By Juliet Oladele, Reporting
IBADAN – Students at the University of Ibadan staged a protest on Wednesday over worsening campus conditions, including prolonged electricity outages and water scarcity linked to an ongoing strike by non-academic staff unions.
The demonstration began in the early hours from the Independence and Nnamdi Azikiwe halls of residence before swelling in numbers and spreading across the institution, according to reports from IndyPress.
UI Students during the protest on Wednesday. PHOTOS: UIUCJ
By approximately 9:00 a.m., the crowd had grown large enough to fill a lecture theatre, with students chanting slogans including “No water, no class” and “No light, no class” as they moved through various parts of the campus.
Academic activities were brought to a standstill across several faculties. The protest first disrupted lectures within the Faculty of Science, before extending to the Faculties of Computing and Social Sciences, and eventually reaching the Faculty of Arts, where students were urged to join the demonstration.
The unrest is directly linked to the ongoing industrial action by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), which has crippled electricity, water supply and other essential services on campus.
University of Ibadan’s Students’ Union President, Temidayo Adeboye, addressed the press as protesters advanced to the Faculty of Nursing. Speaking while marching from Independence Hall, he described the action not as a protest but as a reflection of mounting student frustration.
“This is not a protest; it is a demonstration of our frustration,” Adeboye said. “No light, no water… and with the NASU and SSANU strike, we know they are supposed to close down the lecture halls.”
He called on the university management to shut down the institution and allow students to return home. “The end goal is that they [the management] know that we can no longer continue our academics in this environment,” he added.
As of the time of filing, the situation on campus remained tense, with further developments expected.
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