The National Association of Nigerian Students has said its members would embark on a mass protest should the Academic Staff Union of Universities resume its just suspended strike.
NANS President, Sunday Asefon, stated this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Thursday.
He said it is embarrassing and ridiculous for ASUU to threaten a fresh strike after wasting the academic time of Nigerian students for nine months.
Asefon said, “It is a slap on us for ASUU to say they are calling off the strike conditionally. If they call it off conditionally, we will also put on hold our plan to engage the Federal Government and ASUU on a mass action. But if they also resume their strike, we will also go to the streets, if that is the only language they understand, we will speak it to them.
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The PUNCH had earlier reported that ASUU National President, Biodun Ogunyemi, on Wednesday in Abuja, “conditionally” suspended its nine-month-long strike after a lot of foot-dragging in negotiations by the Federal Government and the lecturers.
Ogunyemi, who said the suspension of the strike takes effect from Thursday, December 24th, 2020, had also warned that the union would resume the industrial action without notice if the government failed in meeting its part of the agreement.
But the NANS president said, “Never again should we have a repeat of this strike and stakeholders must make commitments to ensure that this ugly scenario does not repeat itself.”
He also urged the Federal Government to be “committed to fulfilling its agreement with ASUU while ASUU must be wary to go on strike. ASUU must seek to exhaust every window of alternative resolution before deciding on industrial actions”.
“Future negotiations must involve students representative as we believe this will bring a sense of urgency to the table as the parties will be compelled to understand that students across the country are the grass when the elephants of ASUU and FG fight,” Asefon stated.
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