Lecturers at the Institut Universitaire Siantou in Yaoundé, centre region of Cameroon have walked out of student defence halls, refusing to preside over scheduled bachelor’s degree defence sessions in protest against several months of unpaid salaries and outstanding jury allowances.
“My brother was supposed to defend his bachelor today but after the 4th person. Teachers abandoned them and went on strike for salaries owed to them for two years now,” a relative told MMI News.
The protest on Monday, August 3, disrupted the defence exercise, leaving graduating students, parents and invited guests stranded as lecturers gathered outside the halls and demanded payment from the university administration.
Lecturers who spoke to MMI News on condition of anonymity said some teaching staff had not received their salaries since December 2025.
“They have not been paid for so many months — more than six months,” one lecturer said.
“Some complain that jury dues were not paid. And so they decided to stage a walkout of the hall and are asking the administration to pay.”
The lecturer said academic supervisors and members of the various defence panels abandoned the halls after concluding that they could no longer continue working without being paid.
“That is why you see all the supervisors, all the teachers, outside,” the lecturer said.
“Those who are supposed to be in the jury halls, they are all outside.”
According to the lecturer, the rector attempted to intervene by inviting the protesting teachers to a meeting, but they refused to return to the defence panels without a concrete commitment on payment.
“The rector came, called the teachers in for a meeting, and the teachers still stood their ground,” the lecturer said.
The lecturers are reportedly demanding that their outstanding salaries be settled before discussions over unpaid defence and jury allowances.
“If all the money is not paid, salaries first, before the jury dues,” one lecturer said.
“Salaries of teachers have not been paid right from the month of December 2025. We are now in August 2026, meaning averagely there are about six or seven months of non-payment of salaries.”
The lecturer described the situation as extremely difficult for teaching staff, many of whom depend on their salaries to support their families and meet basic household expenses.
“It is not a very easy situation,” the lecturer said.
In a separate recording obtained by MMI News, another lecturer said discussions and appeals would not resolve the crisis unless the university administration found the money to pay staff.
“This approach cannot solve any problem,” the lecturer said.
“The best thing is to start making phone calls or finding financial solutions to this problem.”
The lecturer said the teachers had resolved to postpone the affected defence sessions until their salaries were paid.
“They deferred the defence to the day when payments are done,” the lecturer said.
“That is their decision, and that is our decision.”
Another lecturer spoke of the personal hardship caused by the salary arrears, saying: “I need money to pay for my own child.”
As the discussions continued without an apparent breakthrough, one lecturer repeatedly asked: “How long? How long?”
MMI News is withholding the lecturers’ identities because they requested anonymity amid fears of possible repercussions from the institution.
The boycott has left students caught in a dispute they did not create. Many had prepared to present their research projects before the academic juries, while some parents and relatives had travelled to the institution to witness the defence ceremony.
“The guests and the parents who have come to accompany and watch their children seem to be frustrated,” one lecturer said.
The lecturers, however, maintain that they cannot be expected to continue teaching, supervising research and evaluating students indefinitely while their salaries remain unpaid.
Their walkout represents a significant escalation of the dispute. Rather than continuing private complaints or negotiations, the teaching staff have now withdrawn a service that is essential for students to complete their academic programmes.
The protest also raises serious questions about staff welfare and financial management at the private university institution. SIANTOU depends on lecturers to deliver courses, supervise students and sit on academic juries, yet the lecturers say some of them have worked for more than half a year without receiving their salaries.
The exact number of lecturers affected and the total amount owed have not been independently established by MMI News.
The SIANTOU administration had not issued a public statement explaining the reported salary delays or announcing when the lecturers would be paid at the time of publication.
For now, the lecturers say the defence sessions will remain suspended until the institution moves beyond discussions and pays the money owed to them.