The State Security Service of Nigeria (NSS) has admonished the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off the ongoing strike, which has halted academic activities in many Nigerian universities.
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria issued an injunction the day prior to the admonishment from the SSS, ordering the return to work of public university teachers who have been on strike for seven months over the Federal government’s inability to uphold prior agreements.
Yunusa Abdulkadir, the Director of the Service in charge of Yobe gave the admonishment at the Third Quarterly Conference of the State Directors of Security in the North East Zone.
He pointed out that the strike has security ramifications because it prevented the country’s universities from operating.
“In as much as we know that ASUU is pursuing a genuine cause, they should take a deeper look at the peculiarities of North East region that has stayed for over a decade in the hands of insurgents.”
The meeting noted among others issues of insurgency, kidnapping, banditry and cattle rustling.
However, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has cautioned Nigeria to brace itself up for a protest more than EndSARS, should the strike action continue.
The association threatened to stage a massive protest in the South-south.
Should the Federal Government fail to send lecturers back to the classroom, NANS threatened to cripple the economy.
NANS ZONE B’s Comrade Kings Tamarapreye, the South-South Coordinator, stated during a briefing this past weekend in Uyo that the organization will stop at nothing to ensure that students returned to their different schools.
Tamarapreye promised that the entire country would be shut down and warned that the students’ upcoming actions would be “worse than the EndSARS protest.”
“As the leadership of NANS ZONE B, we wish to restate our total commitment towards the return of Nigerian students to the various campuses.
“We give a vote of confidence to comrade Usman Barambu-led administration for a job Well.done in bridging the gap between the federal government and the academic staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
“We reaffirm our total stand by calling the ASUU body to honour the court order of reopening the institutions as we equally call on the federal government to as a matter of urgency subscribe to the demands of ASUU.
“It is on record that in this particular Zone (NANS Zone B, South-South), we have led several forms of protest to see how we can return students to school because the main that we were elected leaders is to prioritize the welfare of the students.
“It is a sad thing that for eight months now, Nigerian students are still at home. It is on record that we have blocked the roads of Akwa Ibom and the Cross River States in solidarity.
“There was a memo for the mobilization of the nation shut down and it is still on course. As were are appealing to ASUU to listen to the court order and return to school, if they fail, we will mobile and shut down the whole country because the federal government has been so nonchalant to education in this country.
“We all know that education in this country is underfunded and we will not fold our arms, it is time we take our destinies into our hands. In this South-South region, we are going to block the Port Harcourt International airport, block Calabar-Itu highway as well as other infrastructures.”
