Students of University of Lagos, Yaba College of Technology, embarked on a protest march, moving to Ikorodu Road, chanting anti-government slogans, with placards denouncing fuel hike as diabolic, evil, which would worsen the plight of average Nigerian students.

On the subsequent days of the national strike, the students made bonfires along Herbert Macaulay Way and Ikorodu Road respectively.

Lagos State University Students Union Government (LASUSUG) sealed of the main gate to prevent students from entering the campus as all activities have been suspended. Hitherto, the Badagry Express Road had been barricaded at a point opposite the institution's main gate, just as armed mobile policemen laid siege with armoured personnel carrier around the vicinity.

LASU students also too over Iyana-Iba end of Lagos/Badagry Expressway, halting traffic: Students Union President, Adedeji Justice addressed protesting students and denouncing the increase.

On the second day, he told the students that the strike is still very much going on, and they should go back to their homes until when NLC calls off the action.

Lagos State Polytechnic students came out in protest, sealing off the Isolo Road.

Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka, and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto/Ijanikin, also took to the streets to register their resentment against the hike.

University of Lagos students and those of Lagos State University Ojo, had defied the presence of police armoured vehicles and anti-riot squads, to come out into the streets. They chanted solidarity songs, distributing leaflets and making condemnable remarks about the President.

Ibadan: Students of University of Ibadan and The Polytechnic in Oyo State capital joined the workers. As early as 8 a.m. on the first day, major roads linking the institutions with other parts of the sprawling city were blocked by the students.

The students later stormed Government Secretariat, Agodi, where Governor Rashidi Ladoja urged them to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner, and to shun all forms of violence during the strike.

The fuel hike protest, organised under the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), was encompassing as the students marched round Ibadan, making bonfires on major streets, highways and chanting anti-PDP slogans.

"We say No to fuel hike, it is a crime against humanity, it is time this madness stops" they chanted.

Port Harcourt: Nigerian students recorded their first casualties in this oil city, capital of Rivers State when police allegedly fired at the protesting students killing two, on the third day of the national strike.

Involved in the bloody protest were students of secondary schools and higher institutions in the Garden City. Police reportedly shot at the protesters when the demonstration at the city's commercial nerve-centres of Diobu, Rumola, and Rumuomasi turned violent as rampaging youths damaged properties estimated at millions of naira.

Another dimension to the protest emerged on the fourth day when secondary school students attacked the Rivers State Secretariat of PDP, the ruling party in Nigeria. Drawn from major secondary schools in Port Harcourt, the students invaded the party secretariat at Aba Road, brought down the giant PDP sign-board, the PDP flag, national flag and other flags in front of the building.

Also pulled down were pictures of President Obasanjo and others, and smashing white plastic chairs used in the hall downstairs for political meetings. By 10.30 a.m. the irate youths had taken over major streets chanting war songs, vandalising vehicles that were not carrying green leaves as a mark of solidarity for the protest. The students, using stones fought a running battle with armed policemen who later retreated.

Students of Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokuta, and Girls Secondary School, Rumueme seized Aba Road, chanting war songs in support of the strike, as the action continued to gather momentum with each passing day. Also, Holy Rosary Girls Secondary School, Old GRA, Port Harcourt, and their counterparts from Burokiri joined in the protest. Students from Rivers State University of Science and Technology protested in solidarity with NLC chanting anti-government slogans, carried anti-government placards, set up road blocks and bonfires.

Owerri: Students of Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, near Owerri stormed the major Owerri-Aba Road in protest against the fuel price hike. They called on government to revert to the old price.

According to reports, the students were led by President of the Students Union Government, Mr. Ekwedike Emmanuel and NANS Senate President, Anslem Chinedu Nebeife. They chanted war songs, made bonfires, blocked roads, before marching to Government House, Owerri. A top police officer later addressed them, assuring the students that their message will be conveyed to the appropriate quarters for necessary action. Students of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, (FUTO) were not left out in the protest, which took the familiar pattern.

Calabar: University of Calabar, Cross River, joined the battle as the students embarked on a peaceful demonstration on the fourth day (July 3, 2003) which they described as "a day of mourning for Obasanjo."

President of UNICALSUG, Mr. Taiwo Jacob said the protest was against some of the very evil policies of Obasanjo government and the untold hardship and pains he has inflicted on the poor and helpless Nigerian masses.

"The dictator and tyrant must bend this time or break. We are ready to hold him to a standstill and we are ready to die, rather than endure slavery in our country."

Jacob added that the increase in fuel prices has taken Nigerians deeper into the abyss of poverty, worsening the country's economic woes. The students took to the streets, compelling motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to carry fresh leaves as sign of solidarity. Police became confrontational, chasing the students away and disrupting the protest.

Kano: Students belonging to higher institutions of NANS Zone A, comprising Kano, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara states, took their protest to Government House, Kano. Their leader, Mallam Bashir Babale, told Governor Ibrahim Shekarau that they were in Government House to protest high fuel prices which have worsened their plight.

He said successive federal governments from 1976 had always assured that petroleum prices would remain stable once raised, only for them to run round and offer excuses on why new prices were introduced.

"We have come here peacefully to lodge over protest and will continue to fight even with the last drop of our blood."

Babale flayed President Obasanjo for frequent price increases of fuel without ensuring refineries were fully operational and smuggling curbed. Governor Shekarau urged the placard-carrying students to remain peaceful during the strike, adding that as a seasoned teacher himself, he has borne the plight of Nigerian students as his personal problem.

Abuja: At a rally in the federal capital, NANS president, Mr. Daniel Onjeh, said Nigerian students were alarmed by level of poverty and disease in the country. The new increase would add to the level of misery, disease and mass unemployment in Nigeria.

Abeokuta: Students of University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (UNAAB) took over Adatan and Obantoko areas of the Ogun State capital, in their protest against the hike. They set fire on disused tyres and chanted anti-Obasanjo songs. Armed policemen were quickly drafted to disperse the students. In a statement later, titled:

"48-Hour Ultimatum: No Retreat, No Surrender," they asked the government to revert to the old price of fuel within 48 hours.

Moshood Abiola Polytechnic students mobilised for the protest only to meet a police armoured personnel carrier with armed policemen at Ibara Roundabout which disrupted their demonstration.

Benin City: Placard-carrying student of University of Benin, staged a peaceful demonstration in the Edo State capital, vowing to embark on "Operation Total Paralysis," if the Obasanjo regime did not withdraw the new prices of petroleum products.

Taking their discontentment to Governor Lucky Igbinedion, the students led by their president, Mr. Eduvie Efedokada, was reported telling him that Nigerian students could not tolerate the insensitivity of government to the suffering of the people.

Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, students and academic staff, on the fourth day of the general strike staged a joint rally in the ancient town regarded as the cradle of Yoruba civilisation, against increase in fuel prices. They marched round the campus, chanting anti-government songs.

According to reports from Ife, chairman of ASUU, OAU chapter, Dr. Otas Ukponmwan and Comrade Olawoyin Akinkanmi, warned General Obasanjo to stop treating Nigerians with contempt over the hike. They asked the President to revert to the old price.

The increase was described as "Criminal, oppressive, dubious, anti-people and unacceptable," meant to prepare a fertile ground for the ruling class and their cronies to reap bountiful profits whenever the refineries are privatised.

The students and lecturers called on Nigerian people to boycott Ragolis water produced by a company owned by Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, Chairman of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the body which government used to enact an oppressive price regime for fuel.

Baring police disruption, the mother of all protests is expected to take place today. Vanguard had disclosed last week in an interview with a President of one of the Students' Unions that a massive students protest by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) over the hike is being fixed for July 10, 2003.

We reliably gathered that students from various institutions of higher learning have been mobilised. The Plateau State capital of Jos was slated as venue. Flyers and posters have been pasted all over Jos titled:

"2nd Term Enslavement: Petroleum Products Price Hike."

But in a swift reaction, the police in Jos, warned that the command is ready to deal with any flagrant abuse of the Public Order Act. Police said they won't tolerate any deliberate form of illegal procession or demonstration not approved by the command. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Plateau State, Mr. Sotonye Wakama, has threatened:

"Any person who chooses to participate in the planned demonstration will have himself/herself to blame for the consequences.

It is likely NANS will have to find another venue for the massive protest of Nigerian students, who are determined to fight this battle to the end. One ally students now have in this struggle is elder statesman, nationalist and seasoned journalist, Chief MCK Ajuluchukwu, who gave his support in these words:

"I think the youths are right to go to the streets and demonstrate, it is their future that is at stake."