Hundreds of students from the University of Ibadan (UI) staged a peaceful protest on Wednesday morning, expressing outrage over an 82-day power outage at the University College Hospital (UCH), where UI medical students undergo training.
The blackout, which began in March 2024, is the result of unpaid debts owed by UCH to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC). Reports indicate that this is not the first disconnection, as IBEDC previously cut off power to the hospital in November 2023 for similar reasons.
The protest was led by the Students’ Union (SU) President, Bolaji Aweda, who decried the impact of the prolonged blackout on students and hospital operations.
“We are protesting against what is happening. And, of course, our students are affected. For 82 days, there has been no light at UCH, and this is due to the inability of UCH to pay its electricity bill to IBEDC,” Aweda said.
The situation has forced students residing in Alexander Brown Hall, located at UCH, to travel to the main UI campus to charge their gadgets. A student, speaking to journalists, described the hardship as unbearable.
This is not the first time UCH has experienced such a crisis. In 2024, a similar blackout left doctors resorting to flashlights during surgeries.
Students are calling for immediate resolution of the debt crisis to restore electricity to the hospital, emphasizing that the outage is severely disrupting their academic and clinical training.
