Nigerian Tribune reliably gathered that the aggrieved students, who had before the closure of the institution about a month ago, protested the new hike in fees, resumed their action on Monday, insisting that the management should revert to the old fees.
But, their latest demonstration assumed a new dimension, when they allegedly shut the Senate building and other key structures on the campus, causing panic within the university community.
Pockets of protests had been witnessed on the campus and outside the institution, as students demonstrated their grieviances towards the increment in fees before they besieged the campus on Monday, contending that the management should revert to the old rates.
Credible sources informed the Nigerian Tribune that the students locked the Senate building, where the Vice Chancellor, Professor Bamitale Omole, was locked up for hours, just as the main gates leading to the institution were also shut.
The protesters also assembled at the university gate, chanting anti-management songs to further drive home their points.
ADVERTISEMENT
They took to the major roads leading to the campus and prevented free flow of vehicular movement.
Commenting on the development, the Students’ Union President, Ibikunle Isaac, said “our message to the vice chancellor and the Deputy Vice Chancellor is that Great Ife students are demanding total reversal of school fees.
“This is a warning protest, our aluta is peaceful, we don’t carry out any attack in OAU, but the management should know that the increment in the fee is unjustifiable.”
While maintaining that the protest would continue unabated until the management returned to status quo, the SUG president condemned what he termed obnoxious increment in the tuition fees, stressing that education should not be made the exclusive preserves of the rich.
It is recalled that management of OAU had increased the fee payable by the newly admitted students from N37,150 and N42,150 to N82,400, N92,700 and N95,700, depending on the faculties. These new charges include the N20,000 acceptance fee.
The charges of returning students of the institution was also hiked from N5,300, N7,800, N10, 300 and N12,800 per session to N19,700, N30,700 and N33,700 for different faculties respectively.
Efforts to get the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution, Mr Abiodun Olarewaju, failed, as calls put through to his cell phone were not answered as of the time of filing this report.
Post a Comment