The authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), on Thursday, shut down academic activities in the institution indefinitely.
The students had on Monday staged a peaceful protest over power outage on campus as a result of power disconnection by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over debt owed by the institution.
The monthly bill was said to have jumped from about N80 million to between N200 and N280 million, forcing the university to resort to power generators as well as rationalisation of power on the two campuses and hostels.
The university Senate had appealed to the students to stop the protest, warning that it would close the campus if the protest persist.
A statement by the institution’s public relations officer, Dr. Benedicta Ekhanire, said the institution was shut down as a result of the students’ refusal to stop the protest.
“Following the refusal of students of the students to shift grounds on their demands for twenty four hours supply of electricity and more , considered unrealistic by the University’s Senate, the University has shut down academic activities indefinitely”.
“Students are to vacate the hostels immediately while all the relevant units of the University are to take note and comply.
“However, non teaching staff and staff on essential duties are not affected by the shut down”.
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