ASUU Strike: Students To Act As Lecturers As UNIBEN Undergraduates Stage Protest

Students of the University of Benin, Edo State, have taken to the streets in protest of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Wednesday.

The students declared they would begin their lectures on the ‘University of the Street’ or ‘UNISTREET’, with fellow students acting as lecturers.

Prior to this, students of the University of Ibadan had also protested the ASUU strike on Tuesday and called for the immediate reopening of their schools.

The students of the University of Lagos, Akoka, had also planned a protest for yesterday but could not actualize the plan as security operatives, including officials of the Nigeria Police Force, were stationed at the main gate of the campus after receiving news of the planned protest.

In March, THE WHISTLER reported that the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Sunday Asefon, led a protest where he first introduced the ‘University of the Street’ at the Unity Fountain in Abuja.

ASUU has been on strike since February 14th, 2022, to intensify its demands which include the renegotiation of its 2009 agreement with the government and deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) to replace the Federal Government’s Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, had told THE WHISTLER in an earlier interview that the strike might be extended by 4 months if the government fails to meet the union’s demands before the proposed end of the current one.

Some of the demands of the university lecturers include payment of earned academic allowances, funds for the revitalization of public universities, promotion arrears, and poor funding of state universities.

ASUU has also insisted on the release of the reports of the government’s visitation panels to federal universities and regular payment of salary to lecturers.