Due to the power outage which resulted in the collapse of the institution server, the University of Benin, UNIBEN, has been forced to recall over 3,500 post-UTME candidates who sat for the university examination on Tuesday, December 8.
It was reported that on Wednesday, December 9, the university sent a Short Messaging Sevice, SMS, to all candidates. The SMS was directed to all affected candidates, instructing them to return to the university for another test.
The SMS reads, “If you know anyone that wrote post-UTME exam today 8th December 2020 @ict hall UGBOWO, tell the person to come back from any state or city he or she is. UNIBEN server failed for applicants that wrote 9 am & 10.30 am. The authority has tried its best to call some students but their phone off. Tell ur love ones…”
According to a source in the university who spoke with the media, the source affirmed the statement of the university, saying “the servers collapsed for most of yesterday”.
“This is a major crisis. How do you get all the affected candidates to come back? What about those who came from the far North and other states to write the test? I wonder why the university management is acting as if the University of Benin is meant only for Benin City. If you ask the candidates to come back, who bears the cost? How do you handle the risks of traveling?”, the source quarried.
However, the source also suggested that the university authorities should find a means of “using the UME scores of the affected candidates and their SSCE results to get cumulative scores for the candidates. This is a university environment and we should be able to think outside the box”
On Wednesday evening, the University issued a statement which was signed by the University Public Relations Officer, PRO, Dr Benedicta Ehanire. The statement asserted that the crisis in Ihovbor one of the neighbouring community caused the power outrage in the university.
“This is to inform members of the University of Benin Community that the present power outage on Campus is as a result of Community unrest at Ihovbor, the main source of power supply to the University. (The Community youths have forced power outage due to a Community clash). It is hoped that normalcy would be restored soonest. Inconveniences are regretted”, the statement read.
It was however gathered that UNIBEN had electricity issues for several weeks due to a major fault in the Grid that supplies electricity to the university, this was restored last week before the restive youths from the neighbouring community cut if off again.
