After Boycott, Protest and Shutdown, OAU Restores 50 Commercial Buses

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife has directed 50 commercial buses, popularly known as Town-Gboro Buses, to begin operations effective June 8 after the abrupt declaration of a three-week mid-semester break, which suspended all academic activities following a student-led protest on April 28

The declaration followed an internal deliberation by the University’s Senate through the University’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), on 28 April, explaining that the break was intended to restore normalcy and order. The statement noted that students had demanded an improved intra-campus transportation system due to the limited number of CNG buses, which had affected the entire OAU community since the buses officially began operations.

A gift that created a crises

The crisis began from the morning of April, 2026 when the university tested  a new transportation system following the donation of 50 Compressed Natural Gas CNG buses and 30 tricycles by Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. 

On paper, the gesture of goodwill was meant to make life easier for the students of OAU and the university at large. However, the implementation told a different story as the local transportation system known as Town-Gboro buses and bikes were asked to move out of the campus after the roll out of the CNG buses and tricycles. 

With the cashless ticketing model introduced alongside it, it then left the students and the university community queuing for hours under the rain and in the sun especially in the mornings and peak hours of the evening due to insufficient buses and tricycles to cater for the large number of commuters trying to navigate their ways in and around campus.

Three Days of No Classes

Following a congress and subsequent joint meetings, the Students’ Union President, Adelani David, and Secretary-General, Habeeb Oke, declared a 72-hour total lecture boycott, demanding the restoration of the old transportation system where Town Gboro buses and Okada would operate freely on campus.

However, the boycott yielded no tangible result and was suspended after the union cited progress in constructive negotiations and directed students to resume classes, even though the queues persisted.

The Protest, NANS Intervention and Three-Week Mid-Semester Break

On April 28, after an emergency congress held at Awo Café, students staged a peaceful protest by blocking the main campus gates. They demanded a functional transportation system, a halt to the planned vacation of Awolowo Hall, and the removal of fees for checking results on the newly updated university portal.

In response, the university convened a Senate meeting on the same day and approved a three-week mid-semester break with immediate effect. Students were directed to vacate the hostels by 7 am the following day amid reports of no electricity and water supply across the hostels.

The following day, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), South-West Zone D, intervened through a protest, demanding a reduction of the break to one week and additional time for students to vacate the hostels, but the intervention achieved little.

What Happened After Resumption

Following resumption from the three-week break, little appeared to have changed as no additional buses or tricycles were introduced, raising questions among students about the purpose of the break.

However, a Senate meeting later approved an additional three weeks to the university calendar for the semester.

The Town-Gboro Buses Are Back

Three weeks after resumption, the Transport Management Commission (TMC) of the Great Ife Students’ Union announced the return of 50 Town-Gboro commercial buses to OAU campus, maintaining the fare structure that existed before the crisis began. Discussions on pricing for the CNG shuttle buses are still ongoing, with approved rates to be communicated once finalized.

The approval, which coincides with OAU’s 65th anniversary celebrations, means the commercial buses will now operate alongside the 50 CNG shuttles and 30 electric tricycles donated by the First Lady, creating the hybrid transport arrangement students had demanded since the crisis began.

Senate members, speaking after the meeting, described the move as a timely intervention and evidence of participatory governance, though it reflects a return to a solution students had advocated from the outset.