The Borno State government has announced the closing down of two of its colleges following clash by students of the schools over hostel accommodation, Njenje Media News reports.
The closed colleges are Kashim Ibrahim College of Education Maiduguri and Umar Ibn Ibrahim Elkanemi College of Education, Science and Technology Bama.
Announcing the closure in a statement issued to journalists yesterday in Maiduguri, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Mohammed Abatcha , said the closure of the two schools is to save lives.
The statement reads :” As a result of reported cases of clash between students of Kashim Ibrahim College of Education Maiduguri and Umar Ibn Ibrahim Elkanemi College of Education, Science and Technology Bama on the 27th of May ,2021 over the issue of hostel accommodation, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, in consultation with the Management of the two colleges, has decided to close the two tertiary institutions for two weeks to avoid further escalation of the clashes to save lives and properties pending further investigation of the root causes of the matter.”
Six students were yesterday wounded when riot policemen fired teargas canisters on protesting students of Kashim Ibrahim College of Education Maiduguri and Umar Ibn Ibrahim Elkanemi College of Science and Technology Bama, who were protesting non existing hotel accommodations after payments.
One of the protesting students who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the students were angered to protest due to dehumanising condition the management of the institutions placed them adding that majority of those who were not allocated hostels even after paying for them, have been sleeping in the classrooms since 10th of May when the school resumed.
The female student who was among the over 400 of the stranded students of the two protesting institutions said, “ We don’t like the way students are being treated here. Some of the lecturers in this school treat us as if we come from the trees, as if we don’t have parents.
“ Some of us have been cooking and sleeping outside and even attend our lectures from here. The situation is too bad, we want our Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum to look into our plight and save us,” she said.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP Friday, the student union president ( SUG ) of Umar Ibn Ibrahim Elkanemi College of Science and Technology Bama, Abdulrahman Abba Jala , said students started protesting because after paying N3500 accommodation levy, no hostel was allocated to them.
He said most of the complaints from the students are that in the school Portal, N2500 was posted as accommodation levy, but on getting to the bank, it turned out to be N3500, adding that it did not even deter them from paying since they needed the accommodation.
“Another issue in the school is constant shortage of water which have made students unable to clean or flush the school toilets after using them, hence most toilets in the school have filled with faeces, thus posing danger for students health.
“All these forced the students to embark on peaceful protest before the police arrived and started firing teargas canisters on the innocent students and in the ensuing pandemonium, six students sustained various degrees of injuries from the teargas shots, “ the SUG president said.
