Students protesting the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities in Ile-Ife, Osun State on Tuesday threatened to stop the July 16 governorship poll in the state if schools were not reopened.
The students, who converged under aegis of the Great Ife Concerned Students in collaboration with the Fund Education Coalition, blocked Ede-Ife road, Ilesa-Akure and Gbongan-Ibadan Expressways for several hours.
They called on the Federal Government to respect the agreement reached with ASUU for peace to return on campus.
Speaking with The PUNCH, Salvation Aworanti, the vice president, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Students’ Union, who was part of the protest said “our agitations still remain the same. Government should respect the agreement reached with ASUU in 2009.
“They should reopen our schools because we will not allow the election to hold in Osun, as far as OAU students are concerned, if they don’t open our school.”
On February 15, ASUU began a four-week rollover strike following the Federal Government’s failure to meet its demands.
The National President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, said the decision was taken after the union’s National Executive Committee meeting.
Osodeke said since the last meeting the union had with the Federal Government in December 2021, it had not received any formal invitation from the government.
ASUU extended the action by another two months to afford the government more time to address all of its demands.
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