The Council of Student’s Union Presidents (CSUP) has
lamented that it is losing students to incessant killings from bandits attacks
as a result of their prolonged stay at home due to the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, strike.
The Student Union President (SUG), Federal University of
Technology (FUT) Minna, Mr Ishaka Yahaya, spoke on behalf of all SUG presidents
across tertiary institutions at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday.
Yahaya said that the Federal Government and the ASUU have
nothing to lose amid the strike, adding that many students who were to be in
school but resorted to doing other jobs, were being kidnapped and killed in the
process.
He urged the government to look into the demands of ASUU and attend to them so that they could return to school.
“It’s true when they say, when two elephants meet, only the
grass suffers.
“It is quite obvious here that both the Federal Government
and ASUU have nothing to lose in this fight.
“This is because while the strike is ongoing, the salaries
of Federal Government staff keep flowing and at the end of every strike,
nothing stops the salaries of ASUU members from also flowing.
“The only most unfortunate and innocent victim here you
would agree with us, are the Nigerian students, who have everything to lose.
“Even when the strike would have been called off, so many of
the students would not be able to serve the nation due to the age limit.
“So many students after graduation would not be able to get
government jobs due to age limit consideration,” he lamented.
Yahaya noted that the strike had increased the rate of drug
abuses, prostitution and thuggery, amongst other corresponding wantonness and
purposelessness by the Nigerian students who, under normal circumstances,
should be in school acquiring knowledge.
He said that the Nigerian students and campuses had been
exposed to insecurities and as such, students had now become daily victims of
kidnapping by the bandits.
“We hereby appeal to the Federal Government to meet the
demands of ASUU within the shortest period of time as failure to do so would
leave us with no option than to go ahead with our peaceful demonstration even
amidst this security instability.
“For it’s better to die for something than to live for
nothing,” he added.
ASUU had, on February 14, embarked
on strike to press home its demands for a better welfare package, among others,
a situation that has forced many Nigerian students to be at home.
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