Activities at Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti (EKSU), were, yesterday, paralysed, as the students shut the gate of the campus over high cost of transportation occasioned by the petrol crisis.
Students barricaded the entrance of the university against all vehicles entering and exiting the campus. The dual carriageway in front of the school was also barricaded.
Lecturers were not left out of the students’ rage, as they were not given access into the school for lectures.
Commercial drivers had increased the fare from N200 to N400 owing to the fuel scarcity. But such did not go down well with the students.
The protesters, led by the Students Union Government (SUG) President, Victor Ogunsanya, and his executives, who ordered the school’s security to lock all school gates, said the immediate cause of the crisis was the inability of the commercial drivers to reach amicable resolutions on transportation fare with them.
He also accused the school’s management of not providing shuttle buses to ameliorate the suffering of the students and staff.
Given further insight into the crisis, one of the students, Oluwatayo Ojo, said the controversy started on Tuesday, when the drivers refused to carry passengers and blocked the main gate, saying they would now charge N400, if the students insist on the 3-3-2 sitting formation or N300 for 4-4-2.
He alleged that the commercial drivers were assaulting students and fellow drivers that failed to comply with the new price.
“All efforts to prevail on the drivers by the students yielded no result; hence the students took to the streets today to protest,” he said.
Lamenting their plight, one of the drivers, Adewale Folorunso, said their decision was because of fuel scarcity in the state, noting that they queue for long hours at the filling station and still buy fuel for about N500 per litre.
However, some lecturers and security personnel were seen persuading the SUG president to meet the school management and the drivers to settle the issue amicably.
