The students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, under the umbrella of the Students Union Government (SUG), on Tuesday insisted that the management of the institution should reverse its decision on the new regime of fees introduced or further civil action to resist such development would continue even though many parents have already effected payment.
In a communique issued by the President of the SUG, Comrade Ibikunle Isaac. M. a copy of which was made available to Tribune Education, the aggrieved students affirmed that “we demand an immediate reversal of all fees to status quo”, stressing that “for upward funding of education, stop making poor parents pay for government failure”.
According to the communique, “recently, the OAU management increased the fees of fresh, stale and post-graduate students. Under the current fee regime, fresh students are to pay an exorbitant fee between N84, 790 and N98, 790. This is a whopping increment of over 390 per cent as the existing fee for fresh students stood between N17, 200 and N22, 200.” The management has however refuted the figures being bandied about by the students, describing them as cooked up statistics.
The statement by the students reads in part, “If allowed to stay, this increment will see a lot of our members drop out of school, while the teeming children of the poor will be automatically denied university education because of their socio-economic status. Thus, the students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife reject totally the current, hope-shattering, astronomic fee regime”.
The students in the communique alleged that, ‘‘the Professor Bamitale Omole led management had only threatened students’ union leaders that the increment is irreversible and that if students protest it, the school will be shut down and the students’ union proscribed”.
“In fact the Vice-Chancellor emphasised that university education is not for the poor, but the children of kings and queens. While the students’ union has considered the arguments of the university for fee increment, we do not agree with the conclusions arrived at by the university administration. The management has hinged fee increment on government’s underfunding of education”, the communique further alleged
But, the management of OAU maintained that there was no plan to reverse the new fees regime, disclosing that some students have commenced payment of the new rates. The university management also dismissed as juvenile the allegation that the Vice Chancellor said education was only for the rich.
Speaking through its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, OAU stated that “first and foremost, there is no basis for total reversal of the fees. The students the SUG claimed to be fighting have started paying the new tuition fees”.
“Some parents, even commended the OAU for facing social and economic realities in introducing the fees. We want to use this medium to appeal to our students to give peace a chance because the management would not be interested in any act that would prolong the academic calendar of the next session”, he remarked.
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