According to the Genesis account of the creation story, before God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss. God then said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. And then God separated the light from the darkness. This simple act of God, dated several years back, shows the importance of light to every society and the world at large. Power supply generates electricity, which is a vital part of functioning as a society. Simple tasks, such as waking up at a designated time or communicating with friends and family are accomplished currently via electronic means which invariably makes use of electricity. It is therefore expedient to give attention to a relatively short power outage. When there is power outage, everywhere goes dark, phones and computers go dead, food gets spoilt in refrigerators, it becomes impossible to work on school assignments, long essays and so many other things.
For over a week in the Premier University, there has been power shortage. Since the beginning of the semester, certain halls of residence have not had sufficient power supply. These halls include: Obafemi Awolowo Hall, Tafawa Balewa Hall, Mellanby Hall, Tedder Hall, Abubakar Hall, Queen Idia Hall and Independence Hall. Astoundingly, over fifty percent of the houses in the staff quarters of the university have not been affected by this surge of power shortage. This power shortage has also resulted in shortage of water in some of these Halls.
It was in light of this “black-out” that some students residing in the Nnamdi Azikwe Hall and Independence Hall came out en bloc on Thursday, 30th October 2014 to protest. The protest lacked the support of the president of the student union, as he sent his personal assistant ahead of him, which is a wrong move on the part of a unionist.
It was apparent that the management was waiting for the “voice” of students before making any move, as light came in these halls barely 24 hours after the protest.
The need for uninterrupted power supply cannot be over emphasized especially for students working on their long essay or research projects and postgraduate students who are studying for their exams. The management should therefore endeavor to provide a lasting solution to the epileptic power supply within the university, setting their priorities in respect of the needs of all students as regards power supply.
