Students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) on Wednesday took to the streets, blocking the ever-busy Benin-Ore Highway to protest weeks of power outage on the campus.
The students, who have only two weeks until their first semester examination, said the situation was severely affecting their preparations.
The University has been thrown into darkness following the inability to reach agreement with the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over a contentious electricity billing.
The management of the University had expressed discontent with the Benin DisCo after it reportedly made an upward review of the institution’s monthly electricity charges by over 200 percent.
As such, the monthly electricity bill jumped from about N80 million to N280 million, forcing the university to resort to power generators as well as rationalisation of power on the two campuses and hostels.
“We only have one hour of electricity every day since this issue started. We are tired of studying in the dark.
“We need electricity to read and prepare for our exams. The university management needs to take responsibility and fix this issue,” said John Afolabi, one of the protesting students.
The protest, which began early in the morning, saw students carrying placards and chanting songs as they blocked the highway.
“We will not leave until something is done. We can’t afford to fail our exams because of the university’s negligence,” said Sarah Osaigbovo, a 300 level student of the Ugbowo campus.
The protest caused significant disruption to the free flow of vehicular movement, with many passengers stranded and unable to reach their destinations.
A visibly angry commuter, who refused to disclose his name said, “I’m supposed to be at work right now, but I’ve been stuck here for hours.
“I understand the students’ plight, but they need to find a better way to protest.”
Despite rainfall, the students were hell-bent on progressing with the protest, demanding the intervention of the institution for power supply.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Dr Benedicta Ehanire said the Senate of the institution was in a meeting on how to resolve the issue.
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