The protesting students wielded placards with different inscriptions such as, ‘No light to soak Garri’ and ‘’We no get SUG.”
Others held empty buckets to symbolise the lack of water in the institution .
Some of the students who spoke to our correspondent lamented their plight and said that the situation had caused untold suffering and impacted negatively on their academic activities
One of the students who gave his name simply as Josiah said ,”We don’t know what the school management want the students to do .There has been no water in the hostels for the past two or three days .Even the blackout, which has been ongoing as well has left several students completely stranded
“Apart from that, we are also not happy with the school management over the dissolution of the Students Union Government because right now, the students have no direction because they don’t have any leadership .
“The VC and the school management have refused to give us a listening ear. They (school management) came here this morning and said we should send representatives to negotiate. But how can we be told to negotiate for our rights? This is not proper .
“The school management has now directed the students to send in representatives for negotiations. However, no one has volunteered to go since the protest was not led by the officials of the student body as the last SUG executives were dissolved in February, and a new government has not been formed.”
It was learnt that following the protest, the university authority quickly deployed security operatives to the institution to prevent the protest from being hijacked by hoodlums
Some staff of the university who were caught up by the protest, however, condemned the action of the students describing it as unnecessary.
One of the staff who refused to give his name said, “We got here this morning and discovered that the gate had been locked. Everything is not about protest . There was no official notice. We just started seeing students at the gate.
“I believe that if they had brought their complaints to the school management, they would get immediate solution because the VC does not joke with the welfare of the students.”
Contacted, the university’s Dean of Students Affairs of the University, Prof. Christopher Piwuna, acknowledged the challenge of water scarcity and electricity blackout in the students’ hostels.
He blamed the situation on Jos Electricity Distribution Company over an outstanding debt.
He, however, said that the problem had been resolved following an intervention by the Vice Chancellor .
“It is true that there was no water before now, but water has been supplied to the hostels. The JED severed our supply because of outstanding bills.
“The VC has intervened, and they are going to reconnect the light. As I am talking to you, water has been supplied. Light will be reconnected any moment from now, and with the light restored, we won’t have the problem of water again,” he said.
