The students, who converged at about 5am for the protest, were expected to commence their second semester examination yesterday, Daily Trust gathered.
They insisted that the school management must revert the N50, 000 new school fees to the 27,400 they have been paying.
The protesting students caused a gridlock in the area.
President of the Student Union Government (SUG), Nnok Nduu Abel, told journalists that students of the university are paying the highest tuition fees when compared to other federal universities in northern Nigeria.
Abel said: “N10,000 development levy is an issue, N10,000 late registration is an issue, the release of school buses for students to access is an issue, the financial autonomy of SUG is an issue, release of Naraguta hostel is an issue, N25,000 paid as acceptance fee by our new students is also an issue. Though we were supposed to commence examination today, we felt that we had to do something.”
But the Vice Chancellor, Professor Hayward Mafuyai, while addressing newsmen, said the school did not increase its fees.
“The development levy they are talking about has always been there, the N25,000 acceptance fees for new students has always been there and Unijos students are paying the least amount,” he said.
Mafuyai said the school management has postponed examination to December 1, and that a delegate has been sent to talk to the students.
He added that a committee has also been set up to look into the protest.
Earlier, Obadiah Gotom, a student of Special Education and Rehabilitation Science, who is also blind said the vice chancellor has turned a deaf ear to the plight of students.
“He is not even considering us; the physically challenged; we need assistance. We protested in 2012 when he increased our school fees; we forwarded our complaints to him but he said he did not have time to seat with us describing us as ‘bunch of rascals’. We are aware that the protest is going to affect our exams but we the final year students are ready to make the sacrifice,” he said.
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