NANS Calls For Immediate Closure Of YABATECH Illegal Detention Cell Known As ‘The Base’ Over Student Brutality

The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS Joint Campus Council Lagos State Axis, has condemned the alleged brutalization of a National Diploma 1 Engineering student of Yaba College of Technology by officers of the institution’s Security Unit and is demanding urgent action from the school management.

According to reports from students, the incident began when security personnel ordered the student to remove his earring. He complied. He was then asked to surrender his phone. When he refused, he was assaulted. Student leaders say this is not an isolated case but part of a troubling pattern that has persisted on campus for years.

For a long time, YABATECH students have raised concerns over the conduct of the college’s Security Unit, particularly the use of a facility known as “The Base” to discipline students. It is alleged that students taken to the location are denied any form of fair hearing as security officers assume the role of both accuser and judge. There are also claims that students’ personal property including phones are seized when they fail to comply with directives, and that some students have been locked in rooms that operate like jail cells with no regard for their rights or wellbeing.

In a press statement, the Chairman of NANS JCC Lagos State Axis, Comr. Quadri I. Odewunmi, described the assault and the continued operation of “The Base” as unlawful, inhumane and a direct abuse of authority. He stressed that no security personnel, whether on campus or elsewhere, has the legal right to inflict bodily harm on any student or to deprive any citizen of liberty outside the provisions of the law.

Comr. Odewunmi noted that schools are established to nurture and develop future leaders and not to run detention facilities. He said resorting to physical assault, intimidation and unlawful detention reflects a dangerous culture of impunity that must be dismantled immediately.

Consequently, NANS JCC Lagos is demanding the immediate dismissal of every security official found culpable in the assault of the ND1 student. The association is also calling for the total shutdown and dismantling of “The Base” and any other facility being used to unlawfully detain students within YABATECH. Beyond that, NANS is urging a comprehensive overhaul of the entire YABATECH Security Unit to replace intimidation and excessive force with a professional structure that respects the dignity and rights of students.

The student body warned that silence or inaction by the YABATECH management would further erode students’ trust in the institution’s commitment to justice and accountability. Comr. Odewunmi vowed that NANS will pursue every lawful and democratic channel to ensure those responsible are held to account and that the era of impunity against Nigerian students comes to an end.