Power outage protest: UNIBEN management shuts down school

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The management of the University of Benin, Edo State, shut down academic activities at the institution indefinitely on Thursday.

The decision was contained in a statement issued by the University’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Dr. Benedicta Ehanire and made available to journalists in Benin

According to Dr. Ehanire, the decision to shut down academic activities was informed by the refusal of the students to shift grounds based on their demands for constant power supply.

The statement read: “Following the refusal of students at the University of Benin to shift grounds on their demands for a 24-hour supply of electricity and more, considered unrealistic by the university’s Senate, the university has shut down academic activities indefinitely.

“Students are to vacate the hostels immediately, while all the relevant units of the university are to take note and comply.

“However, non-teaching staff and staff on essential duties are not affected by the shutdown.”

Recall that students of the university took to the ever-busy Benin-Lagos Highway on Wednesday to register their grievances over two-month power outage in the University.

The activities of the demonstrating students affected commuters, as many were forced to trek long distances to get to their destination, with many travellers abandoning their journeys halfway.

It was gathered that the university was disconnected by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over a contentious utility bill.

Officials of BEDC, it was learned, attributed the upward review of the university’s electricity bill to the stable power supply on campus and the recent classification of customers.

The institution’s management was said to have expressed discontent after Benin Disco reportedly made an upward review of the university’s monthly electricity charges by over 300 percent.

It was gathered that the monthly bill was increased from about N80 million to between N200 and N280 million, a development that forced the university to resort to power-generating sets.

A source at the university who craved anonymity said the decision to resort to power generators led to load shedding on the campus, with student hostels getting as low as three hours per day.

However, the students said the development has immensely affected their preparation for the forthcoming first semester exams.

One of the protesting students, who simply identified himself as Esosa, said, “We only have one hour of electricity every day since this issue started. We will not leave until something is done.”

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