Since February 14 this year, Students in public institutions have been at home since 14 February, as academic activities have been temporarily halted due to the strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities -ASUU. Several staff unions in the varsity sector have also joined in embarking on the industrial action.
The unions are protesting for better welfare packages, more cash to run the higher institutions, curbing indiscriminate launch of new universities, discontinuing the use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System -IPPIS, as the major payment platform in the universities in Nigeria, etc. however, countless meetings have held between the federal government and the unions to reach an agreement and resolve the issue, nothing tangible has been agreed upon in those meetings.
Idle university students have now taken to betting, internet fraud, prostitution, farming, and others to while away time as they wait for the strike to be called off. Some male students have taken over illegal activities such as betting, and internet fraud while some of their female counterparts engage in bad vices like “Hook up” which is code for prostitution in this current age.
The news is not all bleak however as other students who do not want to sully their hands with illegal activities have engaged in profitable things to either help out at home or to save up money/gain new skills for when their school eventually resumes. Some students have been learning tailoring work, baking cakes and pastries, web development, and others.
