Students Hit Kwara Streets To Protest Prolonged ASUU Strike – [Photos]

Students from various universities in Kwara State have stormed major streets in the state to protest against the prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Naija News understands that the aggrieved students on Tuesday expressed worries about delays in fulfilling their dreams as a result of the continued strike.

While appealing to the Federal Government and the university staff union to immediately come to terms and end the lingering strike, the students said they were tired of staying at home and cut off from their academic pursuits.

They added that the lingering strike action had led many of them into social vices while the female ones now bore untimely pregnancies.

The students gathered in front of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) school gate.

Naija News recalls that ASUU had embarked on a four-week warning strike in early February to press home its demands, with the prominent ones being the renegotiation of the ASUU/FG 2009 agreement and the sustainability of the university autonomy by deploying UTAS to replace the government’s “imposed” (IPPIS).

Other demands include the release of the reports of visitation panels to federal universities, distortions in salary payment challenges, funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowance, poor funding of state universities and promotion arrears.

The warning strike, however, ended on March 14 without the government meeting the lecturers’ demands.

The development left the association with no choice but to extend the strike action by another two months to afford the government more time to address all of its demands.

The union in a statement by its President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke on Monday said it would be rolling over the ongoing strike for another 12 weeks.