Our correspondent reliably gathered that the students, especially those in the college hostels with the support of off-campus students, had planned to embark on a mass protest against the persistent power outage and the school management’s failure to fix the problem which has made it difficult for students to go for night studies.
Provost of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba, Josephine Anene-Okakwa, has postponed the institution's 2020/2021 examination earlier scheduled for Monday, March 15, 2021 for fear of students’ mass protest against over two years of power outage in the institution, SaharaReporters has learnt.
Our correspondent reliably gathered that the students, especially those in the college hostels with the support of off-campus students, had planned to embark on a mass protest against the persistent power outage and the school management’s failure to fix the problem which has made it difficult for students to go for night studies.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, a student who preferred to remain anonymous confirmed that students of the school had planned to hold a protest over what she called 'I-don't-care attitude' of the provost towards solving the problem.
"We had scheduled the mass protest for Monday, the very day we ought to have started our examination, but you know in every 12 persons there must be a Judas. The provost got wind of the planned protest and postponed the examination.
"As students, we no longer go for night studies because there has been no electricity for the past two years and we have a provost who does not know anything about administration. The provost is very incompetent person. What she knows are nepotism, highhandedness and corruption. We don't have water; our hostels are unkempt. No security, no gardeners. Every day, hoodlums loot the institution to cart away valuables.
"The college has never had her type, she's a very big failure. For over two years, she could not fix the electricity problem facing the institution. She doesn't bother about the well-being of students and lecturers.
"But she and her cohorts know how to inflate contracts and get kickbacks year in, year out. I want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Ministry of Education, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other relevant anti-graft agencies to come to the college and probe the provost."
Also reacting to the planned students protest, one of the Heads of Department (HOD) in the institution who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being sanctioned, disclosed that the intervention of some lecturers averted the protest.
The senior staff member said the provost had to postpone the examination to enable the management tackle the issue of electricity.
"Our provost is not doing well at all. She is not carrying people along apart from a few people who belong to her cabal in the school. She does not know anything about leadership and administration. Corruption and fraudulent practices are deeply rooted here in the school. It's so unfortunate. She needs to sit up and turn a new leaf. She doesn't follow due process. Every October, there is supposed to be what we call ‘re-shufflement’ of positions but she has thrown that into the dustbins.
"There are so many corruption and fraudulent practices going on in this institution and the painful aspect of it all is that the provost will always boast that she's untouchable because the money is there to always buy her way off any hook. She's also good at setting up panels and committees to probe and punish those she does not feel comfortable with while those from her tribe can do anything and get away with it."
The provost of the college, Anene-Okakwa was not available when our correspondent visited to get her reaction to the allegations.
"Yes, a protest was proposed by the students over a power outage that has lasted for over two years now in the institution and the examination was postponed till next week Monday. However, I can confirm to you that the examination will commence next Monday, all things being equal. That's all I can tell you."