By Amaka Abayomi

The Education Rights Campaign, ERC, has strongly condemned the Osun State government for  brutalizing students of the state-owned higher institutions who embarked on a peaceful demonstration in the state capital, Osogbo, to protest the continuous closure of their campuses as a result of government’ refusal to meet striking lecturers’ demands.

The four state-owned institutions have been under lock and key for over four months now since lecturers, under the Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Tertiary Institutions, CASUOSTI, downed tools because of inadequate funding, poor pay and working conditions.

The angry students, under the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Joint Campus Committee, JCC, Osun State axis, mobilized and marched to the streets of the state capital on a peaceful protest to inform the public of their plight and also seek audience with the governor.

ERC’s National Coordinator, Hassan Soweto, commenting on the development said; “As far as we are concerned, this demand is legitimate and a serious government that is truly committed to education should not allow its youth to roam the streets when they should be in classrooms.

“We condemn the government’s latest assault on the democratic rights of  Osun State tertiary institutions students,” ERC said.