The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike for three months, following a rupture from a 2021 deal with the Federal Government.

Funding for the revitalization of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a preferred payment option over the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and payment of promotion arrears are among the demands made by the Union.

Nigerian students who have been compelled to stay at home during the academic year have begun to express their dissatisfaction with the long-running strike through offline and online protests.

On Wednesday, student protests at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, both in Edo State, spawned the hashtag #EndASUUStrike.

Foster Amadin, President of the students Union Government, UNIBEN, said, “We just want to express our grievances as regards the ongoing ASUU strike because we have stayed at home for over 79 days.”

“The truth is, we are not for ASUU neither are we fighting for or against anybody, all we know, and all we want is to go back to our classes.”

“We don’t want to stay at home any longer. We are stagnated academically.”

“All we want and all we are asking for is that we want to go back to our classes, we want to learn and graduate”

He warned that most students are approaching 30 years old, and that once they reach that age, they will be unable to get a good job or participate in the required youth service program.

According to Mr. Asefon, “We are battle ready, the highest they can do is to shoot us,” he said. “If they shoot, they will ask their police to shoot us, if we die, the generation coming will know we died because of fighting for them. They would also know that they shot us because they are preparing for election. But we need to take action”

Students who were unable to attend the rally on campus used the hashtag #EndASUUStrike to air their frustrations online.