Students of the Kaduna State Polytechnic on Friday staged a peaceful protest against acute water supply and electricity the students have been subjected to recently.
The students in the early hours of Friday locked the entrance to the main campus located at Tudun Wada, Kaduna, affecting academic activities of the institution.
DAILY POST learnt that the protest started around 9:am when some of the students pasted placards on the gates with inscription, “No light, No Water, Kadpoly Why?”
Most staff and other students of the institution were stranded at the entrances of the institute but were seen in groups discussing the situation.
When asked to comment on the situation, the students who pleaded anonymous said they have been living in the hostels without water and Electricity for the past 6 days in spite of formal complaints to the school authority without any action.
A source within the Students Union Government, SUG, leadership who doesn’t want his name mentioned because he was not authorised to speak said the leadership of the union disassociated itself from the protest.
When contacted, the Registrar of the Institute, Dr. Mohammed Sani Musa said the students were not patient.
According to him, the power outage was as a result of the heavy rainstorm witnessed in Kaduna metropolis on Wednesday.
He explained that the electricity issue doesn’t only affect Kaduna Polytechnic but other communities are also affected.
“It was caused by the wind storm witnessed on Wednesday that affected power lines and roof of some houses within the Kaduna metropolis.
“We also witnessed same in the Polytechnic and provided diesel and fuel for the generator to provide power and water to the students.
“They(students) said no they want 24 hours water and electricity. How can we do that under the circumstance we in here,” he explained.
He said despite this, the management entered into an agreement with the state water board to be supplying the school with water tanks but still, the students seem not satisfied. A statement from the office of the Assistant Secretary General of the National Association of Nigeria Students, Abdulmajeed O. Oyeniyi, dissociated himself from the protest of the students.
He added, “With a heart of dismay from my Office as the ASG of NANS over the misinformed Protest which occurred on early hours on Friday morning 4th May 2018 at my Secretariat Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, Kaduna State in which erupted in my absential which l went to attend a National Assignment in Abuja. When l received an epochal call from one of the student on the campus, stated that there was a fiercely and serious Protest going on in the school, in which make me carry out some thorough investigation before swinging into Pragmatic Action but to my astonishment, l found out that the purported Protest was based on misinformation and impatient of the students in which they sees it as the only way for them to registered their grievances to the Management.
“As a Lover of Peace and Abide Nigerian Student, l dissociate my humble self from the purported Protest and also appeal to the students who participate in the protest should desist from the act in other for them not to face the law of the School.”
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