The Vice Chancellor of Benue State University (BSU), Makurdi, Prof. Joe Iorapuu, has said that the six months old ongoing strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) across the country is already affecting the mental health of students.
Iorapuu made the remark while answering questions from some journalists in Makurdi on Thursday about the fate of undergraduates following the prolonged ASUU strike.
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He said the students have long stayed at home such that they were being affected mentally, adding that there is a need for striking lecturers to expand their thoughts by shelving their action.
“Whether it (strike) will affect the students; it has already affected the students mentally. There is a new conversation around mental health; it has already affected the students.
“My daughter who is supposed to have graduated almost a year now is still hanging in the University of Jos because of all these. Two of them are there; the one that is in 100-level should have been in 300 level now.
“So, you see that we are also victims of these (strike). It pains me that our children are victims. We are also victims and society sometimes doesn’t understand. That’s why I’m saying we (colleagues) should sit back and think again,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor emphasised the need for the federal and state governments to take education seriously when planning for the country in order to put a permanent end to strikes in the educational sector.
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