The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to boycott the 2019 general elections if the Federal Government fails to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
At
a one-day conference today organised by Online Publishers Association
of Nigeria with the theme: “Free Press and objective reporting in the
2019 election year.”, the chairman of the Abuja chapter of NANS, Mojeed
Omolaja, stated this.
Omolaja also distanced the FCT chapter of NANS
from the faction of NANS led by one Akpan Daniels Bamidele, who was said
to be a student of Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
The Bamidele-led NANS had visited President Muhammadu Buhari, where he endorsed his re-election.
Omolaja
insisted that the NANS officials who paid courtesy call to the
President were not fair, adding that the FCT chapter of NANS stood for
integrity.
He said,
“We in the FCT here are not part of
those who went to eulogise the President; we stand for integrity and
anything we get right in FCT will be got right in all the states of the
federation because we lead and others follow.
“The Nigerian students will not vote in the forthcoming election if academic activities do not resume in the universities.
“In
this forthcoming elections, we the FCT chapter of NANS that controls
other chairmen in other states have deemed it fit not to participate in
the election until when ASUU calls off the strike, because they can’t be
playing with our future.
“Their children are going to
school abroad and we are here and they still want their children to come
and rule over us with their lackadaisical attitude towards our
education.
“It is quite unfortunate that at this point in time students are at home doing nothing.
“The
major reason we are at home is that ASUU is on strike and we expect the
Federal Government to meet their demands because this incessant issue
is a catastrophic setback to the students.
“Imagine somebody
spending seven to eight years to finish a four-year programme. It is not
done abroad. Is it because our parents don’t have the financial muscle
to send us abroad?”
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