally
included Lagos radical lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu
and representative of the Academic Staff Union of
Polytechnics (ASUP), Comrade Chibuzor
Asomugha.
Also in attendance were the leaders of the
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS),
Concerned Students Against Education
Commercialization, Education Rights Campaign
and others.
The organisers said similar rallies would be held at
various zones across the country. Protests would
also be staged in Kano, Ibadan, Owerri, Calabar,
Abuja and other places.
The protesters, carrying scores of placards with
various inscriptions, sang numerous abusive
songs to press home their agitations. They did not
only sing, they danced with a view to sensitising
the public about their cause.
The students barricaded Ikorodu Road at Onipanu
area as they bemoaned their fate. The students
also played football on the highway.
The protesters assaulted the Federal Government
with the inscriptions on their placards. The
inscriptions addressed various issues including
alleged government’s insensitivity to the plight of
teachers at all levels of education, high school
fees and poor infrastructure in public schools.
As this was going on, economic activities on
Ikorodu Road were brought to a standstill. The
situation led to heavy traffic on the road.
Motorists and commuters spent many hours on
the road after they were held up in the logjam.
Addressing the protesters at Palmgrove, Comrade
Abiodun Aremu described the march as a tip of
an iceberg, adding that series of protests have
been lined up to force the three tiers of
government in the country to jettison their
purported negative attitude to the growth and
development of education and embrace positive
attitude.
His words: “This is just the beginning of a number
of protests that we have lined up in the coming
days. We are going to be peaceful in all the
protests. As you can see today (yesterday), there
are no street urchins or ‘area boys.’ The aim is to
draw government attention to the numerous
problems bedevilling education in the country.
We need the support of everybody. If we don’t do
this, nobody is going to do it for us.”
Aremu also appealed to necessary stakeholders
such as parents, traders, artisans and others to
join JAF in the subsequent protests that would be
staged in different parts of the country. If this is
done, he believed, the government would be
compelled to take pragmatic steps to evolve a
policy that would transform educational sector in
Nigeria.
Representative of ASUP, Comrade Asomugha, in
his speech, said: “Education is not only for the
rich. Nigerians should wake up and reclaim what
belongs to them. We, members of ASUP, have
resolved to join the protest to salvage the
education sector. We want to identify with the
spirit of peaceful protest, which is a veritable tool
to fight a just cause.”
Mr Chibuzor
Asomugba, said that the state of the nation’s
public education was worrisome and that there was the need for the
federal and state governments to prioritise
education.
“We are maintaining that governments must
pay attention to public education, revive it and
make it affordable to all.
“I enjoyed free education during my time; it
should not be different now,” he said.
He lamented that this feat would remain a mirage
if the NLC and other relevant stakeholders would
not take the bull by the horn and fight for the
rights of the downtrodden.
The aim of the protest, according to JAF, is to
draw the attention of government and members
of the public to the bleak future awaiting Nigerian
children if decisive steps are not taken to redress
the problems. JAF further lamented that children
of top politicians and government officials are
being trained in private schools in Nigeria and
abroad with funds allegedly looted from public
coffers.
JAF secretary, Comrade Aremu, stated that the
protest was organised to force government to pay
attention to the universities lecturers’ demands,
not to molest anybody. He said the lingering
ASUU/FG feud over the non-implementation of the
2009 agreement did not prompt protest but the
need to emphasise adequate funding of the
educational sector. He added: “We have mobilised
students concerning today’s protest; we also plan
to make it nationwide.
“Nigerians must know that the politicians (at the
presidency, state governments, national and
state assemblies), top civil servants, traditional
rulers and their cronies of contractors and
patrons were beneficiaries of public education.
Also, some of them set up private schools and
universities in Nigeria and abroad with stolen
funds from the public coffers. That is why none of
their children are in any public school in Nigeria.
“The case of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of
Lagos State is the most striking example. He
enjoyed free tuition at the University of Benin,
without which he wouldn’t have been educated.
Yet, the same Governor Fashola turned Lagos
State University (LASU) into a high cost fee
paying university from N25,000 to N320,000,
thereby throwing children of the poor who voted
for him and who his government refused to pay
the N18,000 minimum wage, out of school.”
The National Association of Nigerian Students,
also yesterday appealed to the federal
government, university lecturers and polytechnic
teachers to resolve their face-off for the sake of
students. President of NANS, Mr Yinka Gbadebo,
told students had continued to be victims of
conflicts between lecturers and governments.
University teachers, under the umbrella of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had
on July 1 embarked on an indefinite strike to
protest the non implementation of a part of an
agreement it had with the federal government in
2009.
centre, stood still for many hours yesterday, as
over 1,000 university students, lecturers, human
rights activists and other stakeholders took to the
streets. They staged a peaceful rally to show their
displeasure over what they termed ‘poor funding
of education in the country.’As early as 6:00a.m,
participants began to converge on the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC), secretariat annex in Yaba,
Lagos, for the protest. The rally eventually took off
at 8:00a.m.The nationwide indefinite strike
embarked upon by members of the Academic
Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to protest poor
funding of education by the government has
been on since July 1.
The protest, organised by the Joint Action Front
(JAF), a coalition of students and civil right
groups, was led by Comrade Abiodun Aremu.
Leaders of the group who participated in the rally
included Lagos radical lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu
and representative of the Academic Staff Union of
Polytechnics (ASUP), Comrade Chibuzor
Asomugha.
Also in attendance were the leaders of the
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS),
Concerned Students Against Education
Commercialization, Education Rights Campaign
and others.
The organisers said similar rallies would be held at
various zones across the country. Protests would
also be staged in Kano, Ibadan, Owerri, Calabar,
Abuja and other places.
The protesters, carrying scores of placards with
various inscriptions, sang numerous abusive
songs to press home their agitations. They did not
only sing, they danced with a view to sensitising
the public about their cause.
The students barricaded Ikorodu Road at Onipanu
area as they bemoaned their fate. The students
also played football on the highway.
The protesters assaulted the Federal Government
with the inscriptions on their placards. The
inscriptions addressed various issues including
alleged government’s insensitivity to the plight of
teachers at all levels of education, high school
fees and poor infrastructure in public schools.
As this was going on, economic activities on
Ikorodu Road were brought to a standstill. The
situation led to heavy traffic on the road.
Motorists and commuters spent many hours on
the road after they were held up in the logjam.
Addressing the protesters at Palmgrove, Comrade
Abiodun Aremu described the march as a tip of
an iceberg, adding that series of protests have
been lined up to force the three tiers of
government in the country to jettison their
purported negative attitude to the growth and
development of education and embrace positive
attitude.
His words: “This is just the beginning of a number
of protests that we have lined up in the coming
days. We are going to be peaceful in all the
protests. As you can see today (yesterday), there
are no street urchins or ‘area boys.’ The aim is to
draw government attention to the numerous
problems bedevilling education in the country.
We need the support of everybody. If we don’t do
this, nobody is going to do it for us.”
Aremu also appealed to necessary stakeholders
such as parents, traders, artisans and others to
join JAF in the subsequent protests that would be
staged in different parts of the country. If this is
done, he believed, the government would be
compelled to take pragmatic steps to evolve a
policy that would transform educational sector in
Nigeria.
Representative of ASUP, Comrade Asomugha, in
his speech, said: “Education is not only for the
rich. Nigerians should wake up and reclaim what
belongs to them. We, members of ASUP, have
resolved to join the protest to salvage the
education sector. We want to identify with the
spirit of peaceful protest, which is a veritable tool
to fight a just cause.”
Mr Chibuzor
Asomugba, said that the state of the nation’s
public education was worrisome and that there was the need for the
federal and state governments to prioritise
education.
“We are maintaining that governments must
pay attention to public education, revive it and
make it affordable to all.
“I enjoyed free education during my time; it
should not be different now,” he said.
He lamented that this feat would remain a mirage
if the NLC and other relevant stakeholders would
not take the bull by the horn and fight for the
rights of the downtrodden.
The aim of the protest, according to JAF, is to
draw the attention of government and members
of the public to the bleak future awaiting Nigerian
children if decisive steps are not taken to redress
the problems. JAF further lamented that children
of top politicians and government officials are
being trained in private schools in Nigeria and
abroad with funds allegedly looted from public
coffers.
JAF secretary, Comrade Aremu, stated that the
protest was organised to force government to pay
attention to the universities lecturers’ demands,
not to molest anybody. He said the lingering
ASUU/FG feud over the non-implementation of the
2009 agreement did not prompt protest but the
need to emphasise adequate funding of the
educational sector. He added: “We have mobilised
students concerning today’s protest; we also plan
to make it nationwide.
“Nigerians must know that the politicians (at the
presidency, state governments, national and
state assemblies), top civil servants, traditional
rulers and their cronies of contractors and
patrons were beneficiaries of public education.
Also, some of them set up private schools and
universities in Nigeria and abroad with stolen
funds from the public coffers. That is why none of
their children are in any public school in Nigeria.
“The case of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of
Lagos State is the most striking example. He
enjoyed free tuition at the University of Benin,
without which he wouldn’t have been educated.
Yet, the same Governor Fashola turned Lagos
State University (LASU) into a high cost fee
paying university from N25,000 to N320,000,
thereby throwing children of the poor who voted
for him and who his government refused to pay
the N18,000 minimum wage, out of school.”
The National Association of Nigerian Students,
also yesterday appealed to the federal
government, university lecturers and polytechnic
teachers to resolve their face-off for the sake of
students. President of NANS, Mr Yinka Gbadebo,
told students had continued to be victims of
conflicts between lecturers and governments.
University teachers, under the umbrella of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, had
on July 1 embarked on an indefinite strike to
protest the non implementation of a part of an
agreement it had with the federal government in
2009.