Aggrieved students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, on Tuesday, besieged the entrance gates of the institution and shut the school over the refusal of the management to reduce the recent hike in tuition fees.
The protesting students expressed their determination to continue protesting until the school authorities revert to their previous fees, stating that the fee increase lacked empathy.
They also asked the Federal Government to allocate the funds realised from subsidy removal to Education instead of allowing an increase in school fees.
Led by the leader of the Great Ife Students’ Union, Abbas Akinremi, the students who shut the entrance gates in and out of the school preventing workers from accessing the campus, called for a 50% reduction on the original fee and instalmental payment activation.
Akinremi said: “We have demanded fifty percent reduction in our fee from the school management, and this is what we are standing on. We threatened that if our demands are not met, we will make sure that we shut down the activities of the school campus and also shut.down the activities on our federal roads, and even state roads as far as Osun State is concerned.
“So we met with the school management last week Monday, and after stating our demands, it was stated that we can only achieve 15 percent reduction which is far beyond what we demanded, So at the moment right now, great Ife students, the generality of great ife students are out here to protest and show our dissatisfaction and displeasure on this school fees increment because it isn’t affordable for anybody.
“Aside from the school fee, accommodation fee has also gone up. There is a N100, 000 professional levy that has been mandated or imposed on students of the College of Health Sciences and Pharmacy.
“So we’re here today to stage a peaceful protest. I hasn’t been violent. We started since 7:00 am. Till now we haven’t recorded any violence or casualties. It has been a peaceful protest against both the federal government and the management of the Obafemi Awolowo University.
“We have declared this protest a turn which will continue until the management is ready to engage us, or the federal government is ready to come in to assist the school management in giving them the necessary funds required to run the school system.”
Reacting to the protest, the Public Relations Officer of the school, Abiodun Olarenwaju, commended the peaceful protest of the students, urging them to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the demonstration.
He said: “I expected them to channel their grievances to the appropriate authorities like the federal ministry of education, finance even the Chief of staff to the president.
“We decided to reduce the initial chargeable fees when the leadership of their union persistently demanded re-negotiation. We considered and we held meetings with them and we told them the 50 percent you are asking for will not be realistic in the long run.
“We told them that we should meet but they have youthful exuberance and of course, we are allowing them to perform adult exuberance. We’ve been here since morning. We are here together, they are our children and we are their local parents and nothing spoils.”
In its own version of the story, The Punch reports that the students began the protest early Tuesday morning carrying placards reading “When I dey pay 20k, I dey borrow money. Where you wan make I get 90k? #FeeMustFall”, “I cannot afford to drop out. #FeeMustFall”, “My Mama dey sell Fufu, my papa dey ride Okada. Where you won make I see 90k? #FeeMustFall.”
The Secretary General of the varsity Students’ Union, Akinboni Opeyemi, confirmed this to the paper, adding that the student populace does not agree with the current tuition fee.
The students’ union on September 26 urged students of the institution to suspend payment of tuition fees, following the slash in fee hike by the management of the institution.
Management of OAU reviewed the school fees payable by the students of the university.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Abiodun Olanrewaju, stated that the management reduced the fees after a meeting held with the students.
Olanrewaju had said that the Students’ Union leaders were adamant, insisting that the fees should be reduced by 50 per cent.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire, however, stated that the charges initially announced have been reduced as follows:
“For the students in Humanities, the initial sundry charges of N89, 200 for returning students have been reduced to N76,000 while for the new students in the Humanities, the initial fees of N151,200 have been reduced to N131,000.
“For those in the Sciences and Technology, the initial charges of N101,200, for returning students is now N86,000 while the new students in the same Faculties will now pay N141,000 instead of the initial N163,200.
“In the same vein, the returning students in the Pharmacy and College of Health Sciences will now pay N109,000, instead of N128,200. The new students in the same Faculties will now pay N164,000 instead of the initial charges of N190,000,” the statement partly read.
It added that the university management has agreed that the payment can be made in two equal installments.
While speaking with our correspondent, Opeyemi noted that the union requested a 50 per cent reduction of the initial proposed fee before it was reduced by 15 per cent.
“We want reduction just as stated in our last demand. We want a reduction of the initial proposed fee before they (school management) reduce it by 15 per cent,” Opeyemi told our correspondent.
The union earlier demanded that the school management make it a duty to reverse the increment in school fees and “all financial institutions, remita, especially ignore and suspend any payment from OAU pending the time the union will write to them; otherwise, their branches in Ife and OAU campus will be shut down.”
“We’ve also written to all respective banks to halt the acceptance of fee payments from any student until a better resolution has been achieved. As much as we don’t want to, we are currently running out of options and might have to shut down all activities on campus and progressively on all campuses throughout the country if the school authorities remain silent on the issue,” the union added.
