By Joseph Erunke, Abuja
The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has warned state governors whose universities are affected by the latest Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU ultimatum against allowing their failure to implement the 2025 agreement with the union to trigger another round of university strikes.
NANS, in a strongly worded statement on Tuesday, said students must not be made to pay the price for disputes between ASUU and governments, insisting that any further shutdown of universities would deepen the academic, psychological and economic hardship already suffered by millions of Nigerian students.
The students’ body spoke against the backdrop of ASUU’s decision to authorise 20 university branches to issue 14-day ultimatums over outstanding aspects of the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU agreement, with industrial action potentially looming after the expiration of the ultimatums.
The development has already resulted in industrial action at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, heightening fears of a fresh disruption of the university academic calendar.
NANS President, Dist. Comr. Akinteye Babatunde Afeez, in the statement, acknowledged ASUU members’ right to demand the implementation of agreements reached with government, but urged the union not to direct the consequences of the dispute at students.
According to him, Nigerian students have endured enough disruptions through previous strikes, which resulted in prolonged academic programmes, delayed graduation and significant psychological distress.
The students’ body particularly shifted the burden of responsibility to state governments, arguing that where outstanding obligations under the 2025 agreement concern state-owned universities, the affected governors should immediately intervene rather than allow universities to become casualties of administrative failures.
NANS described any governor who allows an avoidable strike to cripple the university system despite increased allocations accruing to states as “irresponsible and unfit to be a Governor.”
It accused such governors of showing “gross insensitivity” to students and university workers, describing failure to meet their obligations as a serious dereliction of responsibility.
The association therefore demanded immediate action from governors of states with affected universities to resolve outstanding issues and ensure that benefits due to eligible academic staff are paid without further delay.
NANS warned that students would resist any attempt to make them bear the consequences of what it described as the “irresponsibility, ineptitude and callousness” of state authorities.
“It is neither fair nor just for students to be sent away from classrooms because of the irresponsibility of these state governments,” the association declared, stressing that students must not become victims of disputes over agreements to which they were not parties.
The students’ body also appealed to ASUU’s leadership to reconsider any action that could lead to the closure of universities, urging the union to intensify engagement with the governments and institutions responsible for outstanding obligations.
NANS said the classroom should be “the last place where the consequences of an administrative failure are borne by innocent students.”
The association, however, pledged to continue engaging ASUU, the Federal Government and university managements constructively, insisting that Nigerian students deserve an uninterrupted academic environment.
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