Academic activities were disrupted at the University of Ibadan on Wednesday as undergraduate students staged a protest over prolonged electricity outage and water shortage on campus.

The protesting students moved around the campus carrying buckets and chanting solidarity songs, insisting that lectures and tests should not continue until normal water and power supply were restored.

In videos circulating online, the students were seen entering lecture halls and asking lecturers and fellow students to suspend academic activities, repeatedly chanting, “No water, no class.”

The protest reportedly forced the suspension of lectures and other academic engagements in several parts of the university.

Some of the students, who declined to be identified, said the campus had been without electricity for more than 48 hours, making it difficult to pump water, charge phones, and carry out basic daily activities.

According to one student, the outage began on Sunday, yet students were still expected to attend lectures and sit for tests despite the harsh conditions.

The student explained that earlier assurances from the Dean of Student Affairs that electricity would be restored overnight did not materialise, prompting the protest action.

He added that the goal was to ensure that academic activities remained suspended until management addressed the situation.

“We’ve not had water and light since Sunday, yet they expect us to attend tests and classes,” the student said.

“The dean of students said there would be electricity last night, but there was none. What we are doing now is to shut down classes and ensure tests and other academic activities do not hold.”

The dean later met with the protesters and reportedly assured them that a generator would be switched on to support ongoing maintenance efforts.

The utility disruption is believed to be connected to the ongoing industrial action by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions, which began on May 4.

The unions are demanding the federal government’s completion of the renegotiation and implementation of the 2009 agreement involving non-teaching university staff.

Their withdrawal of services has affected essential facilities across the campus, including the University Health Service, popularly known as Jaja. (The Sun)

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