UCH Power Outage: UI Medical Students Protest During Minister’s Visit

• UI medical students protested a 100+ day power outage at UCH, demanding immediate restoration and implementation of promised electricity bill waivers
• Power Minister Adelabu assured students the government and UCH would investigate the outage’s causes and that IBEDC would soon reconnect UCH

Clinical students of the University of Ibadan (UI) College of Medicine staged a protest on Monday during the visit of the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

The students expressed frustration over the prolonged power outage at UCH, which lasted for over 100 days.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the minister and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) management visited the hospital amid the ongoing blackout.

During the protest, the students displayed placards with messages such as “We are tired of 100 days of darkness; Save UCH.”

Speaking on behalf of the students, the Student Union President, Bolaji Aweda, demanded the immediate restoration of power to the hospital. He also called for implementing the 50% electricity bill waiver that the government had promised to tertiary healthcare institutions.

Additionally, the students urged the government to urgently reform the healthcare sector to prevent such crises in the future.

In response, Minister Adelabu assured them that the government and UCH management would investigate the root causes of the power outage and provide a lasting solution. He promised that IBEDC would soon reconnect UCH to the national grid.

NAN recalls that IBEDC disconnected UCH from the grid on October 27 due to accumulated unpaid debts.