UCH Blackout Day 19: ABH Residents Sustain Boycott, Offer Terms for Resumption

Student-residents of the Alexander Brown Hall, UCH, following a five-hour long Town Hall meeting, have resolved to resume academic activities on Thursday, 14th November, 2024, dependent ‘on the receipt of the official communication of the College of Medicine and/or the University of Ibadan on the arrangements’ requested in an official statement from the Hall to the respective parties. 

These arrangements are the six resolutions arrived at at the meeting, which are:

1. We request for official communication of the College proposal for a daily minimum of 3 hours of power supply and provision of consistent water supply. 

2. This should include the consistent provision of at least 6 hours worth of petrol for a petrol generator to pump water and 3 hours worth of diesel for the diesel generator. Brownites are willing to cope with this arrangement for the next 1 month, after which we believe that a final solution must have been proferred. 

3. There should be provision of solar charging hubs in the TV room and Famewo Common Room and 2 solar pumps in the next one month. Also, the provision of the solar hubs and pumps must not affect the power supplied by the big diesel generator. 

4. The diesel and petrol for the following week should be made available every previous Saturday by 12 pm to ensure that there is no truncation of this arrangement. 

5. Resolutions from the meeting with Head of Departments (HODs) are to be released in writing concerning clinical postings and the requirements for postings. 

6. The efforts towards resolving the power disconnection by IBEDC should be expedited.

The statement concluded with a message that, “If any of the arrangements above are breached, Brownites will be unable to cope with the physical and mental stress that accompany our academic workload.”

Speaking at the Town Hall, various residents expressed their continued displeasure with the state of affairs and doubt about the Management holding up their end of the bargain. One of such, a fifth-year medical student, said “We are not fighting for ourselves alone, we are fighting for our learning too, if we can’t subscribe to 3 hours light, let’s go home”. Voicing their distrust, another said, “If we agree with their proposal, within 2 weeks there’s going to be another breakdown.We can’t accept the 3 hours and stay in the hostel, patients are also angry, we can’t interact with them”. 

Recall that there had been two previous Town Hall meetings, with that of today arising out of a need to deliberate on the resolutions for consideration made to students during the meeting held by the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan Management and the Dean of Student Affairs with student representatives yesterday, 12th November, 2024. These resolutions included the pledged ‘generation of electricity for 3 hours daily, one hour in the mornings and two hours at night’, among others, with donations of 250,000 Naira and 100 litres of diesel having been made by alumni.