The Federal Government has said the decision by students protesting the seven-month-old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities to block major highways in the country amounted to breaking the law.
Recall that the National Association of Nigerian Students had on Tuesday embarked on a protest over the ASUU strike.
During one of the protests, they blocked the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which resulted in a massive gridlock for several hours.
Reacting to the development, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, said the move by the student was against the law.
Fashola, who spoke with State House Correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said on the congestion on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the protest: “Once again, I apologise and empathise with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives.
“It’s the place we left to the last because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometres into Lagos, very densely populated and occupied.
“There’s very little room for alternative routes for people.
“So, you just have to bear with us.
“I also heard that some aggrieved students, under the aegis of NANS, are going to the road to protest.
“My respectful view is that it is not helpful at all to the citizens.
“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.
“And so, while the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests.
“That, in itself, is a violation of law.”