By Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
To avoid further breakdown of law and order by rampaging students, authorities of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, have closed down the institution indefinitely.
According to a statement by the acting Registrar of the school, Mr. Daniel Abiodun Adeyemo, the school will be shut until normalcy returns.
Adeyemo said the management took the bold step following students’ alleged plan to continue to cripple academic and administrative activities on campus with a planned music jamboree on Tuesday.
The enraged students began a protest Monday morning, demanding to write the ongoing semester examinations, in spite of the failure on the part of many of them to complete payment of their school fees.
A student, who craved anonymity for fear of victimisation, claimed that some of them who have completed their school fees did not support the protest, saying: “Some of the students protesting are not
even real students of the university.
“You won’t believe that some of these students who are disrupting academic activities on campus had spent the fees their parents gave them on frivolous things. Instead of them to go back home and plead for the fees, they are here disrupting the peace on campus.”
Reacting to the development, the acting registrar said the management had given three free lecture days for the aggrieved students to organise with their parents to complete the payment of their fees, adding that: “The university management has noticed with concern the evolving
issues which surround the students’ protest as regards the ongoing semester examinations.
“The management has responded by acceding to most of the demands which
have spawned the protests.
“And as a mark of further goodwill, the vice-chancellor was billed to hold a meeting with the students’ representatives at 13:00 hours on
Tuesday, 15th May, 2018.
“Prior to all these, management had granted a three-day lecture free period to allow students organise with their parents and guardians as regards their fees.
“But despite all these measures of goodwill, some of the students have
still decided to turn the university into a theatre for disco music and other non-academic activities which have the potential to cause a breakdown of law and order. It is against this background that the university has been shut down until normalcy is restored to campus.
“Please be informed that the university management is not insensitive to the plight of students who are yet to fully pay their fees and only dialogue can resolve a matter such as this.â€
He also explained that some students were fond of mutilating their exam clearance slips hence, the management insisted they laminate them before entering exam halls.
