SAN FRANCISCO, September 10, (THEWILL) – The newly-appointed National Youth Leader, Timi Frank, threatened on Tuesday that he was ready to mobilise students across the country for a mass protest against the Federal Government because of the non-challant attitude of the government to the lingering strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
“I am going to lead a protest against the present government because it has not done anything to demonstrate that the future of the Nigerian youth is paramount in its agenda, “he said while interacting with the media in Abuja.
Timi, who was appointed alongside other members of the National Executive Committee of the Abubakar Baraje-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, issued the threat on a day members of the University of Port-Harcourt chapter of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) blocked the East-West road for over an hour in protest of the ASUU strike which started on July 2.
Condemning the insensitivity of the Jonathan -led administration to the plight of the students who had to stay at home idling away because of the strike by their lecturers , Timi described the attitude of President Jonathan to the plight of the striking workers as an indication that he has lost track with the basic tenets of governance.
“Since all entreaties to make government honour its agreement with the lecturers has failed, the only option left for anyone concern about the future of this country is to mobilise the affected students for a mass protest,” he said, disclosing that he had been in consultation with various student groups in the country to fine tune strategies for the protest.
“Before I became the National Youth Leader of the new PDP, I had been speaking against the injustice being meted out to the Nigerian students over the ongoing ASUU strike. I can assure you that this is an issue the new PDP will address.
“I am going to take this campaign up as the National Youth Leader of the new PDP. I am going to lead a protest against the present government because it has not done anything to demonstrate that the future of the Nigerian youth is paramount in its agenda. I have begun consultations with various student groups and we will unfold our strategies for the mass protest soon.
“University undergraduates are at home, but today nobody is talking about the situation, all what they are talking about is their 2015 ambition. PDP will not give any leader in 2015 that will not stand by the youths of this country and will not resolve the ASUU crisis. Anybody that wants to stand under the platform of PDP must show commitment to the plight of the Nigerian youth, “he declared.
Timi, wo said he had been elected under the new PDP as the National Youth Leader , said his immediate goal was to rally all the PDP youth leaders across the nation in support of the new agenda of bringing sanity to the party .
He said the future of the youths can only be secured if the various injustices under the Bamanga Tukur-led PDP are redressed.
