The Enugu campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) has been shut, following a students’ protest against blackout in their hostels.
JAMES OJO (300-Level Mass
Communication) and PEACE ONUBULEZE (200-Level Law) report.
It all started as a peaceful demonstration before it ended in violence. Students at the Enugu campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) went wild during a protest against epileptic power supply on the campus. The protest became violent and some school
properties were destroyed.
The protest was led by the Students’ Union Government (SUG) leadership. The students earlier held a congress during which representatives of each arm of the union and Council of Hall Governors, faculty presidents, and class representatives met to discuss the challenge.
The students were angry about the blackout on the campus, saying the situation prevented them from carrying out their academic assignment.
There were also complaints about lack of basic services, such as water supply and Internet. After the congress, the students’ grievances were forwarded to management in a letter titled: “Enugu Campus Students’ Demands”.
The letter listed the students’ key demands and served management a seven-day warning strike notice.
The students’ union declared “sit-in-the-hostel” strike, which paralysed activities on the campus. To ensure compliance, the union locked all lecture halls and barred commercial bus plying the campus from operating from 8am to noon.
The students vowed not to go for lectures until their conditions were met. Their action came at the time the school was preparing for examination.
The union president, Chukwuebuka Nwankwo, said there was need for the management to address the situation with a sense of urgency.
Chukwuebuka, a 300-Level Accountancy student, said the strike was to prevent “extreme response” from students.
After four days into the strike, the union leaders met with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Smart Uchegbu, who promised “prompt action”. The students also held another meeting with representatives of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Benjamin Ozumba.
The union leaders held another congress to intimate their colleagues with the outcome of their meeting with the management. At the congress, students wanted the strike to continue until their grievances were addressed.
On Monday, students held another demonstration, blocking the school gate. They carried placards with the following inscriptions: “Let there be light” and “Doctor’s cannot save lives without light”, among others.
The protesters were restricted to the school entrance by security operatives.
As the demonstration was going on, the union leaders were holding a meeting with the representatives of the school management led by the Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Okeke Olisa.
The school, again, promised to do its best to restore electricity in the students’ hostel. The management ordered the union to open the locked classrooms for lectures to start.
Olisa said the school would also procure 1,500 KVa generator to complement and increase electricity supply to the hostel to two hours 30 minutes. A decision the union leaders rejected.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that electricity was restored at night as promised by the management but the boys’ hostels were excluded.
This led to another demonstration as the angry boys made bonfire in the school, before they went wild. They destroyed properties belonging to the school, including louvers of the Main Hall and ICT centre, streetlights, and statute of Eudoral Ibiam.
The students also smashed louvers in female hostels.
The violence led to the closure of the school, with the VC ordering all students to vacate the campus, while also announcing the proscription of unionism indefinitely.
None of the students’ leaders were available for comment, but female students criticised their colleagues for the destruction of the school property.
