Nigerian Students Lament Deplorable Conditions Due To Strike In Universities

Students across Nigerian public universities have expressed displeasure over the ongoing strike by the non-teaching staff unions in their various schools.

Aggrieved unions, comprising the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU; the Non Academic Staff Union, NASU; and the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, have been on strike since the beginning of December. They are protesting the sharing formula of the academic earned allowances, of which authorities gave them 11 percent and 89 percent to their counterparts in the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

Since it began, the strike has affected delivery vital services, including water, electricity, library and healthcare, which the non-teaching staff traditional provide.

Students who are the worst hit are lamenting the unpleasant experience of having to study under the current conditions.

Kaothar Lawal, a 300 level student of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos in a chat with our correspondent said she and her colleagues had had to go ‘extra mile’ to get water.

“We have resumed but the condition here is bad,’ she said. “I pity the newly admitted students, they have been faced with different challenges including inability to get water. It has not been easy for the returning students, let alone the freshmen”

At the Federal University of Technology Akure, Akinyemi Victor, a student of Statistics said “that the industrial action has made the security of the school porous as there is always blackout and closure of laboratories.

“It is better if the Federal Government listens to the plight of the workers as their strike has already make security here porous. Imagine, living in an academic environment without electricity to read and even walk freely during dark hours.

“The laboratories have been under lock likewise our health centre. We are only learning theoretical aspects of our courses while the practical aspects left untouched due to the strike.”

Another student, Obiajulu Precious studying Social Works at the University of Benin told our correspondent in a telephone conversation that the university health centre is under lock. “Let me tell you the truth, God forbid, if anything happen to the students today, nobody cares because the university health centre remains under lock. Nobody is attending to students. In fact only a one of the university gate open and that is meant for pedestrian.”

When Rahman Bello, a student of faculty of Agricultural in Federal University of Technology, Minna was contacted on the state of things in his varsity, he said, “I pity the fresh students. some are even yet to complete their registration and this may affect their academics when lectures begin. The strike has caused a lot problem.”

Also, at the University of Ibadan, the students are presently writing examination under poor conditions.

Last week, we reported how students of Obafemi Awolowo University were for their examinations, scheduled to start on January 29 in ‘darkness’ due to the non-teaching staff strike