By Tayo Joseph Lagos, Nigeria.
There is an immiinent mass protest slated to hold on the 6th of March. In a statement signed by Sanyaolu Juwon, secretary of the Coalition , the mass action was resolved at a meeting convened by the Alliance of Nigerian Students Against Neoliberal Attacks (ANSA) at the Lagos State University (LASU) on the 18th of February 2017 to demand the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of Comrade Adeyeye Olorunfemi (The National Secretary of ANSA and active member of SAYASI) as well as the UNILAG 10.
The meeting witnessed the active participation of NANS JCC Lagos, SAYASI, TASUED SUG, ERC Lagos, NANS VP External and other well meaning radical Students’ Activists of LASU. It was however the resolution of the above stated broad coalition to declare March 6 as a day of action in demand for the reinstatement of the politically victimized comrades of the University of Lagos (UNILAG). It will be recalled that the students of the University of Lagos protested the bad welfare condition of the campus for three consecutive days.
The protest started on the 6th of April 2016 before it was forcefully repressed on April 8. While the management has till date remained recalcitrant and unrepentant in the aim of strangulating the welfare condition of students, they have rather been swift and astute in repressing constructive dissent channeled at demanding modern living condition for the general studentry.
The management immediately rusticated the students perceived to be forerunners of the struggle and subsequently placed the Students’ Union under ban; a tactic which does not only reflect a flagrant display of impunity but a characteristics that can only be attributed to feudal dictatorship. Today, the institution that prides itself as one of the best University in the country cannot boast of six hours of steady power supply neither has water supply deviated from being persistently epileptic.
The fraudulent imposition of N4000 laboratory fee has done nothing to eradicate the obsolete condition of the University Laboratory; it has in fact complicated the antiquated situation of the supposed research room. The management of the institution has continued to give no relevance to constructive dissent and freedom of speech as the administration of the campus has taken a ridiculous dimension of a Russian ancient prison. The campus has in general bided farewell to humane welfare since the protest that consumed UNILAG finest.
The events in the University of Lagos have not only confirmed the correctness of the students’ struggle of April, it has as also re-enforced the apt necessity to take up an active struggle against the aforementioned myriads of crisis that currently belittles the institution as a University that has only succeeded in advancing a little above the renaissance. It is on this basis that we re-emphasize our call for the immediate reinstatement of the 11 victimized students’ activist, democratic restoration of the Students’ Union and pro-student living and learning condition.
We demand an end to arbitrary imposition of fees and a right to free, quality and accessible education for all students. We forthwith enjoin mass of students, activists, civil societies, NANS, students’ unions and organized labor, to join us in Lagos on 6th of March 2017 as we collectively reject this aggravated trend of undemocratic management of our universities.
