Students of Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State (FUOYE) have staged a peaceful protest again over poor power supply in the community.
Tuesday’s protest is coming after a similar action four months ago when they stormed the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company in Oye-Ekiti, disrupting academic activities over poor power supply.
They blocked the Oye and Ikole campuses, stopping fellow students and staff from gaining entrance into the school premises.
The visibly-angry students carried placards with inscriptions such as “Say No to NEPAPHOBIA”; “We need light” chanting “we need light” in songs.
They marched from the school gate to the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company in Oye-Ekiti, blocking motorists and passengers from using the Federal highway leading to Ilupeju, Ikole and Kogi and Abuja axis.
Some of the students decried the state of poor power supply.
One of the protesters, Okedare Gbenga, a 300-level student of Geology department lamented how students pay for light but they don’t enjoy it.
“ Here we are suffering there is total black out aside from that we will be paying for light and we won’t be given light . I believe the protest is not a waste of time,” he said.
Another protester, Adekola Ayomide Franchis, a 300-level student of Accounting department and President of the Faculty of Management Sciences, lamented the poor power supply.
“I think it high time the students let their voices out. We have been suffering and smiling in this community.
“The major aim of this protest is light in Oye-Ekiti. This is a student environment where we need light. Without light we can’t read our books, we don’t have access to the internet.
“This is a student environment where we need light and other infrastructural facilities as well. There are no good waters, there is no borehole and we claim to have a government who has the interest of all citizens at heart.”
Former Vice-Chairman National Association of Nigerian Students, Ekiti State, Comrade Taiwo while addressing the students declared the protest opened, threatening it will be sustained until government addressed the situation.
“If they don’t address us today, tomorrow we are resuming back to this gate. We are not stopping this protest until we win and mind you if you are not ready to face your fear you can’t win. Let us face our fear so we can win,” he stated while addressing the students.
Speaking at the school gate while addressing the students, The President of the Students Union Government, Oluwaseun Awodola, lamented poor power supply that has led to the insecurity of the students.
“The generality of Oye is suffering from poor power supply. It came to our notice that our students are being molested in the night, our students are being beaten in the night, and our students are being gang robbed in the night because we don’t have light.
“Everywhere in FUOYE is dark. Our students keep charging at filling station, if a little light tear up more than 50 students will be gone. We don’t want mass death in FUOYE. What we want is a stable power supply. Today is a confrontational protest”.
But the University Public Relation Officer, Mr Godffrey Bakare, said the university doesn’t control power, he describing the protest as senseless.
“The power or whatsoever is not controlled by the university so you don’t disrupt academic activities because you want to cry out to the government. Besides power is privatized. Of course they conducted themselves well.
“They should allow other activities to go on since they felt they want to pull out of lectures today for reasons best known to them, if pulling out will bring power and they have said until a notable government official .
“So I don’t know which government official apart from the minister is in charge of power. Power is not recycled in a state it’s privatized but I hope the protest will yield some result.”
As at the time of filing this report none of the government official or Benin Electricity Distribution Company official was yet to address the students.
