From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
While the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) continues, a 20-year-old student of the Gombe State University (GSU) has lamented that the strike has forced her into urgent search for a husband.
Maryam Adamu, a 200-level student of Public Administration at GSU, explained in an interview with Daily Sun in Gombe that the strike has messed up her plans and wishes of graduating before the age of 20, and the continued strike and her staying at home have slowly killed her spirit of studying before marriage.
“I cannot take it anymore. Our continued stay at home following the shutting down of academic activities since February is not going down well with us. Many of us have lost the spirit. As I speak now, if I am asked to choose between going back to school and marriage, I would put marriage first,” said the student, who disclosed that she had been carried away by studies and never thought of marrying before graduation.
She further said: “This strike has forced me into an urgent search for a husband because that is what I could think of while staying at home with no assignments and studies to keep me busy. Most of my friends who had married earlier when marriage was a no-go area for me are today nursing their one or two children and I am in a way jealous.
“ASUU and government can continue with their games, all I care about and I am worrying about now is to get married so that I will not fall into things I will end up regretting because I don’t even know what I will be going back to do if schools are to be reopened today. They have killed the interest in me and so many of school friends. My parents have now picked interest in giving me out in marriage.”
Just like Maryam, Farida Umar Mustapha also groaned over the strike, stating that, apart from missing her books, it has also made her jobless as she misses her petty trade in school. The 200-level student of Economics Education at Federal University, Kashere (FUK), told Daily Sun that the strike has made her redundant and she no longer reads the way she used to back in the school.
She said: “I used to sell eggs, milk, pens and other small things in the hostel and that helped and made me somehow less dependent on my parents. But now that the universities are on strike, I am back at home and that has increased the monthly budget of the family.”
Farida, 21, who now lives with her parents in Maraba, Nasarawa State, added that she would also not turn down a marriage proposal if it were to come to her now. She had planned to open the door for marriage after graduating or in the final year of her studies.
She said: “My thoughts were that I would not marry till after graduation or in 400 level, but I don’t think I can wait. I will welcome any man that comes for me now while waiting for when schools will reopen.”
Meanwhile, 26-year-old Saminu Auwal, who is studying Computer Science at GSU, said the constant disruption of academic activities in public universities has opened his eyes to a new way of being gainfully employed. According to him, the strike has a great impact on students: “If only they would understand that and leave the students out of their unending face-off.”
He told Daily Sun that becoming a computer scientist had always been his dream, but he is now a rice, maize and beans farmer in Kembu community, Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State.
He said: “At first, I was disappointed by the closure of my school, GSU, due to the strike. But I was later happy because it gave me time and the opportunity to think outside the box. Now I have found other means of sustaining myself even if I go back to school. I can now mix farming and studying.
“But, to be candid, it is frustrating and very painful to wake up every day and hear that the government and the union are unable to resolve their crises.”