“The part-time students have not been receiving lectures, and it is through the part-time students the management of the school receives more money to propel the school forward. It is just a peaceful protest to express our grievances over the sudden halt in our academic activities," one of the students told SaharaReporters.
Hundreds of part-time students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, stormed the institution on Wednesday morning and shut the main gate leading to the school, denying academic and non-academic staff access to the campus.
Students who had arrived the school premises to receive lectures were asked to leave.
A student, who simply identified himself by his pseudonym 'Correction' told SaharaReporters that members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) did not take their jobs seriously, following the non-payment of their salaries.
According to 'Correction', this is despite the fact that the part-time students pay more than the regular students.
His words: "For about a week now, the ASUP said none of their part-time lectures have been paid for a year, so full-time lectures, for like four months, has been on 'work to rule'.
“The lecturers come to school and take lectures for some minutes or hours for the regular students and with this, the part-time students do not have any scheduled time to receive lectures. Even for full-time students, their activities stop at maximum of 12pm of that day.
“So, the part-time students have not been receiving lectures and it is through the part-time students the management of the school receives more money to propel the school forward. It is just a peaceful protest to express our grievances towards the sudden halt in our academics."
Another student, Shola Olawuyi, said: “We protested and we did not destroy any school property. We just came here to make sure academic activities do not take place for our full-time counterparts.
"We will also table some questions to the management, which we need urgent response to."
While protesting at the front of the school gate, some policemen were seen in their patrol van, roughly two metres away from the students. They did not harass the students, but were on ground to prevent breakdown of law and order.
Efforts to reach the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Sulaiman Adebiyi, proved abortive, as his number was unavailable at the time of filing this report.