Some students at the Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTH) in Niger State have requested that their second-semester examination schedule for the 2020/2021 academic session be rescheduled so that they can travel to their respective states for the 2023 general election.
FUT MINNA is a public university of about 20,000 students, offering Bachelor of Technology and Master of Technology in various technology-inclined fields.
General elections will be held in Nigeria on 25 February 2023 to elect the President and Vice President and members of the Senate and House of Representatives.
SaharaReporters learnt that the management of the school fixed some examinations, such as CHE 228, CIE 221, MCE 321, ABE 526, to hold a day before the general election and some courses for Monday, February 27, 2023 (two days after the poll).
A student who spoke to SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity lamented that with the arrangement, he will have no time to travel to his state to vote.
“The management did not put into consideration many students who are not from Niger State. How will they fix examinations a day before and two days after the general election? I can say this is a clear way to deny some of us (students) the chance to vote during the election. And we all know how this election is critical to Nigeria,” he said.
Solomon Dominion, another student of the school, said, “Today my school Federal University of Technology Minna (FUTMINNA) released our exam timetable and we’re to start exams on 20th February making it impossible to go back home and vote. Please Twitter family can you make this go viral. So, it can be readjusted.”
“There are over 10 thousand people who are ready to go back home and vote, please we don’t want to be disenfranchised,” he added.
Reacting to the situation, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, on Thursday tweeted, “Let 3.5 million Nigerian students vote in the 2023 general election, the @MBuhari regime kept them home 9 months already! #WeCantContinueLikeThis #Letourpeoplevote #SoworeMagashi2023.”
Also, a Nigerian singer, who rose to fame as a member of P-Square, Paul Okoye, also known as Rudeboy tackled the country’s electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission for not taking a proactive measure to ensure a high percentage of Nigerian youths, including university students would not be disenfranchised during the 2023 poll.
“900 Out of the 74million youths eligible voters, 26million of them are students and they are all back in school, most of them registered during the Asuu strike.. it’s 10days remaining for collection@inecnigeriawhy are students still in school by now?” the popular singer said.
