Varsity students protest high tuition in Jonathan’s town?

Students of the Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, on Thursday staged a peaceful protest to draw the attention of the Federal Government to high tuition being charged by the institution’s management.

The students, who trooped out from the Faculty Building of the university, marched to the Administrative Building to register their displeasure at the huge tuition being charged by the institution.

As they (protesting students) made procession to the administrative building, the major road that links Otuoke, President Goodluck Jonathan’s country home, to other parts of the state, was blocked, forcing motorists to make a detour.

The students, who chanted solidarity songs and bore placards with inscriptions, ‘Niger Deltans earn less than $2 per day; ‘Where will the peasant get N80,000 to pay school fees?’ and ‘Our vice-chancellor told us education is expensive and we should go and look for money to pay.’

Other inscriptions include; ‘They do not want us to have SUG;’ ‘We are forced to buy food from the school caterers;’ ‘This is not a private university;’ ‘Is it a federal university or private?’; and ‘The school fees are too high’ among others.

When they got to the gate of the Administrative Block, some top management  members of staff were on hand to address them.

They were told to select 10 students, who would have dialogue with the school authorities on their behalf. However, the students disagreed because they did not have Students Union Government in the school.

Expectedly, scores of riot policemen were all over the place to contain any break down of law and order.

One of the protesting students, who gave her name simply as Ebere, said with the new fee regime, those in the Sciences were expected to pay N90,000, including accommodation fee, while those in the Humanities were to pay N82,000 each per session.

She said when the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, came on Wednesday to meet with the students, he had stunned them when he asked them to go and look for money to enable them to pay.

She said, “Where are we going to look for money? Is he expecting the men to turn to armed robbery and the women turn to prostitution? I think this man is a Diaspora man, who has not yet come to terms with the goings on in Nigeria.”

Another student, who gave her name simply as Ebube, said of all the federal universities created the same time with FUO, the fees paid at FUO was more expensive.

“This is a President’s home and yet nothing to cheer about. What we are asking for is reduction of school fees so that we can cope,” she said.

Another student, who simply identified himself as Abraham, said the students would not accept variation in school fees. He stressed  that what was paid in FUO should be at par with what other federal institutions established at the same time was paying.

“We do not want to hear that we are being merged with new students. The fees should be normalised with other varsities of its kind,” Abraham said.

But the VC refuted the claims of the students, saying that the institution had not increased school fees.

Aluko said the same old fees were what the students were expected to pay, wondering how they came about increase in fees.

He said many students had been paying the fees, adding that it was only those that had yet to pay that were complaining.

Aluko said, “We did not increase the school fees. The fees have been on the institution’s website and the students have been paying.

“The comparison of FUO with other schools established with it is not tenable. We are in different environment. The fees they are talking about are not high. It should be noted that Otuoke is not on national grid. In the past four months, the turbine being used by the university community has packed up.

“We spend up to N400,000 per week on fuel to power our generators. The total population of the school is 1,000, and by the fees they pay, it will give you N71m per year. This is not even enough to accommodate the cost of running the institution.”

Reacting to statement credited to him that he asked them to go and look for money to pay, Aluko said what he told them was that they could access various scholarship schemes in their various states, which they (students) were not aware of.