Reactions As Girl Blames ASUU Strike for making her ‘Sell her body to Men’ to Survive
The strike action by the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has continued to influence the lifestyle of female students on Nigerian campuses negatively.
At a restaurant in Wuse 2 Abuja, Monica, also known as Monik, a student of the Kogi State University, looked ready for a conversation.
At first, she had thought a young man had come for her, possibly for her night business. She engaged Legit.ng’s correspondent in a conversation, and in the end, she was willing to go with our correspondent to any of the nearby hotels to spend the night.
And the conversation continued: “But you are a student. You shouldn’t be doing this,” our correspondent advised amid her readiness to swim on his bed for the night and for only ten thousand naira. (N10,000).
Monica said: “I’m not going to lie about it. What I do these days is far worse than what sex workers do . I can’t just sit at home doing nothing. We all have that beast-like side. This side manifests every time you are idle. I’m not trying to justify what is not right, but at this point, Nigerian students can be justified for whatever they do to survive.”
This conversation is an offshoot of concerns by Nigerians over the influx of young ladies in Abuja who normally converge in the city centres and around nightclubs to get the attention of men.
At a nightclub in Wuse 2, Legit.ng observes that most of the girls who were out to hustle for the night were mainly undergraduates.
In a random interview, no fewer than 10 ladies that interacted with our correspondent complained about the hardship in the country and the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, that have now put them under serious pressure.
A 300 Level student of the University of Abuja who preferred not to be mentioned denied being involved in sex work. According to her, boredom pushes her out of her house every Friday.
She said: “We are not doing anything wrong. We are only trying to have fun since ASUU has refused to call off its strike and our government has continued to remain insensitive to our plight.
“The hardship and the stress in the land are beyond human comprehension. We must find a way to air off the stress. This is why some of us are out at night. This doesn’t mean we are sex workers.
“Of course, if we get close to one or two guys and we benefit from them, it’s our luck. Once they call off this strike, the street will surely become empty.”
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While reacting to this development, the South West zonal coordinator of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Tegbe Stephen Fiyinfoluwa said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.
While he agreed that the idleness created by the ASUU strike could be responsible for the new way of life by the female students, Tegbe argued that ASUU may not be the main reason why some of the students are into side hustling.
He said: “You will agree with me that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Most of these girls were already looking for an opportunity to explore, and ASUU has created the opportunity already.
I want to state that it’s only a few of our girls who are involved in the act. There are still good ones among them who stay with their parents and take instructions from them.
“But the truth is that the hardship and the environment we have found ourselves today is capable of exposing us to dangerous ventures. So I will particularly blame the Federal government for refusing to listen to our appeal and agitations. You can see that we are even tired. No one is talking about ASUU strike anymore. Our students have given up.
“But what is exposing most of our girls to this dangerous trend is social media. We are an internet generation and ASUU strike has created that opportunity for many people to network online.”
Nigerians react:
Adam Abdul said “That so-called student from Kogi State University you interviewed is a blatant liar, in fact she is worse than Buhari that always received shock because as of today Kogi State Uni is not on strike and not part of ASSU as well.”
Popoola Adebiyi Abiodun: How did they survive in school with stipend given to them by guidance or parents. Already they have engaged in such act.
Elchar : Your mates are taking courses on coursera, udemy, edx, learning skills and adding value to themselves, they are doing one remote job or the other, you are there blaming the government and ASUU for your lack of initiative.
Adeyeni Adebukola janet: Don’t blame your sanity on ASSU strike, even when school is open that is how you do, tell me is the school paying you salary it not your parents that should be in charge so strike is on you should be in your parents house and struggle legitimately and not covering up for your dirty act.
