Human Rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has called on Nigerian students to shut down everything with mass action.

Sowore made the call on Monday while reacting to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s extension of its ongoing strike action by three months.

NewsBeatng reports that the Union’s president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, in a statement issued said the roll-over strike would commence on May 12, 2022.

“The government’s resort to the use of starvation as a weapon for breaking the collective resolve of ASUU members and undermining our patriotic struggle to reposition public universities in Nigeria was ill-advised and may prove counterproductive.

“NEC was shocked that public universities have remained closed for about three months while members of the political class were busy purchasing expression of interest and nomination forms worth several millions of Naira in preparations for 2023 elections!

“Those in power turned their back on our degraded universities as they shuttle between Europe and America to celebrate the graduation of their children and wards from world-class universities. This speaks volumes about the level of depravity, insensitivity, and irresponsibility of Nigeria’s opportunistic and parasitic political class.

“The result of the criminal neglect of education and gross mismanagement of the nation’s patrimony is evident in the collapse of the security architecture of our nation. Insecurity is getting worse by the day and spreading like the harmattan inferno in hitherto peaceful and secured parts of Nigeria, including university campuses. ASUU warns, once more, that unless something drastic is done to reverse these ugly trends, the country may be headed for a state of anarchy.

“NEC condemned the provocative statements of some government functionaries and salutes the Nigerian Labour Congress, patriotic students’ groups and civil society organisations who have taken steps towards resolving the current labour dispute with the Nigerian government.

“NEC found the planned overseas trip organised by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities’ Spouses (CVCNUS) despicable and condemnable. The advertised five-day conference in Istanbul is a waste of scarce resources of our universities; it is insensitive and provocative, particularly at a time like this when lecturers are denied their salaries for daring to struggle to improve a lot of our public universities,” the statement read in part.