Mass protest rocks Abeokuta over ASUU strike ************************* ****************************** A coalition of university lecturers, students, labour and civil organisations yesterday marched on the streets of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, to protest the alleged refusal of the Federal Government to end the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The protesters carried placards denouncing the Federal Government’s unwillingness to honour the terms of agreement it reached with ASUU in 2009. They urged Nigerians to use a mass rally to compel the government to release funds for the implementation of the agreement. The protesters took over roads, making vehicular movement difficult. Police Commissioner Ikemefuna Okoye said his men monitored the protest. The Joint Action Front (JAF), the facilitator of the protest, said it was wrong of the Federal Government to allow students stay home for three months. JAF Secretary Abiodun Aremu said the government should be blamed for the strike. Aremu said: “Students have been home since July 1 because of the strike. For three months, polytechnic students had their academic calendar disrupted for similar reasons. “Just last week, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) had a warning strike. All these have implications on the academic calendars, standard of education, security and the future of the current generation and the Nigerian child.” The President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Ogun State chapter, Falola Ahmed, bemoaned the fall in the standard of education and urged the government to end the strike.