Students protest continued closure of LASU

Some students of the Lagos State University on Thursday protested against the continued closure of the institution.

The protesters, who marched to the Governor’s Office, Ikeja at about 1pm, demanded immediate re-opening of the school, which was closed on March 16, 2015.

The placard-carrying protesters also appealed to Governor Babatunde Fashola to address the lingering labour issues in the institution.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read, “Re-open LASU now”; “After election, wetin remain”; “LASU students are ready to resume,” and “We want to graduate,” among others.
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It will be recalled that the state-owned institution was closed prior to the 2015 general elections.

While the state government cited elections for the closure, there was also a brewing labour crisis which had threatened the peace in the institution.

The crisis ─ a face-off between the Non-Academic Staff Union and the school management ─ had caused the indefinite postponement of the 20th convocation earlier scheduled for March 18 and 19, 2015.

The students on Thursday said it was no longer acceptable that the institution should remain shut since the general elections had been concluded for about three weeks.

President of the Student Union Government, Wasiu Adeyemi, said, “After the elections, we expect that they would allow the students to come back to school.

“But the government and the management have remained mute, which is unacceptable.

We want to learn, we want tp go back to school.”

The students, in a position paper submitted to the governor, further appealed to Fashola to wade into the NASU/management face-off to let peace reign in the school.

While they sang and danced to songs to support the protest, some of the the students said they were optimistic that the government would work on their pleas.