UI suspends union activities, asks students to vacate campus

  An emergency meeting of the Senate of the University of Ibadan was convened on Tuesday where it was decided that students’ union activities on the campus had been suspended until further notice.

Students of the institution were also asked to vacate their halls of residence before 6pm on Tuesday after they disobeyed the order to do so on Monday.

The decision followed the Monday closure of the school by the vice chancellor, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, after students staged a protest, blocking the busy Mokola-Ojoo road, thereby causing gridlock for several hours.

The students had given the school management an ultimatum to constitute a Students Welfare Board and set up a committee to look into the use of electric-powered cooking appliances in the school hostels and issuance of identity cards before their first semester examination. The examination was scheduled to have started in June but was postponed until July 17, 2017.


The school had stated that it was illegal to use electric cooking appliances in halls of residence in accordance with the agreement reached between the students and the school in 2014.

The school’s Director of Public Communication, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo, told our correspondent that the Senate reviewed circumstances that led to the protest before taking the decisions.

He said, “After the postponement of the examination, the undergraduate students were asked to leave their halls of residence on Monday but many of the refused to leave. The Senate exhaustively deliberated on all matters connected to the action of the students and decided to suspend student’s union activities in the school until further notice.

“By this action, the students are expected to vacate their halls of residence unfailingly today (Tuesday). There must be strict compliance to this effect and all appropriate bodies, including campus security service, have been empowered to do the needful and ensure compliance.

“The Senate also decided that a committee should be empanelled to review all activities of Students’ Union, students’ associations in all faculties and their constitutions. The decision was painful, however, bearing in mind that a few students who are trouble makers led us to where we are today.”

Asked if the ban would be lifted on or before July 17 when the students would return for their examinations, Oladejo said the Senate would take a decision after the review of students’ union activities on the campus.