The management of Plateau State University (PLASU) in Bokkos has ordered the immediate closure of the institution following attacks by gunmen.

Gunmen attacked Chikam, a community close to the university where a 200-level student of the institution was killed.

At least 12 people in the Tilengpat community of Pushit district in Mangu LGA were also killed in an attack on Thursday night.

In a statement on Friday, the school’s authority confirmed the death of Dading James Jordan, a student from the department of computer science.

The statement also condemned the attack on the community while consoling the family of the late student.

The varsity declared a two-day mourning period for Jordan while suspending its ongoing examination.

“The Plateau State University Community woke up to the sad news of another heartless attack on Chikam, a community close to the university,” the statement reads in part.

“The sad event led to the loss of a 200 level, computer science student of the University residing in Chikam, by name Dading James Jordan.

“This is coming despite the relentless effort by the Plateau State government, security agencies, the Management of the University and other stakeholders to improve the security situation on our campus and the surrounding communities.

“Unfortunately, the enemies of the University and the state brought this dastardly attack leading to the loss of our dear student.

“The Vice-Chancellor and the entire management convey their condolences to the family of the deceased, the student body and the university community.

“In view of this sad development, Management has declared a two-day mourning period on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th April, 2024. Accordingly, all the examinations earlier scheduled for Friday 19th and Saturday 20th April 2024 are hereby suspended.

“While calling on our students to remain calm and law-abiding, we wish to call on the security agencies to beef up security around the university in order to secure staff and students as we look into other ways of making the University more secure.”

In a follow-up statement, the management announced that PLASU will be shut down for 10 days for security reasons.

“Following the sad incident that occurred in Plateau State University, Bokkos and the surrounding communities on Friday, 19th April, 2024; and in view of the psychological effect of the unfortunate incident on students and staff of the University, Management has taken the painful decision to close the University for ten (10) days with effect from today, 19th April, 2024,” it reads.

“This decision is to allow the security situation to improve and to lessen the human risk on the University Community. Accordingly, the ongoing first semester examinations are hereby suspended to resume on Thursday, 2nd May, 2024.

“Furthermore, Management has made available buses to convey students who may be stranded from the University to Barkin Ladi, today, Friday 19th April, 2024.”

Following the commencement of the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has appealed to candidates who experienced glitches in the course of the examination to remain calm as they would be rescheduled.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyode, who made the appeal while fielding questions from newsmen after monitoring the exam in Kogo-Bwari, Abuja, said so far, the UTME had been going on smoothly as only one centre had been reported to have encountered issues.

“We appeal to the public to understand this. Some centres will fail. I have heard of only one centre that has failed today.

“By the end of today, I expect about 10 per cent of the centres to have one problem or the other because we know the level of development in different parts of the country.

“We are not encouraging this, but when it happens, please do not disrupt others. It is important to note that when a session fails because of a problem, you cannot bring those candidates to do session two, they will have to step aside, and the headquarters will have to be contacted.

“The earliest time they can be scheduled will be after 4:30 p.m. so that those slated for sections two and three can write, and these candidates can now write for session four, and in some cases, they can even be scheduled for the following day,” he said.

Speaking further, the JAMB boss said the exam body is not comfortable with the award of scholarships to UTME best-performing candidates on the basis of the exam alone, as that would not capture other criteria that are factored in for admission.

“Yes, MTN and other people are giving scholarships to the highest (scorers) but we have always discouraged them because you scored high in UTME doesn’t mean you are the best because some other factors will come in; the quality of your O Level will be added to it, post-UTME scores will be added to it. If you are going to NDA, your physical exercise will be added to it before we can say that you are the best; before we rank you, why rank people prematurely?

“You will see somebody saying my son scored 330, and in addition to that, he had seven A1s. Is he not qualified? He might be qualified when you are ranking people in your village; when it comes to Nigeria, he may be 650 despite the so-called brilliant to you,” he said.

The 2024 UTME is being held across the country today and will continue tomorrow.

Students of the Federal Polytechnic Oko in Anambra boycotted exams to protest an alleged unexpected fee imposed on them.

The students, on Wednesday, opposed what they described as the school’s “constant imposition of exam fees and other levies”.

The undergraduates numbering up to 1,000 from different departments held up placards and sang in protest.

They cordoned off the school’s main gate, administrative building, departments, permanent site, and the popular school tower.

Their placards had such inscriptions as “reduce the cost of textbooks”, “allow us to do our medical and data capture”, “say no to corrupt stakeholders”, “say no to exam fees”, and “break down our tuition fees”, among others.

Chukwuebuka Umezula, the vice president of the National Association of Polytechnic Students in the south-east, said the management released a memo on April 9 informing “students to pay an exam fee of N5,000 on or before their exercise began on April 12”.

He questioned the rationale behind the additional exam fee after students had paid their fees for the session.

He also said the memo came on short notice and fell on a public holiday.

Umezula said the students will continue the protest and boycott all exams in the school until the management rescinds its decision.

He said they had laboured to pay tuition, medical, and ICT fees and expressed shock over the new examination fee.

He said the National Association of Polytechnic Students had written the school management over the memo but it fell on deaf ears.

Also speaking, Cynthia Felix, the secretary general of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) south-east zone, said the association is working to ensure the students are not fleeced in any way.

She said the exam fee was unlawful, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the memo that introduced the fee.

The secretary-general said all students should be allowed to sit their examinations.