Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has directed the management of Kwara State polytechnic to shut down the school for three weeks, following students’ protest of their institution as the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) temporary orientation camp.
    
Recall that the state government, last year, relocated the NYSC camp from its permanent site at Yikpata in Patigi local council to the state polytechnic over the raging insecurity in the area.
    
Men of the state police command had a field day shooting teargas canisters at the protesting students, such that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) was wounded in the process.
 
The Kwara chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however, condemned the police reaction for alleged “reported use of live ammunition and tear gas against peacefully protesting students of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, on Tuesday.”
 
But a trending video of the protest saw the students blocking the school gate and chanting anti-government songs, demanding relocation of the NYSC camp from their campus.
   
According to the viral video, the students blocked the school entrance to prevent new corps members from arriving at the camp for orientation.
 
One of the students lamented that they were being ejected from their hostels and campus to accommodate the corps members for orientation.
 
Consequently, the governor directed the closure of the tertiary institution “to ensure the safety of lives and properties of the entire polytechnic community,” the school authority disclosed.
 
A statement from the institution’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Halimah Garba, and signed by the Acting Registrar, AbdulHafis Amin, confirmed the crisis.