By Awósùsì Olúwábùkúnmí A
i
“we are sad, we are not happy as student leaders”
In the beginning…
For the first time in eight months, the Association of the South-West Universities Student’s Union President decided to call a press conference as a means of airing their grievances to the federal government and the ASUU members over the ongoing industrial strike.
On the early morning of March 23, 2020 even within the conundrum situation of the ravaging pandemic, the Academic Staff Union of Universities topped it with their incessant industrial strike. A gift every federal universities undergraduate must be presented. For the first few months, everyone had thought the strike will end up in the room of meeting just like other times when both parties meet in tryst but sometimes, some wishes don’t come true so also was the case of the ASUU strike.
After the federal government has finally decided to lessen the closure of every pillar to post due to the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic and private universities have opened their flood gates to welcoming their students back into academic sessions, the federal universities undergraduates too began to recover their consciousness and the hashtag began – #ENDASUUSTRIKE now.
What became a major catalyst that prompted the sluggish movement was the nationwide #ENDSARS protest which also served as the foundation of ending bad governance. And since a tree cannot grow with having roots, the #ENDSARS protest became a mother of all #ENDINGS.
ii
Things fall apart
“what is happening in the country is so saddened, I don’t know
the word to use to qualify the state of this country now”
When W.B Yeats wrote the poem, whose line became the title of the popular book of Chinua Achebe’s Things fall apart, perhaps it is safer to assume that he has seen the visions of a country called Nigeria.
With the protest ongoing, the federal government having found themselves in a bigger mess decided to remember an association called ASUU whose demand they are withholding and since a child cannot finish the whole meat of Buffalo after eating the petty games he has killed, the cries of ASUU was quickly been looked upon daily by the FG.
Silently, the crescendo of the protest too began to dwindle and incessant tryst meetings between ASUU and FG too began to deteriorate to a state of nothingness and the center can no longer hold as said by Yeats.
With different meetings entering deadlock every day, the consciousness of the students too was beginning to sọ̀rọ̀ sókè louder. However, the most devastating news came when another deadlock meeting reported that “the opening of federal universities may take three years.”Perhaps, this might have been the Peter’s blow that woke the South-West Universities Students presidents up from their slumber or could have caused them “shock” like one of our fellow citizens.
iii
their eyes have seen it all,
“Soli Soli Soli — Solidarity for eeevvveer,
solidarity for eeeeveeeer, solidarity for eeevvveerr,
we shall always fight for our right.”
While the Nigeria youths still suffer from the occurrence that happened during the #ENDSARS protest and the whole nation still kvetch about its aftermath, the Students’ President rose the calls of the heat they have been feeling and decided to hand the government a seven days ultimatum before another protest began.
iv
“what we are doing now is to give honour to
whom it is due”
We must give honour to whom honour is due so that we may not end up getting the blame. Armed with this thought, the student’s leaders gave the federal government 7 days ultimatum to settle the grievances between it and ASUU. With an end to the ultimatum, the student’s leaders have begun a massive mobilization of university students to embark on nationwide protest against the protracted ASUU strike. However, the same act was taken during the #ENDSARS protest which eventually led to the surfacing video of Apostle Kay, tagged with one-million Naira allegations which is said to have been given to the #ENDSARS protesters’ representatives. In Nigeria, after honour, comes silence, perhaps the Presidential honour will not come with another thread of funds allegation.
