Bella Ifasola
The National Association of University Students (NAUS), in collaboration with the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) and the National Association of Nigerian College of Education Students (NANCES), has announced a joint mass protest to address the prevailing economic challenges facing the nation.
The students’ unions announced that the mass protest will begin on Monday, July 29, 2024, and will continue indefinitely until their demands are addressed.
According to the unions, they have repeatedly attempted to engage with the government through various channels, including media outreach, but have yet to receive a response or see any meaningful action taken.
The memo, jointly signed by Comrade Obaji U. Marshal (NAUS), Amb. Comr. Eegunjobi Samuel Oluwaseun (NANCES), and Comr. Ridwan O. Munirudeen (NAPS), was addressed to Nigerian students.
The key grievances of the student groups include rising cost of living, increased cost of commodities, higher petroleum prices, elevated electricity tariffs, insecurity and inadequate funding of educational institutions.
These challenges, affecting over 80% of the population, disproportionately impact young Nigerians pursuing academic qualifications in tertiary institutions.
According to the student unions, the protest is to drive home their demands to the federal and state governments, to influence innovation, conceptualization and implementation of plans for the alleviation of the hardship suffered by Nigerian students.
The unions affirmed that the development has led to poor socioeconomic welfare for students, a loss of interest in academic activities and fall in grades, increase in crimes and criminality, and increase in violence on campuses and their environs.
“The leadership of the National Association of University Students (NAUS), in conjunction with the leadership of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), and the National Association Nigerian of College of Education Students (NANCES), extends sincere greetings to Nigerian Students covering the aforementioned bodies, as well as, its affiliated associations across the country,” the memo reads.
“The purpose of this memo is to prepare the minds of Nigerian students across tertiary institutions in the country, on the collective decision made by the leadership of the aforementioned associations, after due and painstaking consultations on the way forward for Nigerian students.
“The present economic quagmire occasioned by the rising cost of living, hike in cost of commodities, hike in petroleum price, hike in electricity tariff, insecurity, poor funding of our institutions which presently affects more than 80% of the population in the country, is felt most by young Nigerians studying for various academic qualifications across tertiary institutions.
“This development has led to poor socioeconomic welfare for students, a loss of interest in academic activities and a fall in grades, an increase in crimes and criminality, and an increase in violence on campuses and their environs.
“Furthermore, the inability of federal, state and local governments to provide adequate immediate and long-term palliatives, especially for Nigerian students, to cushion the effect of the high cost of living, is rather disappointing and also raises the alarm of the student movement in the country, of a seeming lack of initiatives and ideas on the most effective approach to sustainable economic recovery and growth.
“Hence, the trio of NAUS, NAPS and NANCES, representing the voices of millions of Nigerian students emphatically condemns the lackadaisical attitude of the Government and declares a National Day of Protest for Nigerian students starting from Monday, July 29th, 2024 till further notice having communicated the government through various means including media but nothing has been done.”
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.
The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.
The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by a president elected 14 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.
A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with armed kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.
Some folks are planning nationwide protests to voice their concerns about the economic situation, including rising inflation and poverty, under President Tinubu’s administration.
The protests are expected to happen in the north and other parts of the country, but residents and leaders of the south-eastern region, inhabited by the Igbo ethnic group – have made it clear that they are not going to be part of the mass action.
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