UNIBEN Closes Campus Indefinitely Over Students’ Protest
The management of University of Benin, UNIBEN have shut down academic activities indefinitely following protests by students against power outage in their institution.
This is contained in a statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Benedicta Ehanire, on Thursday.
The students protested on Wednesday over the rationing of electricity, among other grievances.
They blocked the Benin-Ore highway, which caused gridlock and untold hardship to commuters.
He noted that the Senate of the institution held a meeting on Wednesday in order to meet with the students to see how the issue could be resolved but the talks with the students failed.
The statement read, “Following the refusal of students of the University of Benin to shift grounds on their demands for 24-hour supply of electricity and more, considered unrealistic by the university’s Senate, the university has shut down academic activities indefinitely.
“Students are to vacate the hostels immediately while all the relevant units of the university are to take note and comply.
“However, non-teaching staff and staff on essential duties are not affected by the shutdown.”
The university was thrown into a blackout by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) following the inability to reach agreement over contentious electricity billings.
The electricity bill of the university increased from about N80 million to between N200 and N280 million.
It was reported that the university rationalised electricity distribution after a resort to the use of generators.
