UNILAG students protest against water scarcity, outage

Students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) yesterday boycotted academic activities to protest against the blackout and water scarcity that have plagued the institution for the past few weeks. The students took to the streets and shut the gates of the school to demand solution to the lack of basic social amenities on the campus.

Some of the students, who spoke with The Guardian yesterday, lamented the poor living conditions at the hostel facilities, alleging that absence of electricity and water has made the environment not conducive for learning.

One of the student, who did want his name in print said, “We have not had light and electricity for some days now and our examination is approaching. We protested in the morning but the Dean of Students Affairs in a statement advised students to ignore the protest and go on with their academic activities.

“The Dean’s statement triggered the anger of the Students’ Union and they came to our hostels and ask all occupants to come out and join the protest. As we are talking now, we have not had our bath since yesterday and the school authority is not even saying anything concerning the issue.”

Speaking on the matter, Head of Department of Geography, UNILAG, Alabi Soneye, said: “What they are doing is their right but they should follow due process. When one is not satisfy with any event, you can protest but you don’t need to be violent, you don’t need to stop others from their own activities. You could imagine the numbers of hours they are wasting, locking people outside, and closing the gate. What exactly are their grievances, how far have they gone to those in the authority?

“They should also be careful so that outsiders and cultists would not hijack the protest. If they spoil anything they will be the ones to pay. UNILAG is the only university that has quite uninterrupted power supply, the facilities that 10-20 people are enjoying you know have 50 people using it, the population is increasing with so many squatters, those that are not even students are also in the hostels,” Soneye claimed.