Students of the University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, have staged a peaceful protest over an 82-day power outage at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.
UCH, the teaching hospital where UI medical students undergo training, has been grappling with power supply challenges for over a year due to debts owed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
Reports indicate that IBEDC disconnected UCH’s power supply in March 2024 over unpaid bills, a recurrence of a similar incident in November 2023. Despite the passage of months, the power supply has yet to be restored.
On Wednesday morning, hundreds of students, led by the University of Ibadan Students’ Union President, Bolaji Aweda, marched peacefully to express their frustration with the prolonged outage.
Speaking to News Bulletin, Aweda emphasized the impact of the situation on students.
“We are protesting the ongoing power outage at UCH, which has persisted for 82 days. This issue stems from UCH’s inability to settle its debt with IBEDC. Our students are directly affected by this crisis,” Aweda said.
He further explained that IBEDC has insisted on debt repayment before restoring electricity to the hospital.
