University of Ibadan

Following the security breakdown in the University of Ibadan, UI, which has led to incessant attacks on the students and staff by armed robbers, the university authority has imposed partial curfew on campus.

The partial restriction of movement, which will be in place until further notice, is expected to commence on Wednesday 14, 2019, and will be observed from 12 midnight till 5 am.

The management added, “All students and members of staff should be able to produce a means of identification if and when accosted by security staff”.

Also, it is gathered that the school authority has placed a restriction to female hostels on campus by males. The affected hostels are Queen Elizabeth 11, Idia and Obafemi Awolowo Halls of residence.

“Moreover, all male visitors are expected to leave the precincts of the female halls by 8:30pm. Anyone found loitering will be regarded as a suspect”, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka was quoted to have said this.

It would be recalled that the authority had earlier banned the use of motorcycle popularly called Okada as a means of transportation and replaced it with tricycle popularly called Keke Marwa or Keke NAPEP, in other to forestall the incessant robbery attacks.

In spite of this, the attacks have increased as the robbers keep having field days whenever they storm the campus for operation.

Members of the university community have complained that banning okada on campus was an erroneous solution to insecurity on campus saying that it has brought hardship to the commuters as hard to reach areas are not being plied by tricycles.

The university had earlier in a release dated Monday August 12, 2019, stated that the management has commenced a comprehensive review, reinforcement and restructuring of the security architecture, landscape, facilities and services on campus.

According to the statement, this has been necessitated by two unfortunate security breaches experienced in two of its halls of residence between July 11 and August 12, 2019, where property of the students including laptops and phones were carted away by hoodlums armed with heavy sticks and machetes. Some of the students and security men had sustained injuries during the attacks.

The statement read, “The university management sincerely regrets this unfortunate turn of events and assured all students, parents/guardians and all stakeholders that it is cooperating with the police to apprehend the culprits and has intensified efforts to ensure that we do not have a repeat of such burglaries in any of our halls of residence through a comprehensive reinforcement and restructuring of the security systems and apparatus on campus”.

The statement further stated that management will spare nothing to ensure that the campus is safe and that it remains committed to the safety and security of all staff and students on campus.