Several students of the Village Hostel, University of Jos, have reported that their rooms have been burgled and their valuables were stolen by hoodlums.
This is coming after the Academic Staff Union Of Universities, ASUU suspended on condition its strike which lingered for eight months despite several interventions and negotiations between the union and various arms of the government.
As a result of this strike and the absence of security personnel in the hostels, there have been reports of burglary and theft at the Hostels. The Unijos Echo gathered that some students met their rooms in a bad state and said that burglars broke into their rooms and stole valuables.
Joy Boro a 200-level student who stays in compound 8, Room 18 narrating her ordeals said, “Our rooms were broken into and our gas cylinder, cooker, food items and other valuables we left in school during the strike were all carted away and we have to start buying all these items all over which is an added financial stress for us”.
According to Rejoice, a 400-level student of the University, “I got to my hostel, opened my door and my room was a complete mess. My wardrobe was empty as my box, gas cylinder, cooker, foodstuff, and new pots were gone. This all happened as a result of the elongated strike. I am not happy about the fact that I had to start buying them all over”.
Deborah, another student whose room was not burgled said, “I was in Kaduna when a friend called to inform me about what was going on in the village hostel”.
Although some of the items were recovered at the security post in the village hostel, one of the security officers said “there are no adequate security officers and as a result of this, we were limited in our work. We moved around all the compounds every day to ensure no room was burgled. Anytime we observe a strange movement we raised an alarm and as a result, we were able to get back some students’ valuables but we were not able to arrest any of the perpetrators.”
However, in order to avoid future occurrences, security measures in the school hostels should not be relaxed during the strike. There should be adequate security personnel in all hostels and both the school management and the security personnel should ensure the safety of students’ properties.
TEMIDOYE JOY OLUWAYEMISI
