THE Movement For A Socialist Alternative (MSA) has thrown its weight behind students of the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) and has condemned the brutal attacks on the them by security operatives when the students protested on Monday alleged irregularities by the university’s authorities.
MSA, in a statement signed by Comrade Dimeji Macaulay, National Coordinator and Comrade Akande Daniel, Branch Secretary, described the attack on the students as unprovoked, “unwarranted and undemocratic” and expressed strong support for the demands of the students.
The students in the protest kicked against alleged closure of the portal meant for the payment of school and other fees, and demanded the reopening of the portal as well as an extension of payment of the fees to the end of the session. The students also demanded for the reversal of school fees for next session.
“This to us is an irresponsible measure always taken by university managements across the country to cover up the real issues behind students protests and also to punish students by unnecessarily disrupting the academic calendar,” MSA stated, while condemning the poor living condition of students of the university, describing it as “ignoble”.
The organisation said the situation in UNIABUJA clearly illustrates the general situation in many other tertiary institutions in the country where students are made to live and study under appalling conditions.
“We demand that none of those who participated in the protest should be victimized, and that the management and federal government must fund public tertiary institutions adequately starting from the immediate allocation of the UNESCO standard of 26% of the annual budget to public education and up to providing free education at all levels, as public education is the only alternative available for working class and poor middle class youths.
“Students across Nigeria are faced with the challenges of ill-equipped libraries and laboratories, congested classrooms, high student-teacher ratio among others. We commend the courage and audacity of the students in embarking on their action. The struggle must be linked with a national campaign for the provision of adequate infrastructural facilities on all campuses in the country…
“This is why we have also been calling for the setting up of a budget monitoring committee in all campuses with the involvement of elected representatives of education workers and students to hold education administrators accountable,” MSA stated.
