Ibadan Poly Students Protest Against ‘Unjust’ Levy, Electricity, Water Outage


Ibadan Poly Students Protest Against ‘Unjust’ Levy, Electricity, Water Outage:

Students of The Polytechnic Ibadan on Monday protested against the N500 Entrepreneurship Development Programme charge introduced by the polytechnic authorities, and the non-availability of electricity and water on the campus.

The institution’s main gate was blocked by the protesting students while academic activities were paralysed during the period.

The executives of the Students Union later had a meeting with the school management.

President of the union, Iyiola Oladimeji, said there was no reason for the charge over what he described as a programme that had not benefited any of the students.

He said, “We are protesting because of some misunderstanding between the management and the students. We don’t want payment of extra charges on EED which has been unproductive. The students are complaining that the charges are too much and that the conditions on campus are not conducive for learning because we don’t have stable electricity and water supply.”

Public Relations Officer for the polytechnic, Adewole Oladoye, cautioned the students, saying that epileptic power situation was not limited to the campus.

He said, “The Polytechnic Ibadan is not from another planet. It is also part of the Nigerian society. I dare to say that none of us is having regular electricity supply in our homes. And these students are also individuals from different homes and what they are experiencing here is not different from what they are experiencing in their various homes.”

He added that the school management was working on an arrangement that would ensure electricity in the hostels and that the money charged for EDP was justifiable.

“The polytechnic is not a profit making venture. We won’t extort students,” he said.

The union president later said the protest would be suspended because of a truce with the management.

He said, “The management has agreed on a consensus that they will subsidize the EDP log book for N300 for us and that those that have paid N500 before, the money will be refunded.”

Source: Punch Newspaper