Minister's student meeting walkout trends in Nigeria

Nduka Orjinmo

BBC News, Abuja

Nigeria’s Education Minister Adamu Adamu has been getting a lot of criticism online for walking out on university students during a meeting over striking lecturers on Monday morning.

The president of Nigeria’s students’ association, Sunday Ashefon, made reference to the fact that the minister’s son had studied overseas during the meeting in the capital, Abuja.

“We saw it on social media, you celebrated your son who graduated in a university outside this country," Mr Ashefon said.

“Our parents don’t have that money to send us outside the country… we want adequate funding of education in this country.

“Honourable minister, we want to go back to class.”

In clips being shared on social media, Mr Adamu, whose name is now trending on Twitter, seemed visibly angry at the remarks.

He said that “the only thing” he would take from the gathering was that the students should also be involved in the negotiations with lecturers - and he left, leaving the students somewhat bewildered.

“He walked out of us?” asked the students’ leader.

The students then broke into chants of “Adamu must go”, while banging on tables .

Mr Adamu seemed to later recover his temper and came back and met the student representatives on Monday evening.

A post on his ministry’s Facebook page, showing him posing for a photograph with them, says it hopes the process will “lead to the resumption of academic activities on our campuses”.

The latest lecturers' strike is to demand that the government implement a 2009 agreement to increase education funding.

Students are protesting across the country, mostly in solidarity with their lecturers.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: Nigerian Education Ministry/Facebook