The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, said Nigerian students are not ready to compromise the academic calendars of educational institutions for planned protests.
The national president of the association, Lucky Emonefe, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at a town hall meeting organised for youths, students and members of the civil society organisation to interface ahead of the August 1 planned protest.
The town hall meeting was convened by NANS in collaboration with the chairman of Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments, Mr Osahon Okunbo.
Emonefe urged students and youths in the country to be law abiding and resist any call for protest.
“We are not interested in anything that will obstruct our current academic calendar; we want to continue with our studies because our academic pursuit is very important to us.
“Coming out to demonstrate is not the way to go because it can be hijacked, public peace will be disrupted and properties destroyed.
“In spite of the fact that we did not agree with those calling for demonstrations, we are very hungry, times are hard and there are harsh economic policies.
“We believe that we can engage government positively through dialogue; we are calling on government to look at some of the policies and address them,” he said.
The NANS president commended the convener of the town hall meeting for the initiative, adding that it was a way for youths in the country to express their grievances.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students’ Matters, Sunday Ashefon, in his remark, called on youths and students in the country to shun the August 1 planned protest.
He said that the coming together of students and youths in the meeting showed that youths were interested in the efforts of the federal government to ease the hardship in the country.
