The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resolve the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU).
The students urged Buhari to personally broker peace with the university lecturers to enable students to return to schools.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, the newly elected President of NANS, Comrade Usman Barambu described as worrisome the lingering dispute between ASUU and the Federal Government which had lasted for about seven months.
Barambu noted the incessant strikes has affected the academic calendar of public universities and negatively impacted the future of students as a programme of four years now lasts for six years.
The Chairman of Communiqué Drafting Committee, Usman Ayuba, urged Buhari to bring on board capable hands with experience and capacity to stem the tide of insecurity in the country.
He appealed to the government to proffer workable solutions to address incessant clashes between farmers and herders across the country.
Comrade Ayuba called on the Federal Ministry of Education to give priority attention to the sector in terms of budgetary allocation to meet the UNESCO standard and recommendation of setting aside 26 per cent of the annual budget to education by developing countries.
The students also want lecturers involved in the business of sex for marks to desist from such nefarious activities, stressing that students would expose anyone found culpable.
On February 14, ASUU declared a one month warning strike that soon escalated into a full blown strike.
The strike, which has kept public universities shut and academic activities grounded and students and Nigerians bewildered, is in its sixth month, with no end in sight.
The strike by the union entered its 203 day Today (Monday).
Some of the demands of the union included: funding for revitalisation of public universities; payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA)/Earned Allowances (EA); payment of salary shortfalls; stop the proliferation of state universities by governors; setting up of Visitation Panels.
Others are: renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement; adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a payment platform for university lecturers and payment of withheld salaries and non-remittance of check – off dues.
