OAU students protest fees hike
Students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, have protested the management’s decision to increase the fee. On Tuesday, the students marched around the institution’s campus, carrying placards.
Akinboni Opeyemi, the students’ union secretary general, said the management decided to reduce the increased fee by 15 percent instead of the 50 percent the students demanded.
“The union earlier demanded that the school management make it a duty to reverse the increment in school fees and “all financial institutions, remita, especially ignore and suspend any payment from OAU, pending the time the union will write to them; otherwise, their branches in Ife and OAU campus will be shut down,” Akinboni 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, he added.
On his part, Abiodun Olarenwaju, the university’s public relations officer, explained the issue of the fees.
He said, “For the students in the humanities, the initial sundry charges of N89,200 for returning students have been reduced to N76,000, while for the new students in the humanities, the initial fees of N151,200 have been reduced to N131,000.
“For those in the sciences and technology, the initial charges of N101,200 for returning students are now N86,000, while the new students in the same faculties will now pay N141,000 instead of the initial N163,200.
“In the same vein, the returning students in the Pharmacy and College of Health Sciences will now pay N109,000 instead of N128,200. The new students in the same faculties will now pay N164,000 instead of the initial charges of N190,000,” the statement partly read. He also said the university management has advised the students they could pay in two instalments.
