Activities at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos were on Monday paralysed as students of higher institutions of learning led by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) barricaded the entrance and exit roads of the airport, following the ongoing strike embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The protesting students blocked the Ajao Road end of the airport, while the Ikeja Underbridge, which leads to the local airport was also totally blocked.
- The students with various placards with inscriptions as: ‘Education is a right, open our schools now,’ ‘APC detests education,’ ‘How can a man without certificate cherish education’ and ‘Education Minister Must Go,’ among others, vowed that they would continue to block major facilities in the country until the Federal Government attend to the requests of their lecturers.
Students in their hundreds protested on the major roads leading to the airport despite the early morning rain.
Some of the air travellers who had flights to catch alighted from their vehicles and boarded motorcycles at very exorbitant rates, while others were seen trekking with their luggage either in their hands or firmly held in their heads in order not to miss their flights.
A motorbiker flagged down by our correspondent at the Ikeja Under Bridge, demanded the sum of N5,000 to the local airport.
It took our correspondent over three hours to navigate from Ikeja Underbridge to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Lagos Airport from the Ikeja Under Bridge.
One of the protesting students, who identified himself as Sikiru Ajayi, lamented that he was a final year student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), but was unable to present his project to his supervisor since the school was shut down about seven months ago.
According to him, some of his mates who attended private universities were already observing the one-year compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), while he and others in the public universities were still at the various stages of their education.
He called on the Federal Government to address the situation in order to reduce crimes and criminal activities in the country.
He said: “Some of us have been at home since February, yet we are stagnant. We can’t move further in our studies and our life too is truncated with this stance of the government. The Federal Government needs to please attend to our plights. Our parents too are suffering.”
Also, another passenger at the MMA2 who missed his flight due to the gridlock decried the situation.
Mr. Lukman Anifowose who claimed to be a passenger on Max Air alleged that he spent more than four hours from the Maryland area to get to the airport for a 1pm flight to Abuja.
According to him, he learnt of the impending blockage by the students and decided to leave home early, but lamented that he still missed his flight.
Like Ajayi, Anifowose appealed to the government to attend to the needs of the lecturers so that the students could return to school.
AGBERO CULTURE continues to be on the ascendancy in Nigeria…smh. Is it the innocent air travelers trying to make a living in difficult country who sent your lecturers on strike?