UPDATE: ASUU Strike – Students blocking Lagos-Ibadan expressway are violating laws — FG
The Federal Government, on Wednesday, in reaction to the protest held by members of the National Association of Nigerian students (NANS), said that blocking a section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is equal as “violating” the country’s law.
While briefing the State House Correspondents in a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola SAN, stated that the Constitution of Nigeria recognizes and protects citizens’ right to public protests but does not empower any Nigerian to “inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.”
Earlier today, the students embarked on a protest which caused a gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, the protest took place just after the Shagamu Interchange section of the expressway, towards Lagos. The protesting students carried placards with different inscriptions and chanting solidarity songs as they lamented the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, that has prolonged for seven months. They demanded to end the strike.
In his words, He said “Once again, I apologize and empathize with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. It’s the place we left to the last really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometers into Lagos; very densely populated and occupied. There’s very little room for alternative routes for people. So, you just have to bear with us.
Apply For UK Scholarships ~ FG Tells Students Amid ASUU Strike
“I also heard that some aggrieved students under the aegis of NANS are going to the road to protest. My respectful view is that is not helpful at all to the citizens.
“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people. And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.”
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