Scores of students of the Ondo College of Health Technology, Akure, on Monday barricaded the institution’s entrance to protest poor facilities, lack of basic amenities, and alleged extortions by the school management.
The students, who converged at the college’s main gate as early as 8:00 a.m., displayed placards with various inscriptions, such as ‘We Are Tired of This Wickedness’, ‘Health Tech With Poor Environment’, ‘Stop Extortion Now’, and ‘No Solution, No Exams’.
The protesting students also made bonfires and chanted solidarity songs.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, a student, Adeola Ibiroke, lamented that students had endured years of hardship due to the lack of potable water, a poor internal road network, an epileptic power supply, and other essential facilities.
Ms Ibiroke alleged that, despite the country’s harsh economic situation, the institution’s management had continued to impose what she described as unnecessary levies on students.
“As I speak with you, there are no basic amenities in this college. There is no water or steady electricity. The classrooms are dilapidated, there are no functional laboratories and no hostels, yet the management keeps demanding money from us without considering our struggling parents.
“The management has turned this school into a money-making machine. They even encourage some lecturers who demand money for textbooks and assignments,” she said.
Ms Ibiroke added, “We have made several efforts to engage the management through our representatives, but we were repeatedly shut down. That is why we decided to say enough is enough. This protest is long overdue.”
When contacted, the college rector, Emoruwa Oluwole Oluwanbe, denied the allegations levelled against the management.
Mr Oluwanbe, however, said the state government had intervened and called for a meeting, promising to give a comprehensive response later.
Meanwhile, the protesting students insisted that no lecture or examination would take place until the management addressed what they described as years of neglect and exploitation.
