Students of the University of Jos (UniJos) on Tuesday have staged a protest over a prolonged power outage in their hostels, which has lasted for over a week.
The students said the situation has made life unbearable, noting that the absence of basic amenities has disrupted their studies and affected their overall well-being since the beginning of the current academic session.
They also voiced their dissatisfaction over the fact that no real steps have been taken to address the issue despite their frequent concerns to university administrators. They threatened to keep protesting until their demands were fulfilled.
Felix Bala, a student who spoke at the demonstration, stated: “We have not had power in our hostels since our resumption.” We were informed that the power had been turned off. We demand that electricity be restored right away.
Bala added that the demonstration came after days of complaints over the absence of water and electricity.
According to him, the problem started last week when students discovered that the hostels’ restrooms and other amenities were dirty and that there was no power or running water. Students waited from Thursday through Monday with no change, he explained, adding that the water supply relied on electricity to run pumping machinery.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that several off-campus students had made an unsuccessful appeal to the demonstrators to lift the barrier so that university administrators could deal with the problem.
As of the time this story was filed, attempts to contact Senator Younglan Talyoung, president of the Students’ Union Government, and other university officials were unsuccessful.