OAU: Epileptic Power Supply and Poor Welfare Condition of Students Must be Addressed Now!
The Education Rights Campaign, ERC, OAU branch, strongly condemns the deliberate power rationing by the university management. It is no longer news that the university now rations electricity with a complete power outage of more than 6 hours at specific hours of the day. If there is a legacy the Professor Bamire’s administration is leaving with students, it will be the consistent attacks and his diligent efforts to take away the joy that his caliber enjoyed as students.
The excuse of the management as usual is that the university cost on electricity is unbearable which raises concerns as to what exactly the university management can afford when it comes to meeting the welfare of the students. The halls of residence are in shambles with students having no access to steady water supply and electricity that is becoming worse when compared to the university environs. Why then was there fee increment (which was not even justifiable in the first instance) at a time when parents and students had not recovered from the debts incurred from the payment of previous fees?
It is however shocking that it appears that the entire student unions’ leadership, CEC, more than 100 honorables of the SRC, the HECs (more concerned in this matter) and the JC, have all kept silent
We call on the entire union leadership to wake up from the slumber and be alive to their responsibility. They were elected to protect the interest of students including general welfare. Also, we demand that a congress of Great Ife students should be called immediately; students need to democratically discuss issues about their welfare condition, something which the exorbitant increments viciously done by the university management have nothing to show for.
In conclusion, we of the ERC demand that the Prof Bamire-led administration immediately stops the electricity rationing that has hindered living and learning conditions since the beginning of the session. We call for an independent audit committee, including the elected representatives of workers and students, to probe the university finance and show the members of the university community as well as the public how the university resources (government allocation and the IGRs) are managed.