Students of
Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in the early hours of Monday
barricaded Keffi-Abuja road over total blackout and scarcity of water
for the past four days in Keffi.
A student who
spoke under condition of anonymity said: “Even when we had wanted to
mount a peaceful demonstration over this issues of light and water, the
school management promised that this morning, the situation of things
would change, but to my greatest surprise nothing has been done to this
effect.
“Even when we had
a meeting with the security of the school and the management of the
institution, what they told us is that the situation will be brought
under control. But when we discovered that there is no sign of
seriousness from the security personnel and the management of the
institution, we had no option rather than to block the road to express
our grievances.” Another student who also pleaded anonymity stated that
for the past six days, students had been compelled to survive under
untold hardship because there was neither water nor light.
“A plate of food
has been increased from N100 to N200 and sometimes, it is sold at the
rate of N300. Tell me how a student like me that comes from a poor
family can cope with the situation. Since I started from one hundred
level to four hundred level I have never witnessed this kind of problem
we are facing now,” he lamented.
To no avail
However, Muhammed
Mainoma, a professor and Dean Faculty of Public Administration in the
institution alongside the registrar of the school, Mamman Dalhatu,
could not calm the situation. When Mr Mainoma urged the students to
vacate the road and move down to the school in order to resolve the
matter, the students insisted that the Vice Chancellor, Shamsudeen
Amali, must come and explain to them why there is no water on campus.
Even efforts by security agents to disperse the students proved abortive.
The presence of the
security agencies including the army, civil defence corps and the
police could not help the matter as the students demanded that soldiers
must go before they could settle the matter.
Commuters travelling to from Abuja, Kano, Kaduna and Borno were stranded for over four hours as a result of the barricade.
Effort to reach the area manager of Keffi Water Board proved abortive as at the time of filing this report.
The travellers
advised the students to go back and resolve the issue with the school
management instead of blocking the high way, calling on government to
come to the plight of the students.
