THE authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), on Thursday, July 4, announced the shutdown of academic activities in the institution indefinitely.

The university, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Dr. Benedicta Ehanire, attributed the decision to the refusal of the students to shift grounds on their demands.

Recall that the students on Wednesday, July 3, took to the streets, blocking the busy Benin-Ore Highway to protest weeks of power outage on campus two weeks to their first semester examination, saying the situation was severely affecting their preparations.

The students also called for a downward review of transport fare by the UNIBEN shuttle service, which was increased with effect from Monday, July 1.

The institution was thrown into a blackout by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), following its inability to reach agreement over contentious monthly electricity billing, which increased from about N80million to between N200 and N280 million, forcing the university to resort to power generators and rationalisation of power on the two campuses and hostels.

Ehanire described the students’ demand for 1,125-hour power supply as unrealistic, adding: “Following the insistence of students of the University of Benin to shift grounds on their demands for 24 hours supply of electricity and more, considered unrealistic by the university’s Senate, the university has shut down academic activities indefinitely.

“Students are to vacate the hostels immediately, while all the relevant units of the university are to take note and comply.

“However, non-teaching staff and staff on essential duties are not affected by the shut down.”