Few days after their convocation ceremo­nies, aggrieved stu­dents of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) yester­day, staged a peaceful pro­test, demanding the imme­diate postponement of their examination.

The students said the er­ratic power supply on cam­pus, coupled with the appall­ing scarcity of water in all the halls of residence had stalled their preparation for the end of semester examination.

Daily Sun learnt that the ag­grieved students took off from the Jaja Hall at 7a.m., chanting rebellious songs that derided the management of the univer­sity. They accused the princi­pal officers of the university of being insensitive to their plight, noting that their prepa­rations for the examination had been hampered by the inces­sant power outage and water scarcity on campus.

One of the students, who gave his name as Ayodele, said the situation on campus has been intolerable for the past months, such that they find it difficult to study.

He said the constant disrup­tions in electricity supply and daily scramble for water had made life unbearable for stu­dents, especially those in their final year.

“Electricity has not been provided regularly on campus. The university is rationalising the light. One hall of residence will have light for one night, while another hall will be in darkness,” he said.

A reliable source told Daily Sun that the university sur­vived on N10million monthly allocation from the Federal Government, a situation that starved the university the re­sources needed for uninter­rupted power supply.

The source said the institu­tion had been running gener­ating plants to generate elec­tricity on campus. Aside the high cost of diesel, he said the vast area of the university also overloads the generating plants, which prompted the school to be rationalising the electricity supply to the vari­ous hostels.

Indications of the chal­lenges facing the university emerged during the convoca­tion ceremonies, when the Vice Chancellor, Prof Ra­hamon Bello, made a public appeal to philanthropists to assist the university in solving its accommodation problems. According to him, the univer­sity had been suffering dearth of bed spaces on campus, with 35,000 students sharing 8,500 bed spaces.

Bello said the parents’ forum of the university em­barked on a 1000 bed space project, but noted that it was a far cry from the accommo­dation need of the institution, which had become the most preferred university by stu­dents seeking admission.

*Adapted from Daily Sun. Photo shows