LAGOS – Nigerians have expressed disgust over the lacklustre attitude on the part of the Federal Government to save Nigerians studying in Ukraine and their counterparts in local institutions.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has put the lives of Nigerian students in the country in jeopardy while at home, 17 days after the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) declared a one-month warning strike, the government delegation is yet to reach concrete agreement with the union.
It is on record that 13 years after the FG willingly signed an agreement with the union to revitalise the public university system; a partial implementation was all the government had accorded the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) it signed with the union.
To press home demand for resumption of academic learning and the government to fulfill its part of the agreement, the umbrella body for students in public tertiary institutions, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) had threatened to block all federal roads in the nation’s capital with a protest at two federal ministries on Monday, February 28.
The NANS vice president of the association, Yazid Tanko Muhammad, who spoke with BBC Hausa recently threatened, “We will block the roads linking Abuja from Kogi; Abuja from Kaduna and Abuja from the Nasarawa State. That means we will block the whole Abuja on that day. We will also block the Federal Secretariat,” he said.
As the students on the home soil are groaning over the incessant strikes by staff unions, economic activities on many campuses across the nation may soon come to a halt due to low student presence.
Their counterparts caught in the Ukrainian war are not threatening but pleading for intervention by the government as living in the war-torn country threatens their existence.
Nigerian students in Ukraine have also become a victim of the lacklustre attitude of the government as many that are stranded in Russia and Ukraine war are crying for help as the war gets fierce.
A female medical student in Ukraine told BBC News that she was no longer safe in the war-torn and begs to be airlifted to a safe distance by the Nigerian government.
“I would like the Nigerian government to provide an official flight for students in Ukraine and other citizens. I want the government to put some measures in place like a relief fund, provide useful information and tell the Ukrainian government to help as well.
“Yes, I want to leave, I want to leave Ukraine, I want to leave. I am in a state of dilemma and I want to graduate. I have been here for seven years. I am focusing on my medical degree and with just four months to the finish line, please I want to leave because I already have a date for my graduation. I just want to get my diploma and leave the country.
“I would say for now I am safe in my apartment with my friend. If we hear the siren or any threat we will move to a bunker in our city about a three-minute drive away from me and I will just walk there and wait for help.
“I am afraid but putting up a brave face because I don’t want to panic. I do not want to put myself in that state. I have to stay very logical. I have to have my documents together. I have to put emergency funds together. I needed emergency clothes, and I packed an emergency bag. So, I am scared but keeping up a brave face.
“This has been my home for seven years. I love the country. It has given me so much. Just that for my safety, I do not feel safe. And even the authorities supposedly meant to protect us are not making me feel safe either, so I am all alone with my friends,” the lady said trembling.
At home, as students may go confrontational with both the Federal Government and the lecturers. Parents have pleaded with the authorities to accede to the demands of the unions and save public university education from collapse.
The National Chairman, Clinical Pharmacists Association of Nigeria (CPAN), Dr. Joseph Madu told Daily Independent, “I am much more concerned about the negative effects of these repeated strikes on our educational and social systems.
“I advise that FG should immediately address the concerns of ASUU. An agreement of more than 13 years is already long overdue,” he added.
Besides, a parent, Mr. Muyideen Subair, an auditor, appealed to the students not to put the laws into their hands but to give room for further talks between the union leaders and the government delegation to settle the rift.
“Government must be sensitive to issues that concern ASUU. For ASUU, the public university some of us attended with scholarships would have become moribund and not better than some private secondary schools.
“The struggle by the union by birth to the NEEDS Assessment that the government has not implemented is wholesome. ASUU’s agitation gave birth to the establishment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has become the saving grace to many universities and polytechnics across the country.
“My appeal is for the current government to act up and implement the agreement with ASUU as a parting gift for the academia. Students should exercise restraints without compounding the issues, especially at this period of political activities,” he said
