The Nation Newspaper

Tag: shut

  • UNICAL shut over students’ protest

    UNICAL shut over students’ protest

    The University of Calabar (UNICAL) was shut down yesterday for two weeks, following a students’ protest.

    Activities at the school were grounded as the students protested poor welfare.

    The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions.

    They decried lack of water, electricity, an increase in school fees and other charges.

    The students locked the entrances to the institution for hours.

    A statement by UNICAL’s Registrar, Moses Abang, reads: “The management of the University of Calabar has announced a two-week mid-semester break for all students …with effect from October 12.

    “Students are expected to vacate the hostels on or before 6pm to enable the management address the issues raised by the students.

    “Normal academic activities will resume on October 30.

    “No students should be found on campus, especially within the hostels, as from 6pm today (yesterday).”

  • ‘We didn’t shut our facilities’

    The Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) has debunked reports that its members shut their facilities during the period of severe fuel scarcity.

    Its Executive Secretary,  Mr. Olufemi Adewole, said contrary to the erroneous stories and messages being bandied, it was the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) arm of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) and National Road Transport Owners (NARTO), that caused the problem.

    According to him, the tanker drivers normally ferry the products from marketers’ depots but embarked on strike, following  complaints of not being paid  outstanding transportation claims by marketers, who in turn, are being owed subsidy reimbursement for petrol imports having participated in the petroleum subsidy fund (PSF) Scheme.

    He said: “We are an association of highly patriotic Nigerian entrepreneurs who have invested heavily in constructing and operating petroleum products storage and sales depots/tank farms all over the nation.

    “We reiterate that as importers and marketers of refined petroleum products, we never embarked on any shut-down of our depots/facilities.

    “We have maintained that we would sell and load all petroleum products available to us even as delays in the payments of our reimbursement have continued to  adversely affect our operations. The suspension in loading in the last few days has been due to the strike action embarked upon by PTD-NUPENG and NARTO. These two bodies had refused to load out/lift petroleum products for distribution from our depots. That is the true position.

    “The allegation by Mr. Ifeanyi Uba of Capital Oil and Gas Industries that DAPPMA member companies embarked on strike is not only mischievous, but completely false and a figment of his imagination. Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited does not participate in the petroleum subsidy scheme having been disqualified from the scheme by the regulatory agency hence it does not import petrol. The company is not owed a kobo under the PSF scheme as it cannot make any claim, hence it does not feel the impact of non-payment of the subsidy reimbursements; instead the company stores petroleum products for NNPC/PPMC under a ‘throughput arrangement’ as done by a few other members of our association.

  • Akanu Ibiam Poly shut

    Akanu Ibiam Poly shut

    The Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Uwana was yesterday shut following a crisis that erupted between the school management and the host community over some parcels of land.

    Announcing the closure, the Rector, Prof Ogbonna Ibe-Enwo said the management took the decision for security reasons.

    He decried the community’s action, saying they could have dialogued instead of resorting to violence.

    Ibe-Enewo said the school will be re-opened when normalcy returns, asking the students to leave the school premises for their safety.

    The Rector said the management would dialogue with the host community to find a solution to the crisis.

    About 1,000 angry youths from the community, armed with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons invaded the school premises, destroying properties and beating students.

    They protested what they described as invasion of their land by the school authority despite warnings from the community.

    When the Nation visited the school, students were seen with their luggages hurriedly departing for fear of the unknown.

     

  • State varsity shut as Boko Haram takes more towns

    State varsity shut as Boko Haram takes more towns

    50 insurgents killed, says army 

    Borno SSG: situation critical

    A University was shut yesterday and students sent home as Boko Haram fighters continued their incursion into Adamawa State.

    To prevent an attack on students, the Adamawa State Government shut the state university in Mubi as the insurgents overran Uba, a town five kilometres from Mubi.

    Other towns taken at the weekend by Boko Haram fighters are: Michika and Bazza.

    Both towns, along with Uba, are in Hong Local Government Area .

    But the sect suffered a major setback, with no fewer than 50 of its men killed in a military raid in Borno State. The army said yesterday that security forces raided a “hideout” of suspected Boko Haram members in Kawuri, a village about 37km from Maiduguri, the state capital, on Saturday.

    The suspected fighters were planning an attack, the military said.

    Heavy artillery, including anti-aircraft guns and an armoured vehicle, were seized in the raid. Three soldiers were injured, the army said.

    But the sect’s fighters seized more towns in Adamawa State, following the success they recorded in attacks on some villages on Friday when they took Gulak, the headquarters of Magadali Local Government, Kirchinga, the hometown of Acting Governor Umaru Fintiri, Duhu and Shuwa.

    Uba, a town five kilometers to Mubi was also overrun by the sect.

    Some Michika residents, speaking on the telephone, said the insurgents commanded some of the youths to join them for the “work of Allah”.

    Another resident said: “When the insurgents met me on the road in Michika, they said I should follow them to work for Allah. They asked me to go home and prepare to follow them to fight the cause of Allah but I decided to run and hide.”

    A resident of Bazza spoke of how the sect’s fighters stormed the town, “shooting sporadically, using artillery gun and other heavy weapons but from time to time Air Force jets were dropping bombs”.

    The Adamawa State Government on Saturday confirmed that the government had lost to the insurgents many towns, including Gulak and Michika.

    The Associated Press reported yesterday that Boko Haram fighters seized more towns along Nigeria’s northeastern border with Cameroon. They were adopting a new strategy of encouraging civilians to stay, witnesses told the news agency.

    “They assured us that they will not attack us, but people began to run for their lives. Some of us have fled for fear that after subduing the soldiers, the insurgents will turn their [gun] barrels on us,’’ Michael Kirshinga, a resident of Gulak, said after the town was attacked.

  • Ebola: Keep our schools shut!

    Ebola: Keep our schools shut!

    With the deadly Ebola virus in our land the federal government had shifted the resumption of schools from its earlier September date to October 13. Which was the proper thing to do. But after its meeting on Wednesday the September 14, it said schools may be able to resume in September.

    Since the date was moved to October 13, private school owners have continued to lobby for resumption of schools. Nigeria is a land of lobbyists. But not only them, those parents who cannot spend quality time with their children. A colleague once said “private schools are paid to let parents rest”. But while on my annual leave, I have enjoyed the “noise” of my two boys and watched both of them struggle to ride piggyback on me. They are safe here with me! But may not be if the federal government stops listening to its heart instead of its head!

    The health of our children and the entire nation is going to be sacrificed on the altar of money! If those private schools’ owners were given billions of naira monthly to keep their schools shut forever, they will go to the Caribbean for holiday while praising the government.

    We must know that the structure we have in privately owned schools is different from what we have in many public schools.

    Many public schools in towns and some so-called cities are over-crowded ramshackle. Some don’t have seats, while some use blocks as desks! Some even have classes under a tree! Some of the children are malnourished with poor immune system. Some have ring worms on their scalp and many other skin infections. We have not talked about the ones in remote villages! These children will go back to schools when there are fresh Ebola cases! They will go back to schools when those under surveillance are on the run! Only a morally depraved government and people can even consider that!

    We are still lucky things did not get out of control. In worst hit countries, it is not only schools that were closed but hospitals.

    Commentators have cynically called Nigerians’ mode the “panic mode”. But this is what we have used to contain the virus so far. And we won’t stop being in this mode. The word is eternal vigilance. Since my children have been at home they have not had a fever. But during school they are more prone to disease from other children, including mosquito bites. As long as fresh cases of Ebola are being reported now, if schools resume now, you are no longer in control of your children. Every time your children get back home, it’s no longer the same!

    Whether we like it or not Ebola has tasked all of us and our healthcare system, and it will still have a long-term effect. We must all be ready to adjust ourselves to the situation we have in our land. We now live in perilous times!

    From now till October 13, or even somewhere after that we would have known the prognosis of the new Ebola cases in Port Harcourt, and all those who are now under surveillance would have completed their statutory 21 days and we hope they would be truthful enough to tell us if they have visited other states! And those on the run would have come to their senses!

    Dr Adadevoh sacrificed her life for this cause! Anyone who dies now after Adedevoh had died will hurt her where she is. But a little more sacrifice from all of us will go a long way in ensuring that she and others who died that we may live did not die in vain.

    Why the hurry to resume schools? Even the Health Minister Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu himself warned: “We have not eliminated the disease! We have not eradicated it!”

    So far no child has contracted the Ebola virus. At least our tomorrow is preserved! But we can still keep them safer. With Ebola, you can never be too careful. But if the federal government out of sentiments decides to make schools resume hurriedly and God forbids Ebola strikes again and it is traceable to schools, the blood of those who die thereafter will be on the federal government, and those selfish private school owners!

    • Dr Cosmas Odoemena

    Lagos.

     

  • Bayelsa communities shut oil wells

    Members of the Egbebiri communities in Biseni clan, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, have seized the Idu oil field belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC).

    It was learnt that the field is made up of about five oil wells numbered as 3, 6, 8, 11 and 12.

    The Egbebiri communities were said to have shut the oil wells over the failure of Agip to satisfy some of their demands.

    “Five oil wells operated by Agip in the company’s Idu field in Biseni have been shut down by community folks. Wellheads 3, 6, 8, 11 and 12 have been shut since Sunday night,” a source who pleaded for anonymity said.

    The communities reportedly took the decision after their entreaties to the company fell on deaf ears.

    They were said to have written letters to the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield and the Department of State Security (DSS) to inform them about their disagreement with Agip.

    One of the community leaders, who identified himself as Solomon, confirmed that the communities shut down the wellheads because of the company’s inability to meet their demands.

    “We shut down the wellheads because they refused to meet our demands,” he said.

    Solomon said they asked Agip to solve lack of electricity in their communities by giving them a generator.

    “The generator they gave us since 2003 has spoilt. Our community has been thrown into darkness since then,” he added.

    According to him, they also wanted Agip to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them and to change the name of the oil wells to their community’s name.

    Said he: “We have been talking to them about this, but they have done nothing. They should call for real meetings with the manager of Agip.

    “Our wellheads are numbered in Idu name. They should change it to our community’s name.

    “They are paying for only four wellheads instead of six. We won’t release the wellheads until they call us to a meeting and resolve the issue.”

  • College of Education shut

    The College of Education, Ekiadolor, Edo State, has been shut over a protest following allegations that the management of the school is withholding a N5,000 refund in school fees promised them by Governor Adams Oshiomhole during his July political campaign.

    The protest was led by the Students’ Union Government’s (SUG’s) president, Comrade Augustine Oriakhi, on Monday.

    Sources said the tension in the college forced the management to ask the students to vacate campus.

    But the Public Relations Officer of the school, Mr. Dickson Agbonmwanetaen, in a telephone interview said the school only declared a semester break.

    He added that the suspended exams would begin on Monday.

    The second semester exams were scheduled to begin last Monday, the day the students began their protest.

    They barricaded major streets in Ekiadolor and environs, an action the SUG president said would continue until his colleagues are reimbursed.

    The students paid N22,000 as school fees before the government reduced it in July by N5, 000.

    The Provost, Prof. Amen Uhunmwangho, who said he understood the students’ grievances, told reporters through a text message that the governor promised to refund N5,000 and he would fulfil his promise.

    He added that the management was yet to receive the refund from the government.

    “I appeal to the students to remain calm and sit for their exams. This is why they are in school. Management is on top of the situation. We are sure reason will prevail,” Prof. Uhunmwangho said.

    At press time, it was not clear whether the exams would begin on Monday, as many students were still angry.

  • VC’s removal: Wudil University may be shut

    VC’s removal: Wudil University may be shut

    THE Kano State government is contemplating closing the University of Technology, Wudil following reports of planned protest by students.

    The students, it was gathered, are unhappy with the removal of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibrahim Ruruwei, and mobilised to make their grievance known by staging a protest after the Sallah holiday.

    This has not gone down well with the government especially in view of the threat such a protest may constitute to the institution’s academic calendar.

    Ruruwei was first suspended by the immediate past administration on the strength of numerous petitions bordering on anomalies in the way the nine- year-old university was being run.

    The current administration set up a visitation panel to review the management of the institution, which recommended that the VC must go.

    The government is said to be worried over speculations that a powerful group is planning a sponsored protest involving students loyal to Ruruwei.

    The closure of the school is expected to be announced this week, according to our source.

    The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Sabo Nayaya, could not be reached to confirm the development.