Some members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) blocked a section of the busy highway on Tuesday to protest against the government’s failure to resolve the ongoing labour dispute striking university lecturers.
Nigerian Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, says protesting students who blocked a traffic-laden section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway “violated” the country’s law.
Some members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) blocked a section of the busy highway on Tuesday to protest against the government’s failure to resolve the ongoing labour dispute striking university lecturers.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that a protest staged by NANS members on Tuesday led to a gridlock on the expressway, leaving motorists and passengers stranded.
The protest took place just after the Sagamu Interchange section of the expressway, towards Lagos.
The protesters were led by NANS Vice President, External Affairs, Akinteye Babatunde; Public Relations Officer, Giwa Yisa Temitope; Zone D Coordinator, Adegboye Emmanuel Olatunji; Deputy Senate President, Ekundina Elvis; Ondo JCC Chairman, Omotosho Surprise; Lagos JCC Chairman, Olusesi Tolulope Samson; Ogun JCC Chairman, Kehinde Damilola Simeon and Oyo JCC Chairman, Adeleke Quadri Abidemi.
The students, in their hundreds, demanded an immediate end to the strike which has entered its seventh month, urging the Nigerian government to meet the demands of the striking lecturers to enable them to return to class.
Fielding a question on the recurrent gridlock on the uncompleted sections of the highway at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council, Fashola berated the students, saying the Nigerian Constitution recognises and protects citizens’ right to public protests but does not empower any Nigerian to “inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.”
He said, “Once again, I apologise and empathise with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. It’s the place we left to be the last, really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometres into Lagos; very densely populated and occupied. There’s very little room for alternative routes for people. So, you just have to bear with us.
“I also heard that some aggrieved students under the aegis of NANS are going to the road to protest. My respectful view is that it is not helpful at all to the citizens.
“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.”