The University of Benin (UNIBEN) management on Thursday indefinitely suspended academic activities and instructed students to vacate their hostels immediately.
The university, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, attributed the decision to the refusal of the students to shift grounds on their demands for a twenty-four-hours supply of electricity, and more.
Recall that that the students of UNIBEN on Wednesday took to the streets, blocking the ever-busy Benin-Ore Highway, to protest weeks of power outages on campus.
The students, who had two weeks until their first semester examination, said the situation was severely affecting their preparation.
Report had it that UNIBEN was thrown into a blackout by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) following the inability to reach agreement over contentious electricity billings.
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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.
Speaking with the protesting students amidst heavy rainfall, newsmen revealed they were hellbent on continuing the rampage unless their demands are met.
Students have been reportedly told to vacate the hostels immediately, while all the relevant units of the university are to take note and comply.
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