Hike in Tuition Fees: OAU Students Vow to Shut Down Campus

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Student Union of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, has warned the authorities of the university to urgently reverse the recent increments in tuition fees or ready to face a massive student protest across the state.

Also, the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) yesterday lamented that the 300 per cent increment in the fees has no rational basis, and therefore if implemented, it would force many students out of the institutions.

Meanwhile, the student union has given the school management a five-day ultimatum to reverse to status quo, threatening to shut down the institution if the authorities do otherwise.

At a world press conference addressed by Student Union President, Abbas Akinremi Ojo, with other student body executives held at the Ken Saro Wiwa building of the institution, the union hinted that they had held a meeting with the school management and demanded outright reversal to the old regime of school fees.

According to him, the significance of student unions worldwide is to have a robust platform that brings all students together and helps advocate for the rights of the students as well as creates positive change within student communities.

According to Ojo, “We shall continue to stand united and make a difference together. Our last congress of Great Ife held on September 14 ended with the following resolutions: ‘That the  management should make it a duty to reverse the increment in school fees

“All financial institutions, remita especially, should ignore and suspend any payment from OAU pending the time the union write to them, otherwise, their branches in Ife and OAU campus will be shut down.

“The congress agreed that the university management be given a five-day ultimatum to engage the leadership of the union. Afterwards, we hit the street and shut down the activities on campus and the entire country if the ultimatum isn’t met.

“As a student body, we’ve played our part in these resolutions by holding a Twitter space with over 4,000 students in attendance who all consensually agreed that the fee hike is way out of the pocket.

“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 campuses throughout the country if the school authorities remain adamant.”

However, the spokesman of the DSM, Ishola Kolawole, further contended that inflation has already thrown many families deeper into the poverty line, adding that the economic conditions of many families are deteriorating on a daily basis.

The body, however, demanded the immediate reversal of the 300 percent increment in the fees from the university management, which is trying to force it down the throat of innocent students and their parents.

Kolawole equally called on the students to reject “the fraudulent and extortion charges levied on them by the school authorities.”