The Akwa Ibom state government Thursday closed down the Government Technical College, Ewet – Uyo over students’ wanton destruction of school property.
The riot resulted in the injury of some policemen and staff members of the college.
The state Commissioner for Education, Professor Nse Essien, announced the closure in a statement he signed and made available to newsmen in Uyo Thursday.
Essien said the students of the college Wednesday afternoon, engaged in unruly behaviour, destroying school property and causing injuries to some police officers and staff of the college.
He expressed government’s displeasure with the attitude of the students, who, he said, behaved unruly.
“Government Technical College, Ewet in Uyo metropolis is hereby shut indefinitely, and all the students are advised to vacate the school premises with immediate effect.
“The staff of the college are however, advised to continue to report for duty,” Essien said.
The commissioner said 34 students of the college, whose names were compiled through intelligence sources as being masterminds to the incident, had been placed on indefinite suspension.
He added that the 34 students, whose names were with the security agency, would not return to the school, even when the school reopens.
Essien said students of the technical college would bear the cost of damage done on the school property on resumption.
The commissioner decried the behaviour of the students whom he said injured a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) sent to quell the riot.
He stated that the DPO was in critical condition in an undisclosed hospital.
“As I speak, the divisional police officer is in critical condition in the hospital as a result of injuries he sustained in an effort to quell the students’ unrest.
“A member of staff of the college is undergoing surgical operation on his left eye, while another one was seriously injured.
“Several other members of staff and the general public also sustained varying degrees of injury.
“Windscreens of vehicles were also smashed as a result of street fight which has almost become a trademark of the college,” he stated.
