The highlight of this week has been the act of the honorable minister of Education Mr. Adamu Adamu angrily walking out on National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) delegates.
On Monday, Adamu Adamu, the honorable minister of education stormed out of a meeting with the students’ representatives under the auspices of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) led by the union president, Mr. Sunday Asefon, over the ongoing and never ending strikes by Association of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has been distorting academic activities in universities and other higher institutions.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had, on February 14, this year again embarked on a one-month warning strike (after which they threatened that they may take it to longer time) if the government don’t meet their demands; the government had in so many instances failed to honor the contract they have entered with the university staff union.
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Students have been protesting and blocking major roads in different states and different parts of the country. On Monday, the students decided to take the protest to the federal capital territory and blocked major roads in the city and stormed the Ministry of Education and also the National Assembly to register their displeasures to the ministry and the law makers
In continuation of the protest, the students summoned the Honorable Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu to an impromptu press conference with the minister and other high ranking officers in the ministry of education.
The students delegate leader who is the president of NANS, Mr. Sunday Asefon, boldly spoke to the Honorable minister and made known the demands of the students union and called for immediate end of the ongoing strike of the university lecturers. The National president of the student body also accused the Minister of sending his son abroad to study while he let the Nigerian schools to fall out of shape.
These accusations by the National President that the Minster sends his children to foreign schools might have gotten the Honorable minister angry.
The minister while reacting to the statements of the National president of NANS, had chided the union that instead of coming protest at the ministry and the federal Capital Territory the students should have addressed their grievance with their lecturers in their respective institutions; The Minister said “instead of coming here to protest you should have address your grievances with your lecturers, Perhaps the only point that you made that is even worthy of attention is that you said students should be involved in this (discussion) and I think it’s probably a good thing, and that is only what I will take away from here”.
After making these comments, the honorable minister angrily stormed out of the meeting. It can only be assumed that the minister felt insulted over the tune the national president of NANS had used in addressing him and accusing him of sending his children abroad to study while he let Nigerian institutions of learning to collapse.
The minister feeling insulted that he was accused of sending his children to school abroad is quite funny because Nigerian leaders right from the president down to the least of them have their children schooling abroad, that is while it was widely celebrated when the governor of Kaduna state, Governor El-rufai posted that he took his last son to enroll him in a public school in the state.
This act was deemed as just a publicity stunt by the Governor to score some cheap political goals as he quickly and secretly took the son out of the school after the publicity and claimed that kidnappers were targeting to abduct the son from the school.