The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Thursday called on the striking university lecturers in the country to return to classrooms in the interest of the students, warning that attempts at keeping students at home longer than necessary portends great danger to their future.

NANS President, Mr.  Yinka Gbadebo in a statement in Ibadan called on the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to classes in the interest of Nigerian students while continuing their negotiations with the Federal Government.

It noted that the myriads of problems in the education sector requires all stakeholders to come together and articulate a common demand, adding that a situation where one union shuts the entire education system was not only counter productive but unhealthy in the face of global competitiveness

Speaking on the Rivers crisis, NANS called on the gladiators to sheath their swords and work towards the attainment of a united and peaceful Nigeria and urged President Goodluck Jonathan to act as the father of the nation, by calling on actors in the Rivers crisis to come together and find lasting peace to the problem.

It warned that events in Rivers-State, if not curtailed, may derail our fragile democracy. While noting that the crisis was political which needs political answer, NANS said that the innocent masses of Rivers-State will be grossly affected in any struggle between warring ruling elite.

Contrary to a statement credited to one John Shima who parades himself as acting Senate President that NANS was going to mobilize against the presidency, Gbadebo said that NANS had not taken any official position and neither did Shima possess any authority to talk on behalf of the association.

According to NANS, nobody has the moral and constitutional justification to speak for NANS in political matters than its president or appointed.

 It warned that any attempt to factionalize or destabilize NANS will be resisted.  On the security insurgency in the country, it urged government at all levels to find lasting solution to the insurgency in the north, saying that  the huge government  money spent on defence and the unabated terror of Boko Haram had shown that only economic justice could permanently resolve the Boko Haram and related menace.

It condemned the terror group, saying that it had employed the wrong approach to resolving the problems of this country as killing poorly- fed citizens would only aggravate the nation’s problem.