* Claims NANS backing to extend action to other Fed varsities
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, have threatened to shut down the activities of the school if the management fails to revert its decision to increase school fees by as much as 300 percent.
The management of the institution, through its public relations officer Abiodun Olarewaju, announced the increment last week after an emergency meeting.
However, the students, under the auspice of the Student Union led by its president, Abbas Akinremi-Ojo, converged on the Ken Sarowiwa building inside the campus of OAU on Monday to kick against the decision of the management.
Addressing journalists, Akinremi-Ojo said: “We’ve also written to all respective banks to halt the acceptance of fee payments from any student until a better resolution has been achieved.
“As much as we don’t want to, we are currently running out of options and might have to shut down all activities on campus, and progressively on all other Federal institutions’ campuses in Nigeria, because we are carrying the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) along, which they backed.
“The student leadership had met with the management in August when we learnt about plans to increase school fees and we started negotiating. Unfortunately, they shut us out and announced the new fee.
They claimed that the Federal government has stopped funding OAU, whereas the recent release on September 15, 2023 listed OAU as number 9 of the top-funded universities with a budget allocation of N13.4billion.”
Similarly, the leadership of the National Association of Universities Students (NAUS) through its chairman Comrade Olayinka Popoola, in Osogbo, warned other universities planning to increase fees to desist, saying: “Universities must source funds elsewhere to meet their needs.”