UNIJOS - SUG DISSOLVED

The University of Jos has dissolved the Student Union Government, ostensibly due to a protest against the new school tuition of N45,000 approved by the Federal Government

This is contained in a statement issued in Jos on Wednesday by the institution’s Principal Assistant Registrar, Information, Mr. Abdullahi Abdullahi.

According to the statement, the university has replaced the SUG with a five-man caretaker committee.


Quoting the institution’s vice-chancellor, Prof. Sebastian Maimako, the statement revealed that the reasons for the SUG’s dissolution include protest by the union against the new tuition.

Other reasons, the statement said, included the SUG’s decision to convene a meeting of students without due approval from the Directorate of Student Affairs, which resulted in a protest, with the students carrying placards.

It added that the SUG officials had also mobilised students to attend the stakeholders’ meeting, where parents were shouted down.

“They externalised an internal issue without following the acceptable laid down procedures for conflict resolution in the university.

“They were also intimidating and issuing threats to law-abiding students, including fresh students who were willing to comply with the payment of the new tuition.

“The SUG officials also maligned principal officers of the university, including the VC, on various media platforms.

“Using the social media, they misinformed members of the public on the action taken by the university authorities in the process of implementing the new school charges,” the statement read in part.

According to the statement, management had, on several occasions, invited the SUG officials to dialogue on the matter of the harmonised school charges for federal universities, but they “remained intransigent and refused to see reasons.”

It added that the students, by all the actions taken by the dissolved SUG officials, clearly indicated their desire to disrupt the smooth running of the institution.

The vice chancellor, in the statement, therefore, directed the dissolved SUG officials to hand over all property belonging to the union in their possession with immediate effect.