Electricity: Nigerian university students protest power rationing

Students of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday, commenced a protest over the poor power supply on the campus and asked the university management to reverse a recent memo over electricity rationing.

The protesting students barricaded the school gate while a sizable number of them gathered at the university’s administrative building, even as they carried placards.

The protest, which began around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, has been backed by the Students’ Union (SU) and continued around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, students told PREMIUM TIMES.

The students’ union has demanded constant power supply and reversal of a recent fee hike by the university.

“There will be neither lecture nor transportation within the school premises on the 17th of July, 2024,” the union declared in a protest resolution letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES and signed by the president, Aweda Bolaji; general secretary, Ogundijo Japheth and Speaker, Opegbemi Busoye.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the university spokesperson, Joke Akinpelu, she was driving. She has yet to respond to messages delivered to her line.

Cause of protest

One student who didn’t want to be named for fear of victimisation told this newspaper that “the protest is (about) the new policy that was sent out about rationing of electricity supply on campus.”

The university management on Tuesday released a memo stating that the Vice-Chancellor, Kayode Adebowale, a professor, had approved a 10-hour daily electricity supply on the campus.

With this directive, students are now to enjoy electricity from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the day and 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at night, according to a memo from the university’s director of works, Olufemi Adetolu.

Angered by what it described as power rationing, students took to the streets to demand a reversal of the order.

Students list demands

Meanwhile, the students’ union leadership has listed its demands to include the withdrawal of the contentious memo, provision of constant power supply and the reversal of a recent fee hike by the university.

“The school authority in association with maintenance must withdraw the memo on electricity rationing, dated 16th of July, 2024, and in addition, there must be constant power supply within the school effective immediately,” it said.

“There must be a total reversal of all fees, and not reduction. Those that have paid must be refunded.”

The students leadership also called for an end to “the ongoing victimisation” of three students of the university over their involvement in a protest in May.

The students are; Aduwo Ayodele, Olamide Gbadegesin and Nice Linus.

Like UI, Like UNIBEN

Earlier this month, the management of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) shut down the university immediately after students refused to shift grounds on their demands for adequate electricity.

The students had blocked the Benin-Ore highway to protest weeks of power outage on their campuses even as they have only two weeks to their first semester examinations.

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The university was thrown into a blackout following the inability to reach an agreement with the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over a contentious electricity bill. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) had increased the institution’s electricity tariff by over 200 per cent, which the university protested.

The Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna, had also lamented an electricity bill that accrued to N3.6 billion a year, following the increments of electricity tariff.

The Nigerian government recently increased the electricity tariff for customers under the Band A, which offers over 20 hours electricity, from N68 to N206 per kilo watts.