Kebbi College Shutdown As Students Set Provost’s Residence Ablaze

The Kebbi State Government has closed down the College of Health Technology in Jega following a violent demonstration by the students.

Osun Defender gathered that students at the College on Thursday set the residence of the Provost, Alhaji Haruna Saidu-Sauwa, on fire and vandalised his vehicle.

The protest erupted over allegations that the college management extorted N23m from the students regarding index registration for 250 graduating students.

A source within the college who spoke with PUNCH on the condition of anonymity said the controversy originated from a newly introduced Public Health programme, which was initially affiliated with the Reproductive Health and the Public Health Association of Nigeria.

The source said the college merged the programme with the Department of Environmental Health to secure certification, leading to a demand for an additional N65,000 from each student for index registration, in addition to the N30,000 already paid.

Accusing the management of extortion, the students responded violently by stoning vehicles and setting the provost’s residence on fire.

Some of the college staff members fled the scene in fear before security personnel arrived.

It Is Untrue, Baseless – Rector

Meanwhile, the provost of the school, Sawwa, in his reaction, described as “fictitious, baseless and mischievous” the allegations making the rounds that he had connived with a certain body in Oyo State to extort students of his college to the tune of N23m.

He denied the allegations that a certain course was introduced leading to payment of additional money by the students, which he described as the imagination of those spreading the story.

He said, “The said publications carried an unknown source who gave his own version of the story. I challenge the person to come clean in his allegations of student extortion and his claim of course duplications.

“Let me state here in categorical terms that I and the school management have no hand in the said allegations of course duplications and extortion.

“Our school operates the Single Treasury Account where all monies belonging to the school are paid to and no one has access to the account including me.”

He alleged that the protest was triggered by the anonymous source of those newspapers who didn’t balance their report but hurriedly went to press to satisfy their paymasters who he said had been working round the clock to pull down the college with outrageous claims and untrue allegations.

He further urged the students and the management to exercise restraint till the true cause of the student’s unrest was unravelled.

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He added, “Our stand remains we know nothing about the claim and allegations of the unknown source. We are happy no one was hurt and we are working with security personnel to nip in the bud the organisers of the protest which affected my personal car and other things belonging to the college. We distance ourselves from the unknown source of the newspapers.”

Police React

Reacting to the incident, the Kebbi State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Nafiu Abubakar, stated that further details would be provided once information from the Divisional Police Officer in Jega was available.

Govt Shutdown College

Speaking on the incident, the Commissioner for Higher Education in the state, Isah Abubakar-Tunga, announced the closure of the college.

He disclosed this in a press release in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.
He stated that the decision became necessary because allowing the demonstration to continue could lead to heightened tension and potentially escalate to an uncontrollable level.

Abubakar-Tunga, therefore, instructed all students to vacate the college immediately.

The commissioner said that the students, who were supposed to begin their examinations next week, were very angry.

“Their main target is the Provost; they burnt down his house and completely vandalised his car. When we visited the college, we only met the Registrar on the premises, but the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area had taken the Provost to the police station to protect his life.

“If not for the intervention of the DPO, the students would have lynched him,” he said.

He, however, praised the efforts of Sarkin Jega, who, according to him, used his influence to help calm the situation.

In an attempt to further defuse the tension and identify the root cause of the problem, the commissioner’s entourage requested that the rampaging students select and present ten representatives for dialogue.

During discussions with the students’ representatives, Abubakar-Tunga said the students outlined some of their grievances, which included the lack of accreditation for certain courses offered by the college.

“The students explained that the courses at the college only have state recognition, not federal, meaning that upon graduation, they will be awarded ordinary diplomas, not national diploma certificates.”

Other grievances, according to him, included the lack of toilets, absence of potable water, poor sanitary conditions, and bad leadership, among others.

The commissioner promised to set up a committee to investigate the main cause of the unrest and assess the extent of the damage. He assured that anyone found guilty, whether a student or a teacher, would face the full force of the law, regardless of their position.

He added that the college would remain closed for three weeks to a month, and assured that every student returning would be required to come with their parent and sign an undertaking.

“In this undertaking, each student must promise to be disciplined, display good character, and agree to pay for any damage caused by the students,” he said.