By MILLICENT IFEANYICHUKWU

The National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS) has said the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike would affect student’s chances in the labour market after graduation.

Mr. Shasanya Akinola, National President of NULASS, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday said that the Federal Government has not been fair to educational sector.

NAN reports that the National Executive Council of ASUU on August 1 announced a four-weeks extension of the strike action in public universities embarked on by its members in February 2022.

According to him, there is a popular saying that when two elephants are fighting, it is the grass that suffers; in this case Nigerian students are the ones at the receiving end of the fight between these two elephants.

“After spending extra year in school, graduates go through another hustle of getting a good job in the labour market, and this labour market tends to be very competitive and come with some huge requirements.

“This include requirement such as age limit usually between 23 years to 25 years of age.

“Many graduates often miss out on golden opportunities to work in their dream organisations due to ASUU strike resulting in longer stay in school and increase in their age.

“The strike has left students idle and made some of them join bad groups engaging in crime which have further contributed to the increased insecurity rate in Nigeria,” Akinola added.

He, however, noted that in spite of the unpalatable situations, it was important that some students make judicious use of the strike to best advantages by getting involved in good and lucrative activities.

“Some have enrolled for internship and online courses which will add value to their degree certificates, making it possible for the graduates to be more qualified and increase their employment opportunities in the forever competitive labour market,” he added.

Akinola described the unemployment rate in the country as alarming, advised undergraduates to venture into acquiring skills for entrepreneurship, to be meaningfully engaged and even employers of labour against job seeking.

Akinola, however warned the undergraduates not to allow the ongoing ASUU strike and recent four weeks extension to push them into a state of negative thinking or depression. (NAN)

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