Medical students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest inside the Enugu campus of the university over the disconnection of power supply to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital’s old site.
The students, who were singing solidarity songs, carried placards with various inscriptions, such as: “Doctors are made, they’re not created”, “No light at old UNTH for 2 months”, “Power has left us; Two months and counting no light”, “Give us light at old UNTH; Online classes no light, no wifi”, “Give us light; We don tire to dey burn candle for night #we need light; I don finish my money for power bank, #lightupoldunth”; amongst others.
The students who marched around the campus later blocked the main roundabout inside Enugu Campus, halting vehicular movements from all corners of the institution and leaving motorists stranded for hours.
The protesters urged the management of the university to find a lasting solution to the epileptic supply of electricity to their old UNTH location, where students doctors reside and take their studies.
The students insisted that they could no longer tolerate persistent the power outage in the area which had lasted two months.
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They also accused the Dean, College of Medicine, Cajetan Onyedum, of not making any efforts at addressing the plights of the students on the campus.
One of the protesters, who simply identified himself as Declan, said the students had been suffering in silence, adding that they had been paying to charge their phones and laptops in order to carry out academic assignments.
We’re here to demand electricity supply at Old UNTH. We have not had light there for more than two months now. And we’re medical students. They are giving us generators off and on which s not near enough.”
Another student, Sydney, described the actions of the school authority as debasing. He said, “As medical students, we receive most of our lectures through zoom. We need electricity to keep up with the zoom lectures. Apart from that, we equally need electricity to read our slides, photos. Our refrigerators, phones, laptops are there without being charged.
“We followed it diplomatically it didn’t work. That’s why we’re here. If this doesn’t work out, maybe we devise another means of forcing them to give us light.” (sic)
When the Public Relations Officer of the University, Okwun Omeaku, was contacted on phone, he refused to make comments on the matter.
He simply said “okay” after he picked our correspondent’s call and listened to the question on the protest.
