On Monday, June, 1, 2015, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Prof Benjamin Ozumba, through the institution's PRO directed about 36,000 students of the institution to vacate campus within 24 hours under the guise of "mid semester break," an anomaly, unheard of in the institution's 54 year history.
The real motive behind the action of the vice chancellor was to stop the students from peacefully protesting the inability of the university authority to provide water and electricity to their hostels for close to a month. Rather than work at solving these problems, or call the students to address them, the university’s vice chancellor resorted to a tactic that one can only describe as insensitive and diabolic.
On the evening of Monday, June 1st 2015, notice that the institution was immediately closed for a "mid semester break" was circulated. All academic activities were suspended and students were asked to vacate the school premises within 24hrs.
The said directive necessitated a mass movement on the 2nd of June, 2015. Security operatives went round harassing and intimidating students out of the campus. There was pandemonium within the institution and students, leaving in droves, packed themselves into the few available buses with little concern for safety.
One of the buses conveying students was unfortunately involved in a ghastly accident that resulted in the death of a third year female veterinary medicine student.
Many more students sustained various degrees of injuries and were rushed to various hospitals within Enugu metropolis.
Some female students who ran away from their hostels that night for fear of harassment by security officials fell into the hands of hoodlums who violated them and dispossessed them of their valuables. Many more, female students, had to put up with strangers outside the university campus. Who knows how many of them were taken advantage of that night.
In view of the foregoing, the institutions being petitioned, the National Human Rights Commission and The Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria are called upon to investigate:
1) What efforts the vice chancellor made to restore water and electricity to the institution before the abrupt vacation order was given?
2) Were these efforts sufficient?
3) Why were the students given such a short ultimatum to vacate campus?
4) Is this "mid-semester break" part of the institution's calendar or history?
5) Was safety of the students taken into consideration when the ultimatum was issued considering the time and poor condition of the roads in Nigeria?
6) Was it justifiable to ask thirty six thousand (36, 000) students of the institution, majority of whose guardians reside outside south-East Nigeria, to hit the road at such a short notice?
7) When did it become wrong for students to peacefully protest the poor state of things within their campus- like they did earlier in the evening before the evacuation order was given?
Why were security agents invited to forcefully eject students from their hostels at such a short notice?
Ultimately, the commission is expected to find out if the vice chancellor still has that moral right to retain his seat after his actions and inaction led to the death of a student and caused various degrees of physical and psychological injuries to students placed under his care.
It is expected that adequate action shall be taken by the authorities of the agencies concerned to forestall a re-occurrence. The lives and welfare of the students must come first in decision making in university settings.
The death of Anatogu Nkolika Sylvia is one that must not be swept under the carpet. The deceased lady is someone’s daughter; she had a dream which has been cut short by the avoidable (and regrettable) circumstances. Those whose actions directly or remotely led to this must be held responsible.
WRITTEN BY
MACMILLA
ON NAIRALAND CRIME SECTION
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