Student Protest: UNIBEN threatens closure if dialogue fails

The Senate of the University of Benin on Wednesday threatened to shut down the institution if the dialogue to end the ongoing student protest failed.

Students took to the streets early in the day to protest weeks of power outage on the campus among other issues.

The students, with only two weeks to their first-semester examination, said the situation was severely affecting their preparation.

According to a statement issued by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, the senate, arising from an emergency meeting, described the students’ actions as unfortunate.

The statement revealed the senate was particularly concerned with the trend whereby the students blocked the federal highway, causing hardship to travellers and other commuters.

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“In the meantime, some members of the decision-making body have been mandated to continue with dialogue with the students on their unrealistic demand for 24 hours of electricity supply they enjoyed before the university was disconnected by BEDC.

“This is as a result of the disputed monthly bill of over N250 million slammed on the institution by the electricity company.

“The senate also described the two other complaints by the students about high costs of food and transportation as out of the university’s control,” read the statement.

Consequently, the statement disclosed that the senate resolved that if dialogue with the students failed and the protest persisted, it would have no other option than to shut down the institution.

The institution’s apex decision-making body, however, commended the management for the many steps taken so far to ensure the students’ comfort in the face of the nation’s harsh realities.