YABATECH shut for four weeks over protest

The management of the Yaba College of Technology has suspended academic activities in the school for four weeks as students continued protesting against the death of a final year student of the institution, Comfort Dazan, on Thursday.

The PUNCH had reported that the angry students went on the rampage in the college, shutting all its entrances and singing solidarity songs to protest against Dazan’s death, which they claimed was as a result of the poor state of the medical facility in the school.

It was reported that Dazan, a Higher National Diploma II student of the Office of Management Technology department, passed on after she fell ill and was rushed to the college’s medical centre, which allegedly demanded N35,000 before she could be attended to.

Our correspondents learnt on Thursday that though the protest continued, the presence of riot policemen at the school entrances, prevented the students from marching to the streets.

It was gathered that apprehension made the management to suspend academic activities for four weeks.

The Head, Public Relations Unit, Charles Oni, said in a statement that the suspension of academic work was to mourn Dazan.

He said, “The academic board of the college has suspended academic activities in the school for four weeks to allow the management, workers and students to mourn the loss of Dazan, who died on Wednesday.

“To forestall further destruction of the school property, students are to vacate halls of residence latest at 12pm on Thursday, February 11. The management has pledged to attend to other issues and requests by students in due course.”

It was learnt that the students, during the protest, vandalised the college’s medical centre’s ambulance, burnt a 5KVA generator, and damaged some vehicles belonging to the school and individuals.

Meanwhile, the authorities of the Federal Medical Centre, Oyingbo also on Thursday, admitted that Dazan died in the hospital.

In a statement by the FMC Head, Clinical Services, Dr O.T. Aseru, FMC said 27-year-old Dazan died just 10 minutes after arriving at the centre from the school medical centre.

Aseru added that Dazan was “very pale, cold, clammy, anxious and gasping” when she arrived at the hospital about 1am on Wednesday with a nurse from the college.

Also, at the University of Lagos, normalcy had returned with huge police presence observed at about 12.30pm on Thursday.

Some medical students of the university and their parents had on Wednesday disrupted academic activities, alleging that the school management deliberately introduced an academic promotion policy that would frustrate them from proceeding to the university’s College of Medicine, Idi-Araba, to continue their programme.





Punch