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Last week’s Boko Haram scare at the University of Ibadan (UI), hawkers and recharge card vendors have been barred from operating in the institution.
No parking order has also been enforced at the institution’s gate. Security operatives have also commenced stop and search operations.
The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has also stepped up security at the university.
Head, Directorate of Public Relations, Mrs. Emi Alawode, on Monday, said that the ivory tower had put adequate security measures in place.
Apart from the private security arrangements on campus, the institution, she said, was liaising with the security agencies, such as the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Punch quoted her as saying: “Within our host communities, there are also Fulani herdsmen. We have started holding regular meetings with members of the host communities. The idea is that they can inform us of the new faces in their midst.”
Last Friday, a threat message purportedly sent to some workers of the institution by a terrorist group, al-wilayat al-Islamiyya Gharb Afriqiyyah, sent fears through out the university community.
Fear in UI over Boko Haram’s purported threat to strike on campus before Independence Day
But the Director of Communication, Olatunji Oladejo, who spoke to Punch, said the institution had taken other necessary security measures to safeguard lives and property in the school.
Oladejo said the institution was collaborating with security agencies to forestall any attack on the ivory tower.
His words: “We thank the various security agencies working with us but I must state that there is calm in the school. Apart from the presence of police and other security agencies at the school gate and around the campus, the university’s security outfit is also well equipped, trained and staffed to complement the effort of the police and other security agencies. We are not taking anything for granted.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the command had deployed its intelligence officers to monitor the movement of people in and around the ivory tower.
The Director of Information, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Mr. Niyi Oduwole, said the security men in the institution had always been on guard, as the institution had perfected an effective security arrangement.
The National Association of Nigerian Students has called on the Federal Government to beef up security in the universities in the South-West.
Its South-West Deputy Coordinator, Mr. Saheed Afolabi, said security agencies must ensure that adequate security arrangements were in place to prevent any attack in the institutions, warning authorities not to treat the threat on UI lightly.