We get raped during ASUU strike, female students lament, call for resolution
Association of Nigerian Female Students has lamented ugly situation female students go through during strike, urging the Federal Government, FG, and Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to reach a concrete agreement to end the on going warning strike.
Expressing its disdain, the association said female students often get raped by the male students who engage in an unproductive venture during the period of strike.
The female students who took to the streets of Abuja to protest what they described as senseless strike warned the federal government and ASUU against thwarting the academic calendar and causing more decay in the Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Speaking to Journalists in Abuja on Monday, the President of the Association of Nigerian Female Students, Amb Sarki Sylvia Yemi, said Nigerian students have always suffered the consequences of ASUU strike, waring that students will continue the protest if the federal government and ASUU failed to reach agreements.
She said, “Enough is enough to the federal government and ASUU leaders.
“Nigerian students have suffered enough in the hands of the federal government and ASUU. We decided to come out en-masse this time around to show our grievances, to tell the world at large that enough is enough.
“For 4 – 5years programme, we end up spending 6-8 years, we cannot take it any longer. There should be a concrete agreement between the two parties. Meanwhile, all their children are schooling abroad and have no concern with ASUU.
“Imagine, because of incessant strike, most of our ladies have been raped and put in the family way by force. While being on strike, our accommodation, school fees are still reading. Nobody will refund us the money, while lecturers collect their salaries.”
Also, the Coordinator, Association of Nigerian Female Students, FCT chapter, Ahmed Rashidat Ohiare, complained bitterly that students especially the female are the most affected as school fees, accommodation and other levies must also be paid.
“We are paying for a crime we did not commit. It is high time the two parties respect their agreement so that students can go back to school. A course of 4 years we end up spending 7-8 years an that is why schools end up producing chaff nowadays,” she said.
ASUU began a one month warning strike on the 14th of February 2022, over government’s unfaithfulness in the implementation of the Memorandum of Action it signed.
Among the ASUU demands include: adequate funding for revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, Universities Transparency Accountability Solutions,UTAS, promotion arrears, renegotiation of 2009 ASUU/FG agreement and the inconsistencies in Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System Payment,IPPIS.
