WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS LONG VACCATION GIVEN BY ASUU

Since the inception of the industrial action
embarked on by the Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU), the academic
activities of Nigerian students at their
various institutions of learning have been
completely paralysed. The strike which is
approaching two months, has generated
some noticeable negative effects on
students. Some students spoke on how the
action has been helping them thus far,
while they also expressed how they have
been affected. Mayowa Okekale, who
sought the views of these students, brings
the excerpt:
Martin Emeka Ekweme
I strongly believe that many Nigerian
students see reading as being too
herculean for them. To students like that,
the strike is an opportunity to forget their
books and pursue debased frivolities at
their respective homes, even without
reservations.
However, I have no doubt that some other
students see the strike as an opportunity
to engage in practical studies outside the
school, since many public universities lack
the facilities. What is crystal clear is,
students who decided to be idle are, by
every means, looking for the devil’s
trouble.

Balogun Tosin Temitope
This development is not really affecting me
because I have been making best use of the
free time to learn new skills and develop
myself. For example, I just finished an
interesting training on bicycle riding. I
hope to move to swimming. I encourage
others to do likewise and stop blaming
neither the ASUU nor Federal Government.

Adenekan Ola
A bird that never forgets its flock mates
will never miss the way. This is really a
development that has actually given an
ample avenue for me to study more than
before. Nevertheless, I still pray that God
should divinely intervene and bring
everything back to normalcy to bring back
the lost glory of our education system.

Janet Olabisi
Looking at current happenings, so many
unserious students count this as an
opportunity for them to enjoy their
youthful time more. Meanwhile, the serious
ones will see it as an avenue to read and
conduct further research before returning
to school. Nevertheless, some have-not
students would view this as an occasion to
engage themselves in making money to
fend for themselves to ease the
responsibilities of their parents on them.

Kingsley Davies Cassie
We are doing currently nothing and this
will affect the graduating students and
will further affect their NYSC posting.
Seriously speaking, I’m tired of the
shameless strikes constantly embarked on
by ASUU! This is not fair on Nigerian
students. When students are left doing
nothing, chances are that some of them
engage in unsightly acts that are not
healthy for the country. I think ASUU
should embrace patriotism for the general
interest of Nigerian students.

Olawore Samuel
“An idle hand is the devil’s workshop,” says
a famous quote. This quote is just a
verisimilitude of what is reflecting on
many undergraduates who are found
roaming the streets and, as a result,
being lured into social vices not because it
pleases them but because they have
nothing to keep them busy on campus, due
to the ongoing industrial action embarked
by ASUU.
It will be recalled that the painful death
of Ruth, a 100 level student of the
Department of Biochemistry, University of
Ibadan, who was reported and confirmed
dead in a ghastly motor accident on her
way back home after students were forced
out of their various halls of residence
occurred owing to the industrial action by
ASUU.

Busayo Olanipekun
With this in view, I can practically say the
future of our youths is at stake, and it is
really about time we called on God to
intervene because our government doesn’t
care about our future. The reason we are
exposed to this is because their children are
not suffering from the same action. Many
students have also been discouraged of
sustaining their goals and ambition of
studying because of the same strike and,
as a result, have made them to be
academically poor.

Gabriel Ajuwon
Well, to me, the existence of ASUU strike
denotes a very bad omen for Nigeria
education sector. But personally, since its
commencement, I have engaged myself in
holiday job, which I have been able to
engage in to make up for every lost time.
And the most unfortunate aspect of it is,
enthusiasm for reading was lost since I
heard of the strike, even when our
examinations were around the corner.

Oluleke Peter
The increasing flash-points in the
education sector have reached an
unsustainable level and before the
irretrievable point of escalation is reached,
we have a duty to sound a collective alarm
as to the negative signal sent to millions
of students.
The industrial action embarked on by ASUU
negatively affects Nigerian students
psychologically, academically and socially.
Students no longer graduate as scheduled,
interest and concentration are lost
resulting to poor and average
performances, academic calender is being
compressed and part of the curriculum
skipped. All this among other effects tend
to be inimical to quality education, human
development and economic growth in
Nigeria, thereby destroying education,
the bedrock of modern civilization.

Dare Adelere
The irony of the strike is, we students are
the victims. Because I believe if the strike
unfortunately spans a year, it is obvious
that all ASUU officials, including the
lecturers, will be paid, even while they
have not taught students for the wasted
months of downing tools. We are
ultimately being badly affected. In the
last two months, they earned their salary
and no students could stop that. I am of
the view that neither the government nor
the ASUU really serve the desired interests
of the Nigerian students.