NANS: 30 Months Lost to Strike by University Lecturers in 10 Years

The President of the National Association of
Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr. Yinka Gbadebo,
Wednesday said cumulatively, 30 months were
lost in 10 years to strike by university
lecturers.
Gbadebo told journalists in Lagos, that this
statistic provided a platform for questioning
the use of strikes as a weapon of seeking
redress.
He urged the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) members to embrace
further dialogue and return to work in the
interest of peace and Nigerian students.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
, the NANS president said students were always
at the receiving end, losing precious time each
time ASUU and their employers were in
disagreement.
He said NANS was no longer comfortable with
the effects of protracted and incessant strikes
on the lives of the students.
“We hereby disagree with ASUU on the notion
that an immediate release of N400 billion per
annum as being demanded will phase out the
myriads of problems confronting our
universities.
“This is not to celebrate the government,
which in an unprecedented manner, had shown
responsibility and concern by releasing N100
billion for infrastructural development in our
universities including those that are state
owned,’’ he said.
Gbadebo said NANS would continue to
encourage the government not to close its
doors to negotiations, but inject more funds
into the entire education sector, and not just
the universities.
“It is on this basis that we want to state our
traditional demand that government must be
made to commit at least 26 per cent of our
annual budget to the education sector as the
minimum recommendation by UNESCO,”
Gbadebo said.
The NANS president dismissed some reports
that he had been impeached and said they
were from mischief makers.
The university lecturers, under the aegis of
ASUU on July 1 started a strike it said was “
comprehensive, total and indefinite’’.
The lecturers are protesting the non-
implementation of some issues contained in an
agreement the union entered into with the
federal government in 2009.