Power Outage: UNIBEN Shuts Down Indefinitely After Students’ Protest

The Senate of the University of Benin has shut down academic activities at the institution following Wednesday’s protests.

Disclosing this in a statement on Thursday, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Benedicta Ehanire, said the shutdown does not affect the non-academic staff.

The university also ordered students to vacate their hostels immediately.

“Following the refusal of students of the University of Benin to shift grounds on their demands for twenty-four hours supply of electricity and more, considered unrealistic by the University’s Senate, the University has shut down academic activities indefinitely,” the statement read.

“Students are to vacate the hostels immediately while all the relevant units of the University are to take note and comply. However, non-teaching staff and staff on essential duties are not affected by the shutdown.”

UNIBEN students took to the streets on Wednesday, blocking the busy Benin-Ore Highway to protest weeks of power outages on their campus.

The prolonged power cut has severely impacted their preparation for the upcoming first-semester examinations which are just two weeks away.

The students are asking for a 24-hour electricity supply in the university, an agitation the management has tagged as unrealistic.