Students of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko and the Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, have protested the increase in their tuition fees. The schools have been shut for tempers to cool. ADESOLA IKULAJOLU (300-Level Mass Communication) reports.
IT was meant to be a money spinner for the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) and the Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa (OSUSTECH). But the fee hike policy has triggered a chain of crises.
The problems arose when the management of the two institutions barred students who were yet to pay their tuition fees from writing the Computer-Based Test (CBT) exam. This directive, it would appear, added fuel to the fire of the students’ fury.
AAUA students were the first to protest the hike. They were joined by their colleagues at OSUSTECH a few days after.
Last year, fees at AAUA were reviewed upward by the government, prompting protests by the students who flooded Akure, the state capital.
The tuition fee, which was between N28,000 and N32,000, depending on the faculty, was jacked up to N100,000 for returning students in the Faculties of Science, Law, Social and Management Sciences and N150,000 for new students.
Similarly, returning students of the Faculties of Education and Arts would part with N80,000 and new students N100,000.
Although the management pegged the tuition fee for final year students in the 2017/2018 session at N70,000 across board, with the understanding that the status quo would be maintained, the 300-Level students, who later transited to final year during the 2018/2019, and were looking forward to a reduced fee, were shocked when the management suddenly back-pedalled, insisting that they must pay the N100,000 they paid the previous year. This resulted in another crisis.
No payment, no test
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the Computer-Based Test (CBT) for General Studies (GST) involving 100-Level and 200-Level was billed for April 23 and 24. Students, who had not paid their tuition fee were prevented from writing the test. In the same vein, the 200-Level undergraduates were not allowed to write theirs unless they showed proof of payment of their tuition fee.
Penultimate Tuesday, some of the affected fresh students gathered at the CBT centre to air their grievances, but the school management stood its ground.
One of the affected students, who refused to be named, described the directive as ‘totally unacceptable’.
Said the source: “I have not paid, so also are some students and management is not even showing concern. Many of us came to AAUA because of the modest school fee, but now there seems to be no difference between public and private institutions.
“The institution doesn’t care whether students fail or pass. They only need our money. What if we later pay and miss the test? What will be recorded in my continuous assessment?”
The source pleaded that students should be allowed to write the test and examinations, adding that whether the management denied them from writing the CBT or not, the money would eventually be paid.
The angry students later took their grievances to the Students’ Union (SU). In anger, they attacked SU President Comrade Adesomoju Samuel (aka Sampraise) on what the demonstrators described as his slow approach to the matter.
The students accused Adesomoju of not taking proactive measures to address the issue when he knew that many students were affected. Thereafter, the students took to the streets, blocking major roads and restricting vehicular movements in the community.
One of the protesters, Idowu Ridwan, described the government’s attitude as ‘inhuman’. Ridwan said the situation was akin to a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode.
“The protest is a ticking time bomb that has been waiting patiently to explode. Adesomoju has let it boomeranged during his administration.”
Ridwan continued: “The protest in AAUA is a sign of liberation because education in Ondo State has been in shackles since the commencement of this administration.”
The Senate President of the SU, Adebowale Temitope (aka Don Richy), told his colleagues that the students’ body was in talks with management on the matter.
Adebowale recalled how the union stood against the policy before it led to the protest.
“Before the protest escalated, other progressives minds and I took a lot of bold steps to ensure management’s directive to restrict defaulting students from sitting for examination doesn’t stand. We were also strongly against the act put up by the state government as our students couldn’t pay the amount of money imposed.”
Adebowale, however, told CAMPUSLIFE that there were moves by the union to reach out to the Vice Chancellor and stakeholders in the state to find a lasting solution to the fee increment.
Meanwhile, the management has announced a three-week mid-semester break to forestall mayhem and allow further negotiations with students.
The university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof Francis Gbore, who made the announcement, assured both parties that a truce would be found soon. Gbore announced that management had approved a three-week mid-semester break to allow peace reign and further negotiations.
Dean of Students Affairs Dr Owolewa Olusegun also dispelled the impressions being bandied around by students.
“The management did not implement any policy of ‘no tuition fee, no examination,’ Dr Olusegun Omolewa told CAMPUSLIFE in his office.
“The directive by management was simply a strategy not to make the 100-Level lose their admission; and immediately we saw the situation, we ordered that everyone should be allowed to write the test.”
Omolewa lamented that there was a communication gap between SU and management.
“The management did not give instructions for ‘No fee; no examination’. The management still gave chances to pay till April 30.Why, then, will the management change its decision so quickly? It was an information gap,” Owolewa added.
Meanwhile, a circular signed by the Registrar Mr Michael Ayeerun, stated that management had mandated workers and students to proceed on a mid-semester break with immediate effect and resume by May 20.
Protesters arrested
Some angry students took their protest outside the campus. The scenario caused traffic congestion, prompting invitations from the army and police. The protest eventually extended to the next day, when some students were arrested after the police and army combed the community to scare protesters away.
Prior to the arrest, Omolewa warned: “Students of the institution should not engage in acts that would put them on in collision course with security personnel.
“Please do not converge on the road or campus. It is very dangerous,” Omolewa advised, urging students to go home and prepare for their exams.
CAMPUSLIFE learnt that some students were arrested and taken to the police station and were later released on the order of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
In a statement, the Ondo State government stated that Akeredolu directed the release of the protesters after receiving a briefing of the incident from the Commissioner of Police.
“Governor Akeredolu is already looking into the matter, urging the students to go home. There is a need to maintain peace on campus and the state at large,” Akeredolu’s Chief Press Secretary, Segun Ajiboye stated.
Protest in Osustech
Students of OSUSTECH took to the street on Monday, last week to protest the hike in their tuition fees.
The students shut academic activities, describing the fee hike as ‘outrageous’.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the protesters blocked the Okitipupa-Igbokoda highway, thereby affecting vehicular movement.
CAMPUSLIFE learnt that OSUSTECH students called for a downward review of their tuition fee which is reportedly between N150,000 and N200,000
The Director of Campus Affairs, National Association of Nigerian Students, Comrade Oyedokun Israel, said the protest was a warning to the government.
“The peaceful demonstration by students on the outrageous tuition fees is a welcome development. The turnout showed that majority of students can’t afford such fee and they don’t also wish to drop out of school. Education is a right not a choice.”
Another graduate of Political Science of OSUSTECH, Comrade Ajagunna Ganiyu condemned the attitude of the government.
“It’s like adding salt to injury. You don’t present such astronomical increment in fees. It is not done anywhere in the world.
“The governor, who is the visitor to the institution and the Governing Council must reel out a school fee structure, which all students can welcome with a smile and not turn to beggars’ children of the downtrodden when the leaders once acquired free education in their time.”
In a response akin to AAUA’s, the OSUTECH’s Registrar S. O. Akinusi, has directed the angry students to proceed on a two-week mid-semester break and resume next Monday.
