Students from the University of Ibadan (UI) in Oyo State staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday to decry an 82-day power outage at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
The hospital, a key teaching facility for medical students from UI, has reportedly been without electricity for over a year due to outstanding debts owed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
The power supply was first disconnected in November 2023 and again in March 2024 after the hospital failed to clear its electricity bills. Despite ongoing demands from IBEDC, the hospital’s power supply has not been restored.
Led by the President of the Students’ Union (SU), Bolaji Aweda, the protest aimed to draw attention to the impact of the outage on students and hospital operations.
Speaking during the demonstration, Aweda expressed frustration over the situation.
“We are protesting against what is happening. Our students have been directly affected. For 82 days, there has been no light at UCH due to the inability of UCH to pay its electricity bill to IBEDC. IBEDC has made it clear that UCH must settle its debt before power can be restored,” he stated.
The protest highlights the growing concern over the impact of prolonged power outages on education and healthcare delivery at one of Nigeria’s premier teaching hospitals.
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