Hardship Protest: Nigerian university postpones examination indefinitely

The management of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, has announced the postponement of examinations earlier scheduled for Thursday and Friday “till further notice.”

The announcement, which is contained in a statement issued by the institution on Wednesday and signed by its spokesperson, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, is not unconnected with the planned nationwide protest against bad governance and the rising cost of living by young Nigerians.

The university had commenced its second-semester examination about a week ago, but insiders said though academic and administrative activities would continue, the decision became necessary “considering the high number of students who live outside the campus.”

Young Nigerians are billed to commence a 10-day prolonged protest across the nation beginning from Thursday till 10 August, defying all efforts by the Nigerian government and relevant stakeholders to dissuade them from staging the protest.

The President Bola Tinubu-led administration has, in the past week, consistently appealed to the youths to shelve the demonstration, insisting that its policies are geared towards redirecting the fortune of the nation for the good of all.

The government also engaged religious and traditional leaders to appeal to the angry youths to give the one-year-old administration more time to find its feet.

Examination postponement

According to the statement by the university, a new schedule for all the examination papers initially listed for Thursday and Friday will be announced later.

Mrs Alaga-Ibraheem urged members of the university community, including staff and students, to be security conscious.

Earlier on Monday, the management of the National Universities Commission (NUC) had directed all vice-chancellors of Nigerian Universities to take urgent measures to ensure the safety of their staff, students and property of the institutions during the planned nationwide protest.

Why postponement?

Sources in the university who do not want to be quoted for lacking the authority to speak on the matter confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that the examination postponement became necessary to prevent students who live off-campus from missing their papers should the protest degenerate into a crisis.

“The bulk of our students live off-campus, and if the exam should hold and some of them are unable to get to the campus, then that is a recipe for crisis. Those who did not prepare for the exams might even hide under that to disappear from the examination centres,” one of the sources said.