Unijos Students Barricade Institution Despite Presence of NUGA Games Athletes

Activities at the Naraguta Campus of the University of Jos were today grounded from 8 a.m. following a peaceful protest by Dental Students of the University of Jos over 10 years of non-accreditation.

The students, who came out in their numbers, barricaded the main gate of the university, effectively preventing staff, students, and visitors from gaining access to the school premises.

Wielding placards with inscriptions pressing home their demands, the students called on the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Ishaya Tanko, and the university authorities to expedite action to enable them to graduate after the long wait.

Speaking to journalists at the venue of the protest on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, the President of the Dental Students’ Association, University of Jos, Johnson Titus, stated the position of his fellow students as follows:

“What you see behind me is frustration from all dental students… 10 years and have been stagnated without accreditation. What we are doing here is to call the attention of management.”

“We, as students, have engaged the management countless times. And all we keep receiving is: ‘accreditation is going to come.’ This is 10 years now, and we keep receiving the same promises. I remember the last time we had a meeting with the Vice Chancellor, he said he was going to meet with the Medical and Dental Council, and after that meeting, he would get back to us. But he never did”.

“We’ve gone to his office, we’ve gone to the DVC’s office, and we’ve not gotten any feedback about the accreditation delays. On the other hand, the school has not been sincere with us because we hear different stories from them and different ones from the Council.”

“So we need the Vice Chancellor to address this issue as a matter of urgency. We want a date for accreditation, a date for when the first, second, and third sets will be inducted, and also a curriculum that will be given to us as students. That’s just why we are here, and we intend to keep doing this until the day the Vice Chancellor comes, addresses us, and solves this problem.”

Commenting on the effect of the protest on the Nigeria University Games (NUGA), Johnson pointed out that their 10-year wait as students should be prioritised over the ongoing event in the interest of their mental health.

“I think it’s a matter of priority. We’ve spent 10 years. I think the school should prioritise our emotional health more than any other thing. We’ve spent 10 years; the school should give priority to our concerns and address them more importantly than the NUGA Games that are ongoing.”

When asked why students continue to apply for a course yet to be accredited, Johnson said that the course was advertised by the university, hence students cannot be blamed for applying and gaining admission.

“…First of all, when the school starts screening, they don’t inform students that there is no accreditation. I, for instance, did not know that the university had no accreditation. So it is wrong for anybody to think that the students are at fault for choosing Dentistry without accreditation because we were not informed. If we were informed, we probably wouldn’t have applied. Also, if the school knew they never had accreditation, they shouldn’t have put Dentistry on the website for application. So I think the school is still at fault for putting up Dentistry when they know that Dentistry has no accreditation in the first place—and not the fault of the students.”

A pioneer student of Dentistry at Unijos, Nweke Pius, who secured admission in 2015, also expressed frustration over the 10-year wait despite assurances that they would graduate alongside medical students of their set.

“I’m a member of the pioneer set of dental students that were admitted into this institution. We got our admission in 2015. Since when we came in, we had orientation, we met our dean then and even the provost at that time assured us that we were not going to spend one day extra compared to our MBBS colleagues. And this is more than a year now since our colleagues left, and there’s no hope in sight.”

“The uncertainty is too much. We’ve met the college management, we’ve met the university management countless times. They’ve assured us, they keep talking and talking, but we’ve not seen any action whatsoever. That’s why we are here today—because we’ve dialogued, we’ve had different types of conversations, and even our parents have come to sit down with them. But there seems to be no understanding of what we are going through. That’s why we are here today.”

He also lamented the numerous excuses given over the years, which, according to him, have all been resolved but the accreditation issue still lingers.

“…Today the issue is phantom head, dental chairs, lack of lecturers. Then tomorrow they’ll tell you they’ve solved this, they’ve solved that. But every time they tell us they had a meeting with MDCN or went to meet someone, they never come back to tell us the actual problem. You hear one thing from the college, another from the university. We don’t even know where the actual problem is coming from right now.”

As of the time of filing this report, motorists and commuters within the university community were seen stranded at the gate while the students chanted solidarity songs and held placards in continuation of the protest.