Students block Benin airport road over ASUU extended strike

• Poly lecturers threaten nationwide industrial action

Students of tertiary institutions in Edo State on Monday blocked the gate of the airport and the busy Airport Road over the extended strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The incident created gridlock along the Airport road, which extended to adjoining roads in the GRA of Benin City.

The students were from the University of Benin, Ambrose Alli University of Benin, Ekpoma, Auchi Polytechnic and Edo State Polytechnic, Usen.

The protesters also moved to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Edo State council to register their grievances, with the Students Union Government’s president of UNIBEN, Foster Amadin, appealing to the media to reach out to those connected with the protracted ASUU strike.

“We are lending our voice and we are appealing to whosoever is concerned. We have also come here as students that know the importance of the media to express our displeasure over the lingering ASUU strike.

Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, (ASUP) has announced its plans to embark on nationwide strike action from May 11, 2022 over what it called non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action it reached with the Federal Government in May 2021.

The Zonal Coordinator of Zone D comprising the South-South and South-East, Mr Precious Nwakodo, stated this during a press briefing at Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, on Monday.

He said part of the reasons for the strike was the non-release of the N15bn revitalization fund approved over a year ago for the sector to address infrastructural deficit as contained in the 2014 Needs Assessment Report.

He said, “Following the discouraging response of the government to the one-month notice of ultimatum, which ended five days ago, 4th of May, the NEC of the union will be meeting in two days’ time in Abuja to review the situation and take a decision on the planned strike.”

He said that the Federal and state governments had failed to commence payment of 10-month arrears of the new minimum wage after three years of signing the bill into law, adding that many states of the federation were yet to implement the new minimum wage in the various institutions