UI DLC students protest over accidents at Ojoo campus

[Punch]

Students of the University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre on Thursday staged a  protest over the incessant auto accidents at the programme's Ojoo campus.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that students in their hundreds took to the streets, chanting solidarity songs.

They claimed that students were being killed due to the location of the centre.

The spokesman for the protesting students, Mr. Emmanuel Kolade, said three students were seriously injured in an accident close to the centre on Wednesday evening.

The students, he added, were on the way to the centre when a lorry collided with the bus in which they were travelling.

He claimed that a female student had her leg amputated at the University College Hospital, Ibadan due to the gravity of the injury she sustained.

Kolade named the affected students as Adebayo Lesly, Demola Adesope and Funke Kolapo.

He said the university authorities ought to have relocated the centre from the busy Ojoo highway due to the incessant accidents.

Kolade added that other problems faced by the students include incessant increment in school fees, unavailability of course materials and non-conducive classes.

But addressing the students, the Deputy Director of Academics of the DLC, Prof.  Oyesoji Aremu, said the university was already making efforts to relocate the programme from the Ojoo campus and expressed regrets over the  incident.

"It is very unfortunate that we are in this situation; the management feels deeply sorry and we were at the UCH on Wednesday to see the victims," he said.

Aremu assured that the university would pick the medical bills of the victims and urged the students to embrace dialogue and maturity in pursuing their grievances.



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