Protesting Edo students ground traffic on Benin-Ore road

Vehicular movement was on Wednesday brought to a halt on the Benin-Ore Expressway by a coalition of students from four tertiary institutions owned by the Edo State Government.

They were protesting against the inability of the state government to address the demands of their lecturers and the poor state of facilities in the institutions.

The students, who noted that the lecturers had carried out a seven-day warning strike last month, said they feared that the current move by the academic staff to down tools indefinitely would totally ground academic activities in the four institutions.

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union had last month halted academic activities in four government-owned higher institutions ─ Colleges of education, Ekiadolor and Igueben; School of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi; and Institute of Management and Technology, Usen, to protest against what they described as the reluctance of the government to pay their 16-month salary arrears.

The arrears arose from a differential in the implementations of the salary structure of CONPCASS and CONTEDISS from July 2009 to October 2010.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the students barricaded the busy expressway, leaving motorists and travellers from both Lagos and Benin areas stranded for several hours.

It was the second time such a protest would be held this year.

The Student Union Government President, Emmanuel Amenaghamwon, who led the protest, said the students could no longer tolerate the ill-treatment faced by their lecturers.

Amenaghamwon, who also decried the poor state of infrastructure in the institutions, appealed to the relevant authorities to address the poor condition of the schools, which they alleged could not compete with other institutions in the state.

The COEASU Chairman at the College of Education, Ekiadolor, Mr. Fred Omonuwa, told our correspondent that the union was aware that the students were protesting in solidarity with their lecturers.

Omonuwa said that the union had planned to down tools from next week, adding that the students’ protest was an effort to prevent the plan by the union to down tools because it would disrupt their forthcoming examinations.

“The students are also frustrated that they are just in school and nothing is happening; the road that leads to the school is bad and there is no water in the hostels.

“The union has said it is not going to conduct any exams until the state government meets the demands.

“So, they decided to use this medium to bare their minds,” he said.

Men of the Ekiadolor Police Division were at the protest venue to forestall a breach of peace, while personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps were seen trying to manage the gridlock caused by the protest.

The Toll Gate Unit Commander of the FRSC, Ameen Adewale, told our correspondent on the telephone that the protest created heavy traffic congestion on the highway.

He said that the protesting students, had, however, been convinced to go back to their campuses around 12pm, after appeals by the school management and security agencies.

He said, “On getting there, we discovered that some students were protesting and blocked the expressway. S

“Since then, we have been battling to see how we can ease the traffic situation there.

“But as I am talking to you now, there is free movement of vehicles to and fro, without any obstruction,” Adewale said.

The Edo State Commissioner for Higher Education, Washington Usifo, could not be reached to react to the issues raised by the students.