The Management Committee of the Benue State University, Makurdi, has suspended all 200 to 600 level medical students of the institution for one month.
Medical students from the institution had last Wednesday, staged a peaceful protest to the Government House over alleged arbitrary withdrawal of their classmates, lack of water and overcrowding up to five students in a room instead of two.
It was gathered that the students were attacked by some persons they identified as thugs at the gate of the Government House.
An internal memo signed by the Registrar, Dr. Mrs. Mfaga Modom, said all the affected students are to vacate school hostels at 10:am on Monday, October 30, 2023 and resume on Wednesday, 25th November.
Dr. Modom said in the memo that on resumption, each student should bring a Sworn Affidavit from a competent Court of Law attesting to be of good conduct.
She further stated that each student should also come along with his/her Parent/Guardian who will sign an undertaking.
“Management Committee has reviewed the recent actions of 200 to 600 level Medical Students and has also carefully reviewed the reports from the Dean of Students, the Coordinator of Security and Resolutions that arose from the meeting between Management Committee and Academic Staff of the College of Health Sciences regarding the Students demonstration of Wednesday, 25th October 2023,” the statement read.
“Management Committee also noted with dismay the recalcitrant attitude of these Medical Students before, during and after the demonstration and resolved as follows:
i. Management Committee will constitute an Investigative Committee to look into the remote and immediate causes of the demonstration and advise as appropriate.
ii. The Top Management Committee of the College of Health Sciences is hereby directed to implement the Resolutions of the Reports of the various committees on the students’ demonstration.
iii. All 200 to 600 Level Medical Students of the College of Health Sciences should proceed on one (1) month suspension with effect from 8:00 a.m. on Monday, 30th October 2023 and should resume on Wednesday, 29th November 2023.
iv. On resumption, each student should bring a Sworn Affidavit from a competent Court of Law attesting to be of good conduct. Each student should also come along with his/her Parent/Guardian who will sign an undertaking.
v. The Benue State University Medical Students Association (BESUMSA) has been suspended with immediate effect till further notice.
vi. 200 to 600 Level Medical Students are hereby directed to vacate their hostels by 10:00 a.m. on Monday, 30th October 2023.
2) Academic activities of 100 Level Students of the College of Health Sciences remain uninterrupted…
3) All Staff, University Community and the General Public are hereby notified of the suspension. “
Meanwhile, leader of the protesters and President, Students Union College of Health Science, Benue State University, (BSU), Makurdi, Nelson Iyorkaa, said they had peacefully matched to the Government House just to draw the attention of the governor to their challenges including lack of water, dilapidated lecture halls and hostel accommodation among others.
He said while the students were marching to the Government House gate, they were stopped by security on guard who urged them to send delegates to which they refused.
“We were chased out of government during our peaceful protest not by police but other thugs guarded by the men of the state community volunteer guards and a lot of students have it on record how we were chased by these thugs,” he said.
“It was while the police were discussing with us that the thugs in their numbers stormed the government house, carrying sticks and other cane and violently chased us away.
“But we retreated and insisted that we must see the governor himself and table their grievances. Thereafter, some Government functionaries came to address us too, asking us to go back to school, that the governor will come to the school and address us.
”It was so disheartening that after we made our presentation and about to leave as directed, then they came and attacked us.
Honestly, the issue of hostel accommodations and the level of infrastructural decay in our school is causing so much issues for us and that is why we decided to come and the the attention of the Governor to the university so that something can be done. That is our aim, nothing more,” he added.
