After over 40 hours of power failure which plunged some halls of residence, and some other areas on campus. The affected halls of residence include Fajuyi Hall, Awolowo Hall, ETF Hall, Angola Hall, Mozambique Hall, Alumni Hall and the Murtala Muhammed Postgraduate Hall in the late hours of Friday 5th of January, electricity supply was finally restored to campus at the late hours of Tuesday 9th of January
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The restoration of the electricity supply on campus was received with mixed feelings as students thought that it would be interrupted just like it was on Monday when it was restored for a few hours before it was interrupted again.
The total blackout which started in some affected hours such as Fajuyi Hall, Awolowo Hall, ETF Hall, Angola Hall, Mozambique Hall, Alumni Hall and the Murtala Muhammed Postgraduate Hall on Friday extended to Moremi and Akintola Halls of Residence and academic areas in the late hours of Sunday, 7th of January leaving the school community in total blackout.
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Students’ Union Reaction
Before the restoration of the electricity supply on campus, the Great Ife Students’ Union on Monday, 8th of January addressed the students’ community, stating that the total blackout on campus, was a result of an electrical fault from the Transmission Station at Ajebamidele.
According to the release, the union was working on the provision of Generators to 5 Halls of Residence to provide electricity temporarily to pump water and for students also to charge their gadgets in the common room.
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Also, a few hours before the restoration of the electricity supply, the Union announced the provision of a generator for power supply at the Students’ Union Building(SUB). The temporary measure was to ensure that essential services and activities within our community were not interrupted.
Students Reactions On The Total Blackout
Before the restoration of the power on Campus, Students expressed their displeasure at the total blackout.
Ayomide Olusola, a resident of Fajuyi Hostel, lamented how the lack of electricity worsened the water shortage in the hostel. ‘It affected my activities. Because there was no light, water was not available, so I had to queue for an hour and 30 minutes. I came back from an overnight at academics around 7:30 am, and I got my water around 8:50 am. It was at the tank in Annex Block H, and there were about 30-40 buckets before it got to me. In short, I wasted an hour and 30 minutes of my very valuable time fetching water just to have my bath to go to class’, he said.
Moses, a Pharmacy Student and resident of Awolowo Hall, also decried how the situation has hindered him from preparing for his tests adequately. ‘The situation has been so bad. As a pharmacy student, I have to read at night, and it has not been easy at all. We are going towards the time of exams, and so we have a lot of tests now, but I have been shuffling around, and it has been so inconvenient academically. Even to do other things, there are some tasks, some extracurricular things I do normally, (and for them) I have to charge my laptop, I have to do a lot of things, still there is no electricity. And I think they pump our water in Awo with light. That part too has been greatly affected because we don’t have water today. A lot of people from other departments could not go to class. The water I fetched, I fetched it from well, and you can imagine. So it has been so inconvenient and inconsiderable. So if they can help us do something about it’, he said.
For Akintunde, a Medical Student and resident of Awolowo Hall, currently writing his examinations, the situation has been very unpleasant. In describing the experience, he said, the situation impeded his preparations because a lot of exam materials were on his gadgets although, he had some hardcopy materials and textbooks too. So far, throughout the days of the blackout, He had to walk a long distance from his hostel to charge with solar, and staying in such an inconvenient area with mosquitoes, to charge and be able to read has not been a pleasant experience’
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Similarly, Favour, who stays in Mozambique Hall, lamented how she was forced to wake up at 2 am to be able to fetch water. According to her, “The problem for me with this light is that ever since then (the blackout) was that she was not been able to read well in her hostel. Commenting on the water supply during the blackout, she narrated how they had to set an alarm for 2 am to go fetch water from Moremi or PG Halls Of Residence after using up the water they fetched during the day.
In Alumni Hall, Precious, a Civil Engineering Student, in describing how the blackout affected her schedules said ‘It was frustrating. I stayed at the Alumni Hostel, and we could not have water since Saturday. I was not been able to iron my clothes, get cold stuff, or even buy things. I was unable to read in the night too, since I cannot go for overnights. I had to buy a flashlight’.