Scores of concerned students in Oyo State converged on the University of Ibadan (UI) Gate on Friday to stage a peaceful protest over the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The protest has affected movement to and fro along UI and Ojoo road.
Security agencies were also on ground to forestall the breakdown of law and order.
However, Solomon Emiola, a 200-level student of UI, who led the protest said the protest was needed because the students were tired of staying at home.
He said, “Our leaders have continued to politic with our future.
“Our goal is to shut down the whole of Ibadan until our demand is met.”
He said the protest would continue daily until the government listens to the yearnings of the Nigerian students who are being delayed unnecessarily.
Another protester who identified himself as Daniel Eyilabor said schools should be opened as his colleagues who didn’t go to school are living well and making progress.
“If we say that school is a scam, we will not be wrong because our lives are on hold and those who even graduated do not even have jobs.
“We have to stand up for our rights,” he said.
Also, Mr. Emelieze Andrew, a former Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), said the protest was to awaken the spirit of students whose rights were being trampled upon by the state.
Andrew said the lingering ASUU was due to the negligence and failure of leadership; citing various comments of stakeholders.
However, the protest took a new dimension, when the Student Union Leader of UI, Yinka Adewole, stopped the protesters from locking the UI gate, adding that he was not aware of the protest.
Adewole said most of those protesting were not students of UI.
He said the students of UI and his members had planned their own protest for May 17 to show their grievances over the strike.
He ensured that the UI gate was reopened, in spite of the objection from the protesters.
However, the protest continued after the gate was reopened.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards carried by protesters include: ‘Closing school is a treason’, ‘Education over Election’, ‘Road Closed-end ASUU now’, among others.
