OAU students protest hike in tuition fees, block access to campus

• Students urged Federal Government to allocate the funds from subsidy removal towards education
• Students, staff, and other university stakeholders were stranded at the campus gate on Tuesday morning

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, on Tuesday, staged a protest against the hike in school fees.

WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that the protesting students are demanding a 50 per cent reduction in the new charges.

The students who urged the Federal Government to allocate the funds from subsidy removal towards education instead of allowing an increase in school fees called for the implementation of the original proposed instalment payment the Vice Chancellor of the university promised.

The students also shut the institution’s main gate, blocking access to the university to vehicles.

As a result, students, staff, and other university stakeholders were stranded at the campus gate on Tuesday morning.

It was noted that the protest was called after the student union congress on Monday, October 2, 2023.

Answering demands of the students on instalment payment, the Director of ICT representing the Vice-Chancellor, Kanmi Adewara, said it was not activated earlier because of staff shortage.

“The ICT centre of the school has a low number of staff at the moment due to the current ‘Japa’ wave, as this has caused the process of Post UTME examination to be slow therefore leading to a slow process of activating the instalment payment on the portal.

“I promise that the instalment payment would be activated before the close of work today,” he said.

Meanwhile, as economic hardship bites harder, schools have devised coping strategies to survive at this time.

Many ongoing capital projects have been suspended, purchase of new buses halted, and weekend classes stopped.

Speaking on steps taken by school owners to handle the new realities, National President, Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Chief Yomi Otubela, said the association has told members to charge fees that are not only affordable, based on the values offered, but sustainable enough to ensure profitability to meet both direct and associated costs.

They, however, implored the government to review the various levies being paid by members to reflect signs of the present times.

He noted that some schools have reviewed the take-home pay of their school workers while others have gone further to provide accommodation for their staff to cushion the effect of fuel price hike.