Sequel to a resolution arrived at at the second Town Hall meeting in under a week at the Alexander Brown Hall, UCH, in response to the prevailing power outage, residents of the Hall have sustained a boycott from Academic activities, which began on Monday, 11th November, 2024.
The boycott, which is now indefinite, was one of six resolutions made in the meeting held at the Volleyball Court on Monday evening, others including;
- Total boycott of Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) Homecoming event holding today, 12th November, 2024.
- Executives (of respective associations) to communicate the wishes of all constituencies at ICOMAA Homecoming today.
- Online protest to begin (as of last night) trending graphics plus a physical banner at the gate, and cardboards at the Paul Hendrickse Lecture Theatre.
- Executives to demand SU Memo to be released by the morning of 12th November, 2024, latest.
- Deadline of Friday, November 15th, 2024, given to the College of Medicine and UI Management to offer reasonable terms on their line of action. In the absence of appropriate feedback, Brownites would be going home.
As of Press time, the SU has issued a special release, “identifying with students of the Alexander Brown Hall and Ayodele Falase Postgraduate Hall who have been affected by the cut out of power supply of the University College Hospital by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC)” and “urging all concerned authorities, particularly, University College Hospital, and the University of Ibadan Management, to collaborate and find an immediate and sustainable solution to the electricity issue”.
This boycott, is the second in a year of multiple blackouts. The previous incidence was on the 8th of August, 2024, with residents protesting a 6-day blackout that affected the Hall.
As of Press time, students can be sparsely seen both within the Hall premises and the main Hospital complex, with some of the few about, reporting seeking places to charge their devices.
Speaking with the Press on his reason for joining the boycott, Bola*, a fourth-year medical student said, “The situation in ABH is really alarming. Since I go to the hostel this year as a 2024 intake, I’ve never fully enjoyed what we call “basic amenities” like water & electricity. Every corridor that has a toilet at the moment is currently smelling because there’s not enough water for the cleaners to clean the toilets. Most of the times, I use restaurants, library and office toilets within the hospital. The living conditions are really alarming and horrible.
At the moment all my clothes are dirty and I haven’t had a proper bath. It’s really appalling. I cannot cope, we cannot cope.”
For Oli*, a fourth-year physiotherapy student, “It has been terrible. I have been fetching unclean water at the construction site. I use most of my reading time to charge. All my clothes are dirty because I have not been able to wash since I have to manage the water I fetch. I spend hours on queue to fetch water”.
