BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State have appealed to their management to allow them to spend their mid-term break on campus.
The university management had last week announced a 2-week mid-semester break, that took effect on Monday for the students. The management had asked the students to go home after some indigenes of Ile-Ife besieged their campus with charms and other fetish items in protest against the appointment of Prof Adeboye Bamire as the Vice-Chancellor of the school.
But a statement issued by the president of the Great Ife Students’ Union, Olayiwola Folahan Festus, Secretary General, Odewale Samuel Damilare, and Public Relations Officer, Ogunperi Taofeek Olalekan on Monday urged the management to allow those who would like to remain on campus and should not force them to leave their hostels.
They said most students had expressed worry over the sudden break owing to its financial implications.
According to them, “following the 2-week mid-semester break announced by the University Management, the Union has made moves to ensure that students are not unnecessarily put into discomfort. This is coming as a result of worries expressed by many students.
“It will be recalled that the University Management on Saturday, March 26, 2022, announced a 2-week mid-semester break beginning on March 28, 2022. The announcement has stirred arguments amongst students, with many students expressing concerns.
“For some students, it is difficult for them to deal with the financial implications of travelling home only to return in two weeks. For all the reasons that may be adduced to substantiate the mid-semester break, the Union maintains that the break must be observed in a way that does not adversely affect students who may choose not to go on break.
“The Union, in an effort to ensure that students’ interests are protected have thus taken the following positions: That the mid-semester break must not be made compulsory for students and, as such, only those who wish to observe it should do so.
“That students who are not interested in going home be allowed to stay in their respective Halls without any form of forced eviction or intimidation.
“That the University Management should fulfil its obligations towards such students who may not go home for the semester break.”
