Students Protest Over Power Outage, Union Activities

Students of the Bayelsa State Medical University in Yenagoa at the weekend shut down activities in the institution over poor power supply, limited access to the library, establishment of a teaching hospital and absence of a student union government in the institution.

The students barricaded the entrance into the institution and demanded that there should be clear accreditation for migration of students to originally planned courses among other issues.

Carrying placards with inscriptions such as; “BMU give us light”, “we need a SUG and “we are suffering” among others, they were however pacified by the commissioner for education, Hon. Dr. Gentle E. Emelah, who immediately ordered the release of two standby 100KVA generators to the school to assist in power supply.

Emelah later directed members of the students management committee to intervene and subsequently bring some of the students to the dialogue table. At the meeting with the protesting students joined by the management of the university led by the vice chancellor, Prof. Etebu Ebitimitula discussed and resolved the raging issues amicably.

Speaking on behalf of the students, Austin Binaebi Emmanuel who raised the various issues decried lack of constant power supply, saying it had affected their academic pursuit and as medical students they were required to study without interruption.