When Strikes collide
Lecturers striking, doctors striking, super strikers, gunmen striking… one nation, too many hits.
My guy, what’s up?
I hope you’re still sane because this is the one where Nigeria said: “Plot twist!” and refused to stop.
If you blinked this week, Nigeria probably dropped another breaking news while you were inhaling. From strikes up and down to heartbreaking tragedies to government officials doing government-official things, the gist is plenty. Grab water.
ASUU Is Back Again
Just when students were beginning to relax, ASUU said, “you thought we forgot?”
Public universities might be shutting down indefinitely starting Friday (yesterday) because:
the 2009 agreement is still pending (that agreement is now old enough to write WAEC 😭),
salaries + arrears still hanging like bad network,
promotions stuck in traffic since 2021,
university funding is giving “insufficient balance.”
This is coming after a one-month ultimatum that expired without progress.
Over 2 million students are side-eyeing their calendars, because if this strike holds, academic calendars go scatter o.
Doctors Join the Strike Queue — Nigeria’s Health Sector on Airplane Mode
As if one major strike wasn’t enough, medical doctors in parts of the country have also declared industrial action this week, indefinitely.
Reason?
Unpaid allowances
Terrible hospital conditions
Shortage of staff
Zero resources
And a long list of “We cannot come and die on top a job where we are trying to save lives.”
Nigerians right now:
“So who is supposed to treat us when we faint from reading all this bad news?”
Oh, and football fans,
brace yourselves… Nigeria’s Super Eagles have once again flown straight out of World Cup qualifications. 🦅💨
Yes, our Super Eagles have once more mastered the art of heartbreak leaving us to console ourselves with memes, sighs, and “next time” promises. At this point, qualifying feels like that friend who says they’ll come to your party but ghost every time.
But hey, it’s nothing a couple of World Cup memes can’t fix.
Tragedy on the Road, NYSC Journey Turns Dark
An 18-seater bus carrying prospective NYSC members travelling from Ondo to Gombe crashed earlier in the week.
Reports indicate 16 out of 18 young graduates were feared dead.
The two survivors remain in critical condition.
This one hit Nigerians differently because these are students who survived school stress, project wahala, ASUU palava… only to face tragedy on their way to serve the country.
Still no official statement from NYSC or the Presidency at the time.
Insecurity: A Full Week of “God Abeg”
Within just one week, Nigeria witnessed:
insurgents releasing a video claiming responsibility for killing a senior military officer,
25 school children abducted in Kebbi, with their teacher killed,
a priest + community members kidnapped in Kaduna,
3 people killed and 64 kidnapped in Zamfara,
a church attack in Kwara where several people were killed.
Every region had one sad story or the other.
Citizens: “FG, we need security.”
FG: “…seen.”
Our President is not even in the country.
Niger State Kidnappings and a Governor That Said ‘Not My Fault’
As if the insecurity list wasn’t long enough, more schoolchildren (over 100) were kidnapped in Niger State today.
And the governor decided to add premium frustration by publicly blaming the school, saying the management refused security advice about using a safer location
Nigerians: “Sir, with all due respect, can we maybe blame the kidnappers first?”
Parents are panicking, students are scared, and everyone is tired of waking up to these kinds of headlines.
6. A Pattern That Finally Caught Up
You remember that controversial former senator known for previous assault scandals?
Well, he’s now facing new criminal charges for allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old girl in Abuja and attempting to assault her older sister.
This is not new behaviour:
2019: went viral for slapping a woman.
2024: accused of blackmail with an intimate video.
2025: now accused of sexually assaulting minors.
Why it matters:
Nigeria’s justice system moves really slow and rape cases barely ever lead to conviction.
Survivors rarely get support and powerful men get away with too much for too long. This case is reopening national conversations about gender-based violence and accountability.
Also, big shout‑out to some very brave law students at UNICAL (University of Calabar). A group of female law students (with support from their male colleagues) recently protested hard, calling out their Dean, Prof. Cyril Ndifon, for alleged sexual harassment. 😤
Here’s the tea:
They carried placards with blunt, heartbreaking messages like “Let the girls with big breasts breathe… stop suffocating us,” “Enough of law school list manipulation,” and “Prof Ndifon must go for our sanity.”
The university launched an investigation.
Ndifon denied everything, claiming the whole thing was a “smear campaign” from his rivals in the faculty.
But this isn’t new: he’d been accused back in 2015 of similar abuse, and students have long said he misused his power.
In a major development — just this year — a Federal High Court sentenced him to 5 years in prison, finding him guilty of abusing his office to sexually harass a student, including asking for nude photos and even “blow job” requests in exchange for admission.
UNICAL has since replaced him as Dean with Rose Ugbe, likely to reset things (but trust, the damage has already been made).
So yes, what started as a protest has led to real accountability. Women raised their voices, the establishment couldn’t just ignore them, and now there are legal consequences. It’s exactly the kind of messy, painful but hopeful moment that reminds you why keeping your eyes open matters.
Let’s recap,
If we’re being honest, this week felt like Nigeria was speed-running chaos:
ASUU is gearing up for another indefinite strike.
Doctors are on strike too — so education and health are both buffering.
Our beloved Super strikers eagles did not qualify for the world cup. Heartbreak, memes, sighs… next year, maybe.
A heartbreaking NYSC-bound bus crash shook the whole country.
Insecurity updates were dropping back-to-back like unwanted notifications.
Niger State children were abducted, and the governor chose violence by blaming the school.
A former senator with a long history of allegations is finally facing serious criminal charges.
UNICAL female law students bravely called out their dean for sexual harassment — only to be initially shushed by the system. Justice is slowly catching up, and the dean has now been replaced.
It’s a lot.
Students o, parents o, everybody is stressed and exhausted. Everyone is refreshing their timelines like, “Can we catch a break?”
But at the same time, Nigerians are still showing resilience, asking hard questions, demanding accountability, and refusing to let the system silence them.
Through the strikes, the sorrow, and the absurdity, one thing is clear:
Nigerians are tired, but Nigerians are not giving up.
Better days will come. So, stay safe, stay informed, stay sane.
Till next gist,
Gbemi from 10.8.8 Africa✨
What a week 🙂