Thousands of students at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, on Friday, trooped to the streets to protest against incessant robbery attacks around the institution.
Daily Trust reports that the protesters prevented staff members and visitors from entering the university by blocking the school’s gate on the Ibadan/Ilesa expressway.
They lamented over the activities of armed robbers and burglars who usually cart away valuables from their hostels off-campus, particularly at midnight and daytime when they were in classes.
Armed with placards bearing different inscriptions, the protesting students lamented that their hostels off-campus had become “robbers’ den”, expressing displeasure at the school authorities’ failure to protect them.
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Some of the placards read: “Students’ Lives Matter”; “Please Save Us From Robbers”; “We No Longer Sleep At Night,” among others.
One of the students, Bamidele Ayoola, said that students had witnessed robbery attacks four times in the new year.
“We are tired of this issue of insecurity in the off-campus. We have experienced four robbery cases since we resumed. These guys (robbers) would visit while we were on campus for lectures or visit at dead of the night. Sadly, nothing has been done to improve the security situation here,” he said.
Another student, Promise Adetula, who stays in a one-bedroom apartment with her friend, said the robbery incidents were becoming too frequent off-campus.
She explained how their compound was attacked a few days ago by robbers who were armed with guns, adding that the security agencies did not act despite reporting to them.
“You can just imagine what we feel here as students living off-campus. It is now becoming a daily incident as the robbers seem to be watching our movement at night.
“And, instead of the police to protect us, they prefer to chase us around on the guise of looking for yahoo boys (Internet fraudsters) in the streets. We are saying enough is enough, many of us feel insecure most especially the females. It is beginning to have a psychological effect on us,” Adetula said.
Speaking on the protest, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said the police were already working with the students to ensure their lives and property are safe.
She, however, said that security agents earlier stormed the scene of the protest to prevent it from being hijacked by hoodlums who might take the advantage to cause havoc.
Meanwhile, some medical workers in the state have also protested over the non-payment of their salaries and other entitlements by the state government since 2019.
Daily Trust learnt that the protesters were initially employed by the Ondo State Hospital Management Board (HMB) but were later transferred to the Ondo State University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital in 2019 following the merger of the two institutions.
The health workers accused the government of cheating them by paying them less than their colleagues employed by the University Teaching Hospital despite working in the same institution for the past five years.
Armed with various placards, the protesters demanded an immediate solution to their plight by the state government.
One of the protesters simply identified as Ms Abiola said earning below what her colleagues in other places earned was demoralising.
She said, “The bone of contention is that after the harmonization of HMB and teaching hospital in 2019, the following category of staff: nurses, pharmacists, medical social workers, radiologists, dietitians, clinical psychologists, drivers, tailors, etc. who transferred their services from HMB to teaching hospital have not got anything in benefit from the teaching hospital despite all appointments being confirmed since 2023.
“Whereas, consultants and administrative officers who also transferred their services from HMB to teaching hospital have been getting their entitlements for over four years.
“The worst part of it is that newly employed staff members of the teaching hospital are also enjoying the benefits which made all of them earn more than their counterparts from those who transferred their services on the same level.”
Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa had last month promised to address some of the issues in the health sector in the state, adding that more health workers would be recruited.
Aiyedatiwa also promised to prioritise the welfare of workers by paying all outstanding entitlements of civil servants in the state among others.
