ASUU STRIKE UPDATES: EKITI STUDENTS EMBARK ON FASTING AND PRAYER FOR GOD'S INTERVENTION

Students of Ekiti State
origin in tertiary institutions
embarked on marathon prayers to
seek divine intervention in the five-
month old strike by the members of
the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian
Universities, ASUU.
The students, who were drawn from
the various institutions of higher
learning converged at Lady Jibowu
Hall, Ekiti Government House where
they held the prayer session
The session had in attendance, the
state’s Deputy Governor, Professor
Modupe Adelabu and some clerics.
Adelabu in her remarks cautioned
the students against taking to the
streets and engaging in illegal acts
that could lead to violence and
disruption of peace in the state.
She noted that they did the right
thing by taking their petition to
God. She said it was unfortunate
that both parties to the dispute –
ASUU and the Federal Government –
had remained adamant despite
interventions from well-meaning
Nigerians.
The number two citizen of the state
urged the students not to relent in
their regular prayer for divine
intervention, saying that the death
of Prof Festus Iyayi, a frontline ASUU
member in an auto-crash along the
Abuja-Lokoja Road introduced
another twist to the lingering
dispute.
Mrs Adelabu, who expressed the
hope that the prayers of the
students would yield the desired
result in a matter of days, counseled
the undergraduates against
engaging in activities that could
jeopardize their future.
Mrs Adelabu regretted that the
situation which keeps them at home
in the past few months was not their
own making and that their teachers
did not deliberately embark on the
strike to put the students’ future at
stake.
According to her, the lecturers were
only pressing for their rights and
other logistics that will improve the
facilities in the nation’s citadel of
leaning and to make them world
standard.
Advising the students to engage
themselves in profitable ventures,
she also urged them not to
completely abandon their studies
but constantly review their lecture
notes in preparation for the re-
opening of the varsities.
Source: Vanguard