ASSU STRIKE: NANS grounds Lagos airport

Students protesting on behalf of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) stormed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos to force the government to end the nearly seven-month-long Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

Remember that NANS previously announced it would halt operations at domestic and international airports around the nation starting on Monday, September 18, due to the ongoing strike.

It claimed that the success of the road demonstration, in which many highways were stopped, led to its decision to halt airport operations.

The leadership of NANS, which spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said the grounding of airports was to make the rich share in the pains of the students generated by the ongoing strike action.

Chairman, NANS National Task Force on ‘Stop ASUU Strike Now,’ Ojo Raymond Olumide, said students were tired of begging both parties to end the strike.

Olumide warned ASUU not to end the walkout after receiving a pay raise, but to continue pressing for the other demands that sparked the strike instead.

According to him, “We shall begin another round of protest next week by storming the airspaces on Monday, 19th September 2022 to #OccupyTheAirports. We want to let the world know about the pains and anguish students are going through.

“Nigerian students whose parents created the commonwealth cannot continue to be suffering at home alongside our lecturers while the few who gain from our sweat and blood have their kids abroad.

"We call on students to rise and join us as we take our destinies into our hands. Our demands remain consistently clear and simple. We call on ASUU leadership for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss solidarity actions and plan for the next phase of the struggles.”

He explained the students’ body need not inform the police about the planned protest to ground airports because they were not subjected to security agencies.

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