Students from all academic backgrounds have urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to halt its seven-month old strike.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, they said it was time for the union to call off the strike and seek a cooperative resolution with the Federal Government.
Calling off the strike, according to Miss Bisola Aina, a 300-level student at Ekiti State University (EKSU), was long overdue because the Federal Government was not acceding to their demands.
Aina urged the union’s members to call off the strike so that the administration could present its plan for how to implement their requests.
Many of them, according to her, have been stranded, bored, and frustrated while remaining home.
Both ASUU and the Federal Government are being asked to find a long-term solution to put an end to the strike, according to Federal University, Oye-Ekiti student Kayode Oni.
Oni clarified that the students are starting to become upset with the instructor for not paying attention to the government suggestion.
“We are tired and angry with our lecturers’ behaviours for not accepting the proposal by the Federal Government.
“I want to appeal to ASUU to suspend its prolonged strike and allow us resume to our various universities without any further delay,” he said.
University of Jos student Bayo Fatoki remarked that while both students and professors are hurting, it is the students who are suffering the most.
If not for the strike, according to Fatoki, who had already done his project and was awaiting his final exam, he should have graduated.
“I want to appeal to the Federal Government, ASUU and stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the prolonged strike,” he added.
The poor state of education in Nigeria, according to Miss Omowunmi Ojo, a University of Ibadan 200-level student, requires immediate federal government involvement.
Many young people, according to Ojo, have lost faith in political figures and ASUU because it seems like they only care about their own interests.
For the sake of the students, who have been neglected and frustrated, she pleaded with all parties to put aside their differences and call an end to the protracted strike.
