Bamidele Akpan, the President of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on the management of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) to reopen the institution in the interest of the students.
Akpan who made the demand during a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor of FUOYE, Prof. Kayode Soremekun in the institution on Wednesday noted that the students have agreed to maintain peace in the campus.
The university was shut last week following the violent protest by the students on incessant power outage in the community where two students were killed after attacking the convoy of the wife of the state governor, Mrs Bisi Fayemi.
The students’ union activities was also proscribed in the school.
The NANS president also asked the management to lift the ban on students Union Government (SUG) activities
“We have heard about the closure of the university which was done to ensure that normalcy returned. We appeal that it is time to reopen the school with the assurance that nothing bad will happen. We have to take care of all of that with the students and we are all on the same page.
“Let us allow student SUG in the interest of the school management, may I appeal to you to lift the ban on the proscription of FUOYE SUG,” he said.
Responding, Prof. Soremekun said he would discuss all issues raised by the students’ leaders during the next council meeting of the university.
The VC said, “It is also in our interest to reopen the university, I can assure you that as soon as possible, we will reopen the varsity because it is in our own interest.
“Incidentally, there are structural dynamics in running this place, if the senate has taken an action, I have to go back to them to explain to them and persuade them. There will be narratives and counter-narratives; somebody might come up with a superior argument and will have his way. I am also under authority here but I will speak with the Chairman of the Council.
“We are having the Council meeting on 3rd and 4th of October, 2019 where we will discuss the issue of reopening. What we did is to put the SUG of FUOYE on hold in order to reorganize, and reassess the situation, to see if it is possible to engage in a paradigm shift.
“Even though we have proscribed the SUG, I have been picking the calls of the executives and they can testify to this.”
Credit: tribuneonlineng.com
