‘ASUU my boo’… How Nigerian university students are reacting to ongoing two weeks warning strike

By Victor Akuma

It is no longer news that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Monday March 10, declared a two-week warning strike.

The pronouncement made by Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU national Chairman, has raised several controversies among university students in the South East as some of them are already giving glory to God for such a timely intervention from ASUU from the numerous school stress, ranging from assignments to presentations and some other similar activities, while others, especially final years are frowning at the move.

So many have flooded their WhatsApp statuses with statement like, “ASUU my boo, you know when best to come to my rescue,” among some other funny statements.

Some of these students have already given themselves break without even hearing from their lecturers on whether or not they should come for classes.

However, ASUU executives in some of these schools are really helping these students fill more at home with the said strike as some of them have been going round departments in these schools ensuring there’s no student or lecturer in lecture halls.

The big question is, aside from the strike, are Nigerian students being frustrated by school activities? Answer to this will tell if these students are really at home with the way our public universities in the country are being run.

To Eze Onyekachi, a 300 level student of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (UNN) “the whole strike process is political and both the government and ASUU are not being honest with us students in public schools.”

He further stated “I just want to study and graduate when I should but I think the strike is a bit timely because of the too much stress from school activities.”

Oko Odinakachi of Abia State University, however, said the strike has not taken much effect in the school’s activities as she said they are still receiving classes but wishes her school will join so that she can catch some breath from the school’s stress.

One would ask, are Nigeria students being preasurised in school? How do they cope?

These students therefore call on ASUU and FG to quit pursuing personal interest that will at the end of the day, transfer the consequences of the strike to them.

This is given their ugly experiences with ASUU-FG face-off in the past and their awareness that such may occur again should the federal government fails to act after the warning strike elapses.