- Nigerian varsities increased tuition fees by over 200%
- Students reject the hike, demand immediate reversal of the increase
- NANS backs students, says the hike is uncalled for
On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike (MOUAU) was shut down indefinitely by school management following a violent protest by students.
According to WITHIN NIGERIA sources, the students were protesting over hike in school fees in the varsity.
In a statement issued shortly after the protest, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, said he personally signed that the school management took the drastic action in order “to safeguard lives and properties on campus.”
Our source equally revealed that students, who were prevented from writing the ongoing first semester examination for failing to pay their school fees, mobilized and embarked on protest march against management.
However, the MOUAU VC blamed “miscreants and hoodlums” for the protest, saying that the university community “woke up to experience the violation of the long-existing peace of the university.”
According to Prof. Iwe, he was attacked “by miscreants who took over the university”, damaged his official vehicle and those of other officials.
In his words, the protesters were “claiming that they were not allowed to take their first semester examination owing to their failure to pay their charges.”
He said: “The university records show that 70 per cent of the students had paid charges and were peacefully taking their examination, while more than 2,000 were in the queue to pay and register their courses before the miscreants and hoodlums took the stage to cause trouble and disrupted the long-standing peace of the university.”
WITHIN NIGERIA also gathered that in the course of the protest, the aggrieved students were said to have stormed the examination halls and disrupted the exercise by chasing out their colleagues participating in the examination.
Chanting solidarity and anti-management songs, the protesters marched through the institution, went outside the premises and blocked the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene federal road thereby disrupting inter-state movement of vehicles and travelers.
The protesters displayed placards with inscriptions expressing their anger and demand. Some of the inscriptions read: “VC Iwe, reverse our school fees”, “Say no to extortion”, “Allow us to write our examinations.’’
It was also gathered that the protesting students also smashed glass windows and other properties at the Senate Building, Secretariat of the Students Union Government (SUG), library, MOUAU Microfinance Bank, main gate, among others.
In any case, as the protest heated up, ancillary business activities around the university abruptly ended as shop owners shut down for fear of mob attacks and looting.
However, the situation was eventually brought under control as the police arrived and started firing tear gas canisters as well as gunshots into the air to disperse the disperse the protesters.
Speaking with journalists, some of the students, expressed their disappointment at the MOUAU management for “brazen act of insensitivity in this harsh economic situation in the country.”
Some protesting students blamed the VC for the protest, alleging that he had gone into the examination halls and chased out students who were yet to pay their fees.
One of the students who spoke under anonymity said that school fees were increased twice last year hence those hitherto paying about N50,000 now have to pay between N120,000 and N150,000, depending on course of study.
“We started our first semester examination yesterday (Monday) and the vice chancellor came to the hall and sent out those who have not paid their schools fees.
“They increased our schools fees twice in 2023. Some of us were paying about N50, 000, but it is now between N120, 000 and N150, 000.
“The vice chancellor insisted that students must pay it at once, even when we begged them to allow us pay in two installments for the two semesters,’’ one of the aggrieved students lamented.
There were also some students who claimed to have paid their fees but were not allowed to write the examination because “our names were yet to appear after doing our biometrics.”
This is coming barely three weeks after the students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, Ondo State, staged a protest against the 300 per cent increment of fees by the school authorities.
On Monday, January 15, 2024 the angry FUTA students, who shut the school gates as early as 6.30 am, barricaded the busy Akure-Ilesa highway and called for the immediate reversal of the hike by the university management.
Displaying placards with various inscriptions and chanting solidarity songs, the students insisted that “the management must return to the status quo otherwise the protest will continue until the reversal by the authorities.”
Speaking during the protest, the President of the FUTA Student Union, FUTASU, Olayemi Oluwasoromidayo, said: “It was unwise for the institution to make the move given the current economic challenges in the country.
“The students’ body had met with the management countless times, but it refused to yield to their demands, hence their decision to stage a protest.
“The management had increased the school fees to over N200,000 for fresh students, while old students, who were paying N35,000, would now pay N130,000.”
In a swift reaction, the university management has ordered the indefinite postponement of the resumption of students for the 2023–2024 academic session.
In a statement by the institution’s Director of Corporate Communication, Mr Adegbenro Adebanjo directed all students on campus and in hostels to vacate within 24 hours.
Adebanjo said: “Tuition for students is free but certain consumables and payments for municipal services were increased.
“Registration of returning students via the university portal and payment of fees by all returning students for the new academic session via the portal scheduled to begin on Monday, January 15, 2024, should be put on hold.
“It is important to state that the university did not open the portal for registration for returning students for the new session, contrary to what was being bandied in the public domain.
“The proposed new fees, are mainly for student-related services that are sourced from the economy. The costs of such goods and services provided by the university for the students will certainly be impacted by the costs of goods and services in the economy.
“To ensure the smooth running of the university, certain consumables and payments for municipal services such as electricity, water, hostel maintenance and cleaning, and sundry other services are necessary, and the costs of providing the services have shot up, and the new charges are in response to this.”
More so, on Monday December 6, 2023 academic activities were grounded at the University of Calabar, following the students’ protest against the 100 per cent hike in the institution’s tuition fees.
The UNICAL students, who embarked on a peaceful protest to register their dissatisfaction, barricaded the roads leading into the campus, thus preventing workers from coming in.
The protest also caused heavy traffic jam on the roads, compelling some motorists to make a U-turn even as the protesting students were mean on registering their grievances.
The protesters, who were no fewer than 100 in number, blocked the Mary Slessor and Etta Agbor Roads, just as many of them clutched fresh leaves, while others displayed placards with different inscriptions.
Some of the inscriptions read: “We came to school to study not to kill our parents”, “The Vice Chancellor of UniCal went to school in her days, free of charge but today wants to kill students with crazy charges,” amongst others.
One of the protesters, Tony Erei, said they would continue the protest until the institution reversed to status quo ante.
“In the last few months, Nigerians have suffered a lot with the increase in the prices of everything, including petroleum products, without commensurate increase in the income of workers.
“Increasing charges now is uncalled for because students and parents are still struggling to pay the last increment that was done some time ago by the same university management.”
Another student, Amarachi Obialor, explained that the situation in the country as “sheer wickedness and insensitivity by our leaders”.
There was heavy presence of police personnel around the protesters to ensure that the protest did not result in a breakdown of law and order on campus.
WITHIN NIGERIA findings showed that with the new fee, fresh students as well as old students and the final year students for the non science courses are expected to pay N111,000, N91,500 and N114,000, respectively.
They are also to pay N36,500, N21,500 and N21,500, respectively as third party dues.
Similarly, the fee for the science-based courses was increased to N155,000, N125,000 and N148,000, respectively for new students, returning students and final year students.
In the same vein, they are also to pay N38,500, N21,500 and N21,500, respectively as third party dues.
Before the hike, an average student, depending on the department, paid N64, 050 for new students, N52,050 for final year and N49,500 for the returning students.
Recall also that on November 6, 2023, Students of Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, on Monday, gathered at the university premises to express their dissatisfaction and protest against the recently announced tuition fee hike for the 2023-2024 session, as reflected on the student’s portal.
The students learned that on Monday, the school management raised the tuition for new students enrolled in education courses from N76,500 to N230,000 and from N76,500 to N180,000 for returning students.
The school fees for fresh students studying pure courses were increased from N80,500 and N90,500 to N240,000, and from N80,500 and N90,500 to 190,000 for returning students.
This development has raised concerns among students, leading to a large-scale protest. Students have taken to the streets, brandishing placards and leaf stems, and congregating at various locations, including the Main Gate, the University Academic Building, and the Directorate of Students’ Affairs Building. Their aim is to voice their strong disapproval of the proposed increase in school fees.
The students have strongly criticized the management team for their decision, describing it as inhumane.
They also argue that the management team failed to take into account the current situation of the country and the potential consequences of their actions.
A statement released by the Students’ Union partly reads,“ Our attention has been drawn to the university’s decision to increase our school fees on the portal. We firmly believe that this fee increment is unjust and places an unnecessary burden on students.
“Education is a right, and it should be accessible to all. We want to assure you that we are actively working to address this issue. We will engage in communication with the university management to express our concerns and negotiate for a fair and affordable education.
“Meanwhile, we encourage each one of you to stand together and say No to this fee increment. We must unite as a strong and collective voice to make our concerns heard.”
The Students’ Union President, Akinjetan Emmanuel, said the protest aims to send a strong message to the university management.
“We refuse to accept this burden on our shoulders. It is crucial that we continue to raise our voices and make our concerns heard. By participating in the protest, we are advocating for a fair and affordable education,” he said.
NANS reaction on the protest
In its reaction to the growing university students protests over fee hike,the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has berated the Vice-Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike for denying students who are yet to pay their fees the opportunity to take the first semester examination.
NANS President, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, while reacting to the development in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said the Association was fully in support of the students’ protest to register their grievances over the unfair policies of the university management.
“We have been informed about the troubling practice at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, where examinations are being withheld from students who have not fully paid their school fees.
“This policy is worrisome because many students and their families are currently facing financial challenges and may not be able to afford the full payment at once,” he said.
Implications of the protests
Apart from disruption of academic activities, protests by Nigerian University has led to destruction of lives and properties.
Analysts are of the opinion that many hoodlums and miscreants usually use the opportunity to perpetrate evil having infiltrated into the protesting students, disguising as students.
However, according to one of the analysts, Chief Raph Eke, “many a time these students end up incurring more damages and expenses for themselves and their parents.
“I remember some years ago when students of a Nigerian university were involved in protest over tuition fees hike. My child was a student of that university and unfortunately, miscreants and hoodlums hijacked the protest, leading to destruction of many properties in and around the campus.
“At the end, we were forced to pay a reparation fee of N40,000 for damages incurred by these students. So, for me dialogue is the best way of resolving this kind of issue.”