We want the Federal Government to see to our plight, we are tired of staying at home, we want to go back to school, since two months they closed down the schools.”

“I want to go back to school, I want to go back to class to learn.”

“We are asking ASUU and FG to call off the strike immediately; we need lectures, we want to go back to the classrooms.”

These were the views of some members of National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS), as they caused obstruction on the Choba axis of the East West road, last Friday, protesting that the strike embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has lasted for too long.

The protesters expressed worry over the strike which has kept them at home for two months now saying both Federal government and ASUU have refused to reach an agreement.

Speaking to newsmen, the National President of NURSS, Mr. Warmate Awoloye, said that the students have decided to take their destiny into their hands and can no longer stay at home.

“It is the duty of the students to come out to say what is bad or how we are being treated.

“The federal government has not attended to the issues of ASUU and they have decided to keep us at home, we are saying we cannot continue”.

Also speaking, the Student Union (SUG) President, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Mr. Godswill Amadi, urged the federal government to show some level of responsibility and advised ASUU and Federal government to have a roundtable discussion that would lead to a decision.

“I want to request ASUU and federal government to go back to negotiation table, the students are running off time, we are going off patience and we request ASUU to shift ground including federal government.

“Federal government should show some level of responsibility while ASUU should show patriotism, both parties should go back to negotiation table and come up with a decision that would be favourable to the students”.

Expressing his views, the SUG President, Uniport, Mr. Owokiri Orinno, advised federal government and ASUU to shift ground so that the students would resume studies as soon as possible.

“We are not happy with both parties, if they really want the future of Nigeria, I think they should shift ground and make it fast so that we go back to classroom.

“I am not happy, other students are not also happy. If they don’t call off the strike after 30th, we shall carry out a protest and in that protest, we are neither supporting ASUU nor federal government”.

In an exclusive interview, with The Tide, in Port Harcourt, the NURSS national President, Warmate Awoloye, said federal government and ASUU should be reminded of our position as stakeholders and as such we need to be handled with utmost priority.

He lamented that if they have no wherewithal to study abroad, they should not be pushed to become hoodlums as a result of strike.

According to him, “some of us have forgotten our matriculation numbers because four (4)-year courses have lasted for 6-8 years.

“We always bear the brunt of all their fights and we stand to say enough of that.”

It would be recalled that after the meeting between the federal government and ASUU at Abuja, last Tuesday, ASUU National President, Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie, told newsmen that ASUU would delibrerate on offers made to them by the federal government.

Prof. Awuzie insisted that the outcome of their meeting would determine whether the strike should continue or be called off.

His words: “Whatever gave rise to the strike also gave rise to discussions”.

The minister of Education, Prof. Ruquyyatu Rufai, who also spoke to journalists declined to disclose the terms of the offer and said: “It is after the meeting that we will hear the outcome”..

Prof. Rufai noted that the federal government remained hopeful that ASUU would accept its offer and call off the strike soon.

Eunice Choko-Kayode