May 04, (THEWILL) – Students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), in their numbers on Wednesday, staged a peaceful protest at the Ugbowo campus gate on Benin-Lagos expressway to protest the ongoing strike action of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The students blocked the ever-busy Benin-Lagos expressway, school gate and Ring road.
The protest caused gridlock on the highway for hours, forcing many motorists to avoid the route, while those going into the state capital had to divert to other roads
The students in their numbers were seen at the Ugbowo campus entrance chanting slogans with placards reading “UNIVERSITY OF STREETS (UNISTREET) #ENDASUUSTRIKE.”
They declared what they called ‘UNISTREET’, meaning that Nigerian students would now be taking lectures on the streets with some of them acting as lecturers, all in a bid to protest school closure.
Leading the protest, the President of the Students Union Government (SUG) in the institution, Foster Amadin, lamented that the students are on the streets because they are tired of perennial strikes by ASUU.
“We came to the street to say we are tired. We hereby express our grievances to the federal government, to the state government and whoever cares to listen. We say we are tired.
“We want to graduate. For a programme that is supposed to run for four years, we are spending five years and even more. We don’t want it anymore.”
Amadin said all they want is to return to classes and graduate from the institution.
“Let the federal government see to the demands of ASUU and let ASUU also consider the federal government’s position.
“All we want is to go back to our classes. I want to graduate, I want to leave the school. I am tired and that is our grievance”, he said.
They expressed their frustration and appealed to the federal government to heed to ASUU’s demands.
It is almost four mouths now that ASUU embarked on its industrial action over the non-challant attitudes of the Federal Government about public education across the country.
The Union is protesting among others, government’s lack of commitment to the payment of earned academic allowance, issues bordering on the use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System and Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution.
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