The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Students protest

  • Kano State varsity shutdown over students protest

    The Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil in Kano State, has ordered the closure of the university for two weeks following students protest on Wednesday night over the death of their colleague.

    The deceased, a 300 level student of Biology Education, Faruk Abubakar was drowned in River Wudil on Wednesday.

    The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Shehu Musa Alhaji disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Wudil on Thursday.

    He said the University Senate had declared Thursday, May 3 and Friday, May 4 as lecture-free days to mourn the deceased student.

    He said the students were expected to go on mid-semester break from Monday, May 7 to Friday, May 18.

    “The incident coincided with the mid-semester break hence our decision to close the school to students and entire school community to observe two days mourning after which the students proceed on the break, “he said

    According to him, the students had been directed to vacate the campus before closing hours of Thursday, May 3.

    He said three students went to the River on Wednesday to swim but were warned by the security not to go into the River.

    Read Also: Kano varsity students on rampage over death of colleague

  • Students protest ‘anomalies’ in education sector

    Thousands of students, under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), protested yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, “the rot in the Education sector”.

    The protesters, who marched from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) mega station on Abiola Way, passed through IBB Boulevard, to the Governor’s Office at Oke-Mosan.

    They demanded to see Governor Ibikunle Amosun.

    The protesters carried placards with inscriptions: “Rescue Ogun State Education Campaign”; “Save Ogun State education”; “Education must survive” and “MAPOLY must survive”.

    They urged the governor to save the sector from further descent.

    Ogun NANS Chairman Olawale Balogun told Amosun that the students were not happy with education in the state.

    Olawale cited the delay in the examination of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY) in Abeokuta as an issue that could affect students, if not urgently tackled.

    The students’ leader condemned cancellation of the payment of West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) fee for pupils, adding that they frowned at the hike in the Acceptance Fees paid by new entrants into the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) at Ago-Iwoye.

    The students demanded a statement from the governor on the status of MAPOLY because of its metamorphosis into Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology as well as the creation of Ogun State Polytechnic, Ipokia.

    But Amosun said MAPOLY had gone into extinction with its upgrade to a university.

    The governor said the institution would be in existence for the next four years.

    Amosun, who blamed the institution’s lecturers for the delay in examination, said his administration remained committed to improving education in the state.

    He said: “I am not happy because of my school. What is happening today is because those that have been given the privilege to serve us are not serving well.

    “Everybody here (current MAPOLY students) will finish their courses, it will take four years before MAPOLY will go into extinction. You are not going to Ipokia. If the lecturers don’t want that, we will sort them out.

    “We will ask for new lecturers for the university and the new poly. MAPOLY lecturers are not comfortable with it. I said the appointment they have is for MAPOLY, for the new university; they will have to reapply. If they are qualified, they can take them.

    “I will ask the commissioner to meet with the academic union of the institution. We are only admitting ND I. We are not admitting any student into MAPOLY. We are not sacking anybody. We are not taking them automatically. Why should we carry another place problem to a new one?

    “We are only admitting ND I. If you have carry-over, you are going to Ipokia. I told them (management) don’t admit new students into MAPOLY.”

     

  • University of Ibadan shut over students’ protest

    University of Ibadan shut over students’ protest

    Authorities of the University of Ibadan (UI) have closed down the school, following students’ protest.

    The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, said the closure was as a result of protest by students and to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

    Undergraduates were ordered to vacate campus latest by 6pm yesterday.

    The institution had fixed the first semester examination for June, but it will now begin on July 17.

    The vice chancellor said postgraduate students can continue with their lectures.

    The protesters blocked the Mokola-UI-Ojoo Highway, causing a gridlock.

    This followed students’ resolutions at a congress last weekend that the management be given two days to constitute a students’ welfare board and set up a fact-finding committee to look into the issue of hot-plates in halls of residence.

    The students said there would be no examinations if the university failed to issue them ID cards, which were paid for last session and this session at the rate of N650 and N1,300.

    The university management said in a statement that efforts are on to ensure identity cards are produced and distributed, starting from the middle of next month.

    It issued a circular, informing deans of faculties that students’ registration forms and other valid university instruments would be considered as sufficient for admission into examination halls in the coming examination.

     

     

  • LASPOTECH students protest school closure

    LASPOTECH students protest school closure

    Lagos State Polytechnic, (LASPOTECH) students yesterday stormed Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s office to protest their school’s closure because of the strike by academic and non-academic staff.

    The protesters led by their Student Union Government (SUG) president Daudu Lawal arrived at Alausa in five buses, chanting solidarity songs.

    They displayed placards with inscriptions such as “Save LASPOTECH”; “Order that LASPOTECH be reopened”; “We are tired of staying at home”.

    Lawal said they sought the government’s help because they were tired of sitting at home.

    According to him, final year National Diploma and Higher National Diploma students had a few weeks left before graduation when the strike began.

    He said they thought the strike would not last over one week, but were surprised that it had lingered to over a month.

    “We are here today to get the attention of the governor over this issue and appeal to him to intervene so that we can return to school and complete our studies.”

    Lawal, who said “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”, stated that it would be in the society’s interest for the students to return to school.

    He begged the governor to pay workers’ outstanding allowances and benefits to end the strike.

    The students stood around for a while after presenting their protest letter to a top government functionary.

  • Students protest against colleagues’ rustication at UNILAG

    Students protest against colleagues’ rustication at UNILAG

    Students from different tertiary institutions yesterday stormed the University of Lagos (UNILAG) over the rustication of 11 students of the school.
    The mass protest was held under the platform of “Save UNILAG Coalition” comprising the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the Alliance of Nigerian Students against Neoliberal Attacks (ANSWER), the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) Students Union Government (SUG), Education Rights Campaign (ERC), the Students and Youth Activist Support Initiative (SYASI), United Action for Democracy UAD, the Nigeria University Education Students Association (NUESA) and a host of other civil societies.

    Yesterday’s early downpour did not deter the protesters.
    Two of them were injured as the Sabo Police Division attempted to stop them from entering the school.
    A protester, Seyi Daniels, said the police tried to stop the students with teargas and guns.
    “Stopping students’ right is giving our nation false hope. Management has locked the school gate because of the protest. Students and commuters are stranded,” he said.
    Lagos police command’s spokesman, Olarinde Famous-Cole, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said they were not aware of any protest.
    The Save Unilag Coalition Secretary, Juwon Sanyaolu, said the rusticated students were only expressing their feelings about the condition of the university hostel.

    Sangolu said: “Between April 6 and 8 last year, UNILAG students protested bad welfare condition on the campus. Even a chicken cannot survive in that school hostel for a week and yet you put human beings there. You stock 20 of them despite paying N26,000 for accommodation fee in a rat hole you call a hostel. That was the condition these students protested against. Instead of listening to the demands of these students, they rusticated 11 of them and subsequently disbanded the students’ union. We cannot continue to run a university like a prison camp and expect a meaningful development. Therefore these students who are not criminals should be reinstated with immediate effect.
    “Today, the condition of living is quite abysmal. It has not changed. The students are not protesting not because they are not in support, but because the management has forced them to signed an indemnity form. The form contains pages, paragraphs that do not only violate humanity but violate the constitution. On this note, we say the management should reverse the obnoxious policies and restore immediately a better condition of living in the university.

    He added: “The management increased the accommodation fee of post-graduate students from N60,000 to N120,000. The students wrote a letter, demanding a review of the increment. The next thing the management did was to ask about 40 students to face a disciplinary panel. The government is not even paying the N18,000 minimum wage; they are owing our parents salaries, commodities are high, families can hardly boast of two square meal per day and yet you are increasing fee under this biting recession, how thoughtless can that be? You want to victimise them with a vindictive panel instead of reasoning with their demands. The panel that was set up should be disbanded. Our students should be granted freedom of speech.”
    National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Lagos chapter chairman Moses Adewale said the students union should be given freedom to operate.
    “The management has chosen not to make these students valuable for themselves and their families. The condition of the students in the school is unfavourable. The students are being treated like kids forgetting that a tertiary institution is made up of adolescents and youths. The institution is beyond going to the classroom to receive lecture. Our students need to be socially involved. Having a union has nothing to do with politics. It is supposed to fight for the rights of our students. How could the UNILAG management just believe that they have the constituted authority to dissolve the union?”

    Head of ERC, Lagos State University (LASU) chapter, Dhikrullahi Aasim Akorede, said: “We are here to fight against any form of victimisation in the educational sector. Our concern is that why should the management rusticate a student based on the article he wrote on social media. If at all they want justice to reign, they should sue him to court. That is an infringement on the right to expression. We are demanding they reinstate Femi Adeyeye and the 10 others. We were in the rain all through to make our demand. Two of our members were arrested because the victims of the struggle requested that we follow them in.”

    Addressing the students, the Dean of Students Affairs Prof Ademola Adeleke said he would take their petition to the school management.
    UNILAG Deputy Registrar, Information Unit, Mr Toyin Adebule, said “This is to inform the general public that the University of Lagos students are not protesting. The gathering outside the university gate consists of rusticated students and allies. They have challenged the university in court and the case has been struck out. Let me assure you that lectures are ongoing without any form of disruption.”

  • Xenophobic attack: Students protest in Ibadan

    Commercial and vehicular activities were partially disrupted in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, as students of polytechnics and monotechnics barricaded business concerns owned by South Africa.

    The students, who are demanding the immediate cessation of hostilities against other nationals, most especially Nigerians, called on the South African government to address the ugly situation and tender sincere apologies for the attacks on Nigerians.

    The students marched around the streets of Ibadan with a call to the South African government to end aggression against nationals in their domain.

    They took their grievances to the door steps of South African businesses in Ibadan such as DSTV, Shoprite and MTN outlets.

    The President of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), Gbenga Adeyeye, who led the protest, said they were not happy with the posture of the South African authorities.

    ý”In spite of our positions, this ugly phenomenon has remained unabated. Why this killing, maiming, looting? The disappointing aspect is that President Jacob Zuma has not said anything about the incident, whether to apologise on behalf of South African citizens that have unleashed terror on our people. Nigeria contributed a lot to the emancipation of South Africa.

    “Nigerians need to be accorded some respect. The magnitude of mental incarceration that Nigerians are going through now over there is very disheartening. We ýhave resolved that if South Africa can no longer accommodate our people, it is not a crime for Nigeria to review our diplomatic ties with them. We have enough abundant resources to take care of our people here and we can develop our economy, if we have responsible leadership,” he said.

    The state Commissioner for Education, Adeniyi Olowofela, who addressed the students ýon behalf of the government, condemned the attacks on Nigerians, adding that Nigeria government paid enormous price for the freedom of South Africa.

    According to him, this issue is being resolved at the national level and Oyo State government is also working.

    He appealed to Nigerians in South Africa to be of good behaviour, adding that government of Nigeria would not tolerate a situation where our people would continue to sufferý any form of injustice.

    The students later left, but vowed to continue to keenly study the situation with a charge to both partiesý to continue to maintain the peace.

  • Students protest: Our position – University

    Students protest: Our position – University

    In apparent reaction to the violent student’s protest that rocked the university community and its environs on Thursday, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) said it has declared a seven – day mid – semester break.

    Speaking through the Head, Directorate of Public Relations (DPR), FUNAAB, Emi’ Alawode, said this is to enable the university to put additional welfare and security arrangements in place.

    “The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), has declared a 7-day mid-semester break for the Second Semester, 2015/2016 Academic Session with effect from Thursday, August 18, 2016.

    “This is to enable the university to put additional welfare and security arrangements in place, to further support the initiatives of the Federal and State Governments, towards the protection of lives and properties of its citizens, particularly, members of staff and students of the university.

    “As part of the efforts towards ensuring a safe haven for members of the University community, FUNAAB has partnered with the Ogun State Commissioner of Police and the Director, State Security Service (SSS), to uphold safety of lives and property of staff and students living within the school environs, following Armed Robbery reports received by students residing in Isolu, a community situated close to the University, which is highly populated by staff and students of FUNAAB.

    “To this end, the University’s Security Team, in collaboration with the Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) from Odeda and Obantoko areas, both in Abeokuta, Ogun State, often take turns, on a daily basis, to patrol the University environs at night. The University Management has also encouraged the various communities to embrace community policing and vigilante services, to support the efforts of the Police and the SSS.

    “It is also important to note that students are properly scrutinised during the University’s screening exercise after the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, to pro-actively ensure that candidates with questionable characters are not admitted into the University.

    “Students have also been cautioned to live a low profile life, avoid attracting unnecessary attention to themselves, be alert, be vigilant about happenings in their surroundings and be free to contact the University’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), in case they notice any strange movement or occurrence around their vicinities,” she said.

  • Protest: Kogi poly shut indefinitely

    Protest: Kogi poly shut indefinitely

    Authorities of the Kogi State Polytechnic (KSA) on Tuesday announced the indefinate closure of the indtitution.

    The KSA Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Luke Yakubu made the announcement in a press statement issues in Lokoja .

    He stated that the move was to forestall further breakdown of law and order in the state owned institution.

    Students of the school went on the rampaged over the alleged killing of a female student by a commercial motor cyclist popularly called okada rider.

    Motorists traveling along the Okene-Abuja road were trapped for several hours, while properties running into millions of naira were destroyed as the students in their hundreds took over the road, burning tyres, in protest of the death of their colleague.

    Law enforcement agents had a hectic time before they could disperse the protesting students and forging them back into the campus.

    Our correspondent reliably gathered that what led to the incident happened in the town in Adankolo on Monday morning when the said female student had a misunderstanding with the okada rider over fares.

    The okada rider was said to have brought out his knife and stabbed the hapless student on the stomach which later led to her death on Tuesday.

    According to the source, when the death of the female student was announced her colleagues went on the rampage, besieg8ng the highway.

    They also commandeered a traler belonging to Dangote group, beat up the driver and later set the vehicle ablaze. Another trailer that was also accosted suffered similar fate.

    Motorist, passers-by and commercial motorcyclists were molested by the students, as vehicular movement came to a standstill.

    It took the intervention of armed mobile policemen to bring situation under control as students marched towards NATACO around the International market.

     

  • 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).”

  • Ondo varsity students protest

    Ondo varsity students protest

    Students of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) in Okitipupa Local Government  yesterday protested the “poor conditions’’ in the institution.

    Over 700 aggrieved students prevented workers from entering the institution on Monday.

    There was a gridlock on the Okitipupa/Igbokoda Road, following the protest.

    A 200-Level student, Omotola Benson, said their school fees was too high and that they were charged ICT fees without Internet facilities.

    He decried the government’s neglect of the university and unpaid salary.

    Benson said: “Indigenes pay N125,000 and non-indigenes N175,000. We pay N20,000 without access to Internet and workers are owed three months’ salary.”

    The National Association of Nigerian Students, Joint Campus Committee (NANS JCC) in Ondo State, led by Odunayo Kowe, last week wrote to Governor Olusegun Mimiko, shortly after visiting the institution.

    The students’ body urged the government to focus more on the institution by responding to students’ demands.

    Commissioner for Education Jide Adejuyigbe could not be reached for comments.