Students of the Taraba State University, Jalingo, on Monday, blocked some of the major entry points into the city centre, demanding the payment of 10-month salary arrears owed to staff of the university by the State government.
The protest followed the decision of all the university unions including the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities not to continue with the examination scheduled to commence on Monday, January 9.
The unions had on Monday morning locked examination halls over non-payment of their entitlements as students who prepared for the examination were left stranded.
Angered by the inability of the university management and the state government to pay the staff their entitlements for 10 months, the students matched to the Vice Chancellor’s office to register their concerns, but could not find him on seat.
They then proceeded to block the nearby Jalingo-Bali federal highway in protest.
The protesting students also burnt tyres around the school carrying placards with inscriptions which read, “Governor Ishaku pay our lecturers, they have families,” “Don’t stampede our future,” and “you don’t mean well for Taraba” among others.
Workers of the university had last week protested over non-payment of their salaries and threatened the “No salary No exams” action.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Sunday Bako, while addressing the protesting staff members last week, assured that the university management and the government were working hard to meet the workers’ legitimate demands.
On his part, Mr. Bala Dan-Abu, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Ishaku, said payment of salaries had been the priority of the administration and the governor would do everything possible to address the claim of the protesting staff members.
