Protesting Students Blocking Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Are Lawbreakers

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has reacted to protest led by members of the National Association of Nigerian students (NANS) at Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which caused serious traffic problems on Tuesday.

According to the Minister, while speaking to statehouse reporters after the Federal Executive meeting on Wednesday , stated that the students are violating the law by using the protea to “inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.”

Fashola said, “Once again, I apologise and empathise with commuters who need that place to get on with their lives. It’s the place we left to the last really because it’s the most built-up area, the last six kilometers into Lagos; very densely populated and occupied. There’s very little room for alternative routes for people. So, you just have to bear with us.

“I also heard that some aggrieved students under the aegis of NANS are going to the road to protest. My respectful view is that is not helpful at all to the citizens.

“The right to protest is a very well-protected right in our Constitution, but it does not include the right to inflict pain and inconvenience on other people.

“And so, whilst the protests can go on, they should refrain from blocking the road in order to do their protests. That in itself is a violation of law.”