PHOTOS: UNILAG Students Meet NANS with Gates Locked

Protesters organized by the Joint Campus Committee (JCC) of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) were barred from gaining entrance into the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in the afternoon of September 25, 2013, Wednesday.

The protesters began their march about 12 p.m., starting out from the bustling Ojuelegba overhead bridge in the Surulere area of Lagos, and stopping just outside the main entrance gate at the University of Lagos.

According to SaharaReporters the police did not disrupt the protest, but that the protesters found the university’s gates shut against them. A source within UNILAG disclosed that many of the university’s students did not participate in the protest, and in fact instigated the closure of the gate to prevent the protest from drawing a crowd within the institution.

In another development, the new national President of NANS, Yinka Gbadebo, had reportedly dissociated himself from any protest held in solidarity with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), whose members have been on a long strike. In earlier statements, Mr. Gbadebo took a stance against both ASUU and the Federal Government. However, the NANS leader has been particularly critical of ASUU, accusing the body of opposing efforts to revive student union bodies in every institution. His position has evolved to reveal increasing sympathy with the Federal Government.

In turn, the leader of the Lagos chapter of the JCC of NANS accused Mr. Gbadebo and other NANS leaders of “misrepresenting the students at the federal level,” adding, “we are not waiting on them for any movement.”

The JCC protesters demonstrated outside the UNILAG gate for several hours. Throughout the protest, the gate remained locked, with no one able to go in or out of the gate until the protests ended in the late afternoon. 

View more photos from the site of the protest below:

Source: Sahara Reporters