Nigerian students continued their protests they started five days ago on Monday morning by blocking the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos over the continued industrial action by the Academic Staff of Union Universities (ASUU).
Five days ago, the students disrupted vehicular movement along the busy Lagos-Ibadan expressway, while protesting the seven-month strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The students gathered at the Sagamu interchange as early as 9:00 a.m., and blocked both sides of the highway, preventing traffic flow both inward and outwards Lagos.
The students returned on Monday and again blocked the Lagos International Airport Road along the Oshodi-Oworonshoki expressway causing heavy gridlock.
Members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) that organized the students’ protest defied the early morning downpour in the state, singing, and dancing while carrying placards with several inscriptions decrying the 7-month-old strike embarked upon by ASUU.
The protest on the airport road has backlogged traffic from NAHCO to Apakun underneath the bridge.
The students were however prevented from accessing their Airport terminal.
An Airport official said, “The international airport is blocked to traffic, including air travellers. The students blocked the way to the terminal with their vehicles, singing solidarity songs. They tool siege at the area as early as 7 am today.”
The resort to blocking roads by the protesting students has met the government reaction which warned that doing so was illegal.
Speaking on behalf of the Federal Government, Minister of Works Babatunde Fashola faulted the students’ action, saying it was infringing on the rights of innocent citizens who were not part of the strike.
While saying the students took the laws into their hands by blocking the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, he apologized to motorists who were subjected to hardship due to the outcome of the students’ protests.
