As the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)’s strike continues, students have begun learning vocational skills.

The students, who spoke on Monday in Abuja, said they were tired of staying home.

Lius Imah, a Political Science student at the University of Abuja, said he had decided to learn tailoring, believing that it would be helpful to him in future.

“Since we cannot tell when the strike would be suspended, I will advise other students not to just sit at home doing nothing, but engage themselves in activities that would benefit them in future,’’ he said.

Victoria Eku, a phone merchant and a student at the University of Abuja, said vocational skills would continue to grow as millions of students opt to learn a trade to create a wealth of financial opportunities.

”No student has any excuse for remaining on the street or being idle,” she said.

Deji Ayodele, an apprentice and student of the University of Lagos, said the economy was changing, creating a wealth of challenging, well-paying, and highly-skilled jobs.

“Students can be self-employed and create employment for others in the present educational debacle, thereby addressing unemployment and insecurity ravaging the country,” he said.

Emmanuel Effiong said he favoured vocational jobs due to the ASUU strike.

“I have been stuck at home, not studying, and started to search for how to fill spare time. Taking up a skill has been helpful in supplementing whatever pocket money I get from my parents,” he said.

ASUU had embarked on a one-month warning strike, accusing the federal government of failing to implement the Memorandum of Action.

The union declared a two-month roll-over strike after the expiration of the warning strike on March 14.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, insisted that the government had met all demands. He said all earned allowances, as well as revitalisation funds, had been released.

(NAN)