EBSU STUDENTS PROTEST HANDLING OF COMPUTER BASED EXAMINATION

Reporter: AMECHI ODO

Students of Ebonyi State University (EBSU) Thursday blocked Abakaliki-Enugu Expressway to protest against poor planning by the school management following a stampede that allegedly affected eight students at an Examination Hall at Ezzamgbo Campus of the University.

The Students Union President, Comrade Samson Abani, explained that the incident occurred when students rushed to secure seats for the university’s adopted Computer Based Test for General Studies.

The students, who cut off traffic on the Abakaliki-Enugu Highway for over two hours, resisted efforts by security agents, including the Army, who were drafted to clear them off the road.

Also, pleas by the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Francis Nwifuru, the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala and the State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Onyebuchi Chima, for them to vacate the road fell on deaf ears.

However, it took the intervention of the Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, who assured the students that the state government would look into the matter and forestall a recurrence.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Loveth Oda, said the victims of the incident were rushed to the hospital and resuscitated.

Radio Nigeria gathered that about one thousand Students scrambled for space for the Computer Based Examination at the University’s ICT centre, which according to investigations, has about five hundred sitting capacity.