Policemen from the Oyo state police command on Wednesday blocked entrance to the Oyo state Secretariat following protest by students
The students protest had caused traffic gridlock along the secretariat road and they had also attempted to gain entry into the secretariat but policemen had already gotten wind of thier intention and had closed the gates , while policemen with thier vehicles were seen manning the front of the gate and controlling the traffic.
It was gathered that the students staged the protest to draw the government and public attention to what they called 82-day power outage at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan where students are trained to become doctors. The UCH has been experiencing power outages due to debts owed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC which led the IBEDC to cut off the power supply to the hospital in March 2024.
The President of the Students’ Union, SU, Bolaji Aweda decried the prolong power outages. He said
“We are protesting against what is happening. And, of course, our students are affected.
“For 82 days, there has been no light at UCH, and this is due to the inability of UCH to pay its electricity bill to IBEDC.
“IBEDC has demanded that UCH settle its debt before they will restore power,” he said.
