Power Outage: UI Medical Students Protest, Seek Federal Govt’s Intervention

Some medical students of the University of Ibadan on Monday protested the perennial power outage at the University College Hospital UCH), Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The protest coincided with the visit of the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu where the students urged the Federal Government to find lasting solution to the perennial power outage at the institution.

Adelabu reportedly visited the foremost medical facility to hold dialogue with the hospital’s management on resolving the power crisis confronting the UCH.

The protesting students however gathered near the venue of the meeting, with placards of different inscriptions such as, “+100 Days of Darkness: Save UCH; Save ABH Hall; Save Falade Hall; Give Us Light; This Is Not How We Want To Live; Medical School Is Hard Enough- Give Us Light; All We Are Saying, Give Us Light among others.”

It would be recalled that UCH had in the last one year witnessed constant power outage by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) particularly in March and October 2024 when the DisCo disconnected the hospital due to accumulated debts.

IBEDC for the third time in a year, disconnected power supply at UCH on 26th October 2024 and our correspondent gathered that electricity supply is yet to be restored to UCH, resulting in the protest staged by the medical students on Monday.

The minister and key staff of his ministry alongside other stakeholders met with the management of the hospital with a view to find lasting solution to power crisis.

Details of the meeting has not been made public by the hospital at the time of filing this report.