Students seek OAU’s re-opening

SOME students  of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, have called on the Federal Government to resolve the crisis over the appointment of  a new Vice-Chancellor (VC) for the institution. They also called for the re-opening of the school.

The students berated Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) for what they called “selfish agenda”, saying appointment of a new VC should not an affair that should result in the disruption of academic activities. They said the activities of the unions were responsible for the indefinite closure of the school.

In a statement signed on the students’ behalf by Quadri Bello, the students enjoined the government  to ensure the school is re-opened while solution is being proffered to the crisis.

The statement reads: “We are tired of staying at home because some unions cannot resolve their differences with the management amicably. Being at home for more than 80 days is no fun. Our demand is that President Muhammadu Buhari should do all within the law to ensure that we are back to school in the shortest possible time.

“We understand that the OAU Act says the he cannot appoint an Acting VC; that is the duty of the Governing Council. But, we believe the president can reconstitute a new Governing Council that will work with the new VC while the aggrieved parties wait for the verdict of the Osogbo High Court.”

It would be recalled that the management shut down the university indefinitely last month due to a protests by NASU and SSANU, which claimed that the process that produced the Prof Ayobami Salami as VC did not follow the law. The government, on June 30, dissolved the Governing Council of the university. There has been no further action taken since then.

The students said: “We call on eminent citizens of this country to appeal to the striking unions to go into dialogue with the management to solve their grievances. Their unpaid allowances can be discussed at a meeting. Their case is already in court; they should exercise patience as law-abiding workers in awaiting the court decision on their matter. They can challenge the process of the appointment of the VC without disrupting academic activities. All we want is the reopening of our school and we plead with eminent Nigerians to help achieve this.”

Six Ekiti State university students die in car accident

Six students of Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, have  died in an auto crash involving a car and a commercial bus on Monday.

The accident happened at about 7.30pm in front of the institution’s main gate.

According to an eyewitness, the six persons died from impact of an head-on collision of the two vehicles.

Another eyewitness told said that the students were in a Lexus saloon car and were coming from Ado Ekiti town to the university when the accident occurred.

The identities of the students could not be confirmed as at press time .

But the Ekiti Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, who confirmed the development, said his men had recorded five deaths.

An eyewitness said the driver of the car, suspected to be under the influence of alcohol with his friends, rammed into the mini bus conveying the students from the campus.

He added that they must have been heavily drunk and drove carelessly and collided with the commercial bus. Six people died on the spot while one of them is on danger list.

As at the time of this report, the Federal Road Safety Corps have taken the corpses to the morgue.

Ondo Police Arrest Students Of Owo poly And A Mechanic Over Violent Protest

Officers of the Ondo State Command of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have confirmed the arrest of two students of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo (RUGIPO) in connection with a violent protest that disrupted the peace of the town last week Sunday.

The officers from the ‘B’ Divisional Police Station, Otapete in Owo town of Ondo state, disclosed this latest information to SaharaReporters correspondent on Sunday during a phone chat.

One of the officers who pleaded anonymity identified the arrested students as Dimeji Olasunkanmi and Ojo Ogungbe.

“Both suspects are evening [part-time] students from the Department of Accountancy and Mass Communication of the state-owned institution”, he told reporters.

He further disclosed that an apprentice in an automobile mechanic workshop in the town was also nabbed in connection with the protest, the student protest led to a clash between the students and police that left many injured and lots of properties destroyed.

Another officer from the station told our correspondent that the suspected students were caught with a locally made gun and charms during a raid at a private hostel opposite the campus gate.

Tai Solarin University of Education Students lead protest over non-payment of lecturers’ salaries

Students of the Tai Solarin University of Education, have resorted to a protest to fight against the non-payment of salaries to the lecturers at their school.

According to Punch, the Ogun State Government are owing the lecturers fourteen months’ salaries.

The students took their cry to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists , located at Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta.

According to reports, the students arrived the venue in groups conveyed in three buses. They held placards stating the reason for their protest.

Notes from the boldly written placards reads, “Amosun save TASCE from extinction, ”Lectures are not going on in TASCE,” “Amosun restore education at TASCE” and “Please we students are suffering in TASCE”, Punch reports.

Dotun Opaleye, the Ogun State Chairman, National Association of Nigerian Students, lamented that the delayed payment of their lecturers has negatively affected their studies and the school in general.

Students’ uprising: Gombe College Shut Indefinitely

The Federal College of Education (Technical), Gombe, has been closed down indefinitely by the management of the school following students’ uprising over inadequacy of water supply in the campus.

As at the time of visit, the school had been deserted and students sent home pending invitation to continue with their truncated second semester which started in April, 2016.

Provost of the College, Dr. Gimba Abbas who was in Abuja for an official assignment the Acting Provost on Wednesday called to inform him that the Shi’ite Muslims had sought permission to conduct a rally in the school, which he directed should not be granted them.

He nevertheless traced the origin of the crises to water considering the information he received about the situation, only to arrive Gombe on Thursday night with the intention to address the situation and met that his private residence and that of the school’s Registrar had been attacked by students.

Dr. Abbas said the Dean, Students Affairs at about 5:30am yesterday called to inform him that the students were on rampage and had become destructive.

Although he would not say the school is closed indefinitely, the provost said the College would remain closed until management does its assessments, meet and decide on way forward which he said would take three weeks.

He said about six students were affected, five of them being asthmatic were affected by the police teargas while the other got a bullet wound.

Some of the students told our reporter that there had been acute water shortage on the campus for three days now.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Gombe Command, Ahmed Usman said there was no casualty but confirmed the injury of a staff of the institution who was pelted by the students.

He said about 100 students were apprehended in connection with the crises and they were immediately released to their Dean of Students Affairs after their statements were taken.

Students uprising: FCE(T), Gombe closed indefinitely.

Students seek funding for colleges of agriculture

Students’ leaders at the Federal College of Agriculture in Akure, the Ondo State capital, have appealed to the Federal Government to fund agricultural institutions. Students’ Union Government (SUG) president Sunday Balogun, and Chief Judge Tobi Adewole, said agricultural colleges should not be excluded from the fund being given to higher institutions by Tertiary Education Trust Fund(TETFund).

In a joint statement, the students’ leaders described agriculture as the bedrock of developed nations. They advised the government to focus more on training of professional farmers to make the nation the food basket of Africa.

PHOTO: Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology students Staged Protest

Protesting students today, closed the entrance gate of Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology, the single point of entry and exit into the school premises.

Their complaint was that the Provost, Mr. Nnamdi Amadi  increased their hostel fee from 5,000 to 20,000.

This hostel, according to reports from the students is dilapidated. According to the students, the hostels are in bad shape and the toilets and bathrooms are leaking.

However, they do not have enough hostels to accommodate the population of the students. Most of the students sleep in empty classrooms and open places.

Last Sunday, June 5, 2016, a student who is a victim of no hostel space was rushed to the hospital with illness suspected to be acute cold because she slept in the classroom.

To add to their woes, they have not been provided electricity in the past six months, the students said that the last time they saw light was when the Commissioner of Health visited their school.

You may think that they don't have enough reasons to protest but then, the unavailability of water is another reason the students think they have had enough of the penury. They don't have water supplied to their hostels.

Students cross to the neighboring compounds and boreholes to fetch water, imagine the pains they would feel when they carry such heavy gallons and buckets, cross over to the other side of the community to get water.

They are pleading and calling on those in charge and the government to see to their welfare.

Police men from the nearby stations are on standby to keep watch of the protest and make sure it doesn’t go out of hand.

Young people need to consume more milk

Experts have urged Nigerian students to consume more milk to better aid their brain abilities.

The experts who spoke in Lagos recently during an event organised by Friesl and Campina WAMCO to mark World Milk Day, stated that consumption of adequate milk was essential in healthy living and growth.

Dr. Elo Ukatu of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja worried that Nigerians are not very fond of consuming milk.

She, therefore, called for adequate milk consumption among young people.

The World Milk Day , which was initiated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2001 in order to boost milk and dairy products consumption, is marked every June 1.

This year, FrieslandCampina WAMCO hosted students from private and private schools in Lagos State to the challenge of creating ready-to-go meals and drinks with milk as the dominant ingredient.

The students of Yaba College of Technology Staff School, Yaba, Lagos, emerged winner of the Art of Milk cooking competition. This earned them a cash prize of N500, 000 for school renovation.

Ojota Senior Secondary School and Wellspring College won N250, 000 and N100, 000 respectively, as second and third winner in the competition.

Mrs. Ibiyemi Jegede and Mr. Olaewe Adeniyi from Lagos State Ministry of Education, celebrity chef, Adeniyi Williams; celebrity actress, Sola Sobowale and Ukatu served as the Art of Milk judges.