Nigeria: Unsafe Hostels, Other Facilities - How Unijos Fails Students With Disabilities

What the report says

Premium Times, reporting from Abuja on 4 November 2026, says students with disabilities at the University of Jos in Nigeria continue to face serious access barriers in hostels and classrooms despite the university’s role in training special education professionals. The report focuses on Village Hostel, where wheelchair users reportedly must crawl into bathrooms because there are no ramps or other support features, and where uneven ground, potholes, bushes and poor sanitation make daily movement difficult.

The article describes conditions that appear to limit independent living and learning across campus. It says some classrooms, especially in the Faculty of Education, lack accessibility features that would help students move around without relying on others. The report also cites a visually impaired student who said he fell on a bridge in 2025 because there was no guide to direct him safely. Premium Times notes that the university has a Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Sciences and a resource room that provides braille transcription and other learning support, but says those services do not resolve wider physical access problems.

The story places the issue in the context of Nigeria’s disability law, which requires public buildings and schools to be accessible and has already passed its transition deadline for older facilities. It also raises questions about student fees, including a facility improvement charge, and whether those funds are reaching accessibility upgrades. University officials contacted by the newspaper had not provided a substantive response by the time of publication, while the students’ union said it had repeatedly asked management for improvements.