Students from the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have taken over the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos to demand that the government end the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has been going on for almost seven months.

NANS had already announced that due to the ongoing strike, it would halt operations at all domestic and international airports nationwide starting on Monday, September 18.

It claimed that the success of the road demonstration, in which many highways were stopped, led to its decision to halt airport operations.

The NANS leadership claimed in a speech given in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, that the airport closures were intended to make the wealthy participate in the suffering of the students brought on by the protracted strike action.

Students were sick of appealing to both parties to stop the strike, according to Ojo Raymond Olumide, chairman of the NANS National Task Force on “End ASUU Strike Now.”

Olumide warned ASUU not to end the strike after receiving a pay raise, but to continue pressing for the other demands that sparked the strike instead.

According to him, “We shall begin another round of protest next week by storming the airspaces on Monday, 19th September 2022 to #OccupyTheAirports. We want to let the world know about the pains and anguish students are going through.

“Nigerian students whose parents created the commonwealth cannot continue to be suffering at home alongside our lecturers while the few who gain from our sweat and blood have their kids abroad.

“We call on students to rise and join us as we take our destinies into our hands. Our demands remain consistently clear and simple. We call on ASUU leadership for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss solidarity actions and plan for the next phase of the struggles.”

He said that the students’ group didn’t have to tell the police about the planned protest to shut down airports because they weren’t subject to security agencies.

YNaija