Some flights were affected on Monday when members of the National Association of Nigerian Students blocked a section of the access road to the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos.
It was gathered that the protesting students carried placards having various inscriptions as they used vehicles to block inbound and outbound traffic from the Ajao to Hajj Camp area of the airport road.
The aggrieved varsity students protesting the seven-month industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities blocked the road around 8 am till press time at 4 pm, a situation that caused gridlock along the axis as the vehicular movement in and out of the airport was stalled.
A spokesperson for Air Peace, Stanley Oliseh in a chat on Monday, said the gridlock affected some passengers of the airline.
When asked whether the road blockade affected the airline’s passengers and flights, he said, “Definitely, they (passengers) can’t access the airport. So, it definitely affects passengers.
“The ongoing protest created traffic and people are finding it hard to be at the airport – passengers, and everybody.
“Some flights have been affected. We are adjusting the flight programme for the day.”
United Nigeria Airlines’ Head, Corporate Communications, Achilleus-Chud Uchegbu, said, “No major disruptions in flight operations, just delays.”
However, the spokesperson for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, said in a telephone interview that security had been beefed up around the airport.
“Our security operatives are at the airport. Security is beefed up. It is a peaceful demonstration; they are just on the road; they are not at the airport,” she said.
Similarly, NANS National Public Relations Officer, Giwa Temitope, said that security operatives have been cooperative and no student has been harassed.
As of press time, Temitope told our correspondent that the roads are still blocked and the protest will be terminated “soonest”.
Earlier, the spokesman for the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, added that police officers were deployed to the scene.
NANS had threatened to ground activities at the local and international airports across the country effective today as part of efforts to drive home their demand that the ASUU strike is called off.
The protesting students had last week blocked the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Ibadan-Ife Road.
Public universities in the country have been shut down for seven months since February 14 when ASUU embarked on its industrial action.
The Federal Government had dragged ASUU before the National Industrial Court and the court has adjourned the case to September 21, 2022.
