Taraba varsity students protest non-payment of lecturers’ salaries

The students of the Taraba State University, Jalingo, on Monday, staged a protest over the state government’s failure to pay their lecturers for 10 months

The students who gathered at the gate of the main gate of the university said they decided to embark on the protest after their lecturers refused to conduct the first-semester examination scheduled on Monday, due to the failure of the government to pay them.

The protesting students later took to the streets of the city to register their grievances.

The protest saw students of the institution burning tires around the institution and on the major roads linking the state capital resulting in the disruption of business activities.

The protesters disrupted the flow of normal traffic leading to the Government House Jalingo.

Witnesses observed that the students getting close to the Government House were dispersed by the police with teargas.

Some armed soldiers from the 6 Brigade of the Nigerian Army were sighted stationed at strategic locations.

The protesters who vowed not to stop the protest until the state government settles the backlog of their lecturers’ salaries were chanting “No exams, no 2023 election in Taraba, “Governor Darius is wicked”, “Darius pay our lecturers for us to finish our exams”, among others.

Our correspondent observed that the protest became violent when the students started throwing stones around the university premises, as well as destroying billboards of the ruling PDP candidates on the streets of the state capital on their way to the government house.

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Despite this, no government official came out to listen to the plight of the protesters at the time of filling this report, while our reporter further gathered that as of 5:50 p.m. on Monday, some roads remained blocked by the students including the Jalingo Bali Takum roads.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that staff of the university last week protested the non-payment of their salaries and threatened not to conduct examinations if they were not paid.

The Chairmen of the university’s Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Messrs Solomon Audu and Bitrus Ajibauka, who led the university staff during the protest presented a letter to the Vice Chancellor, Sunday Bako, demanding the payment of their outstanding salaries and other allowances.

Mr Bako told the staff that the university management and the government were working hard to meet their legitimate demands.