The controversy over fees payable by students of Ekiti State
University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, and the mode of payment has caused yet
another students’ protest, with the management of the institution
insisting that the students must pay their fees before lectures.
Students of the university had taken to the streets on Thursday morning in protest of the “no fees, no lectures” policy of the university, alleging that the policy was draconian, making EKSU to be run like a military cantonment.
The students seemed to have learnt a lesson from their violent protest of late last year, which kept them at home for weeks and also saw them pay ‘reparation fees’ for the damage to the school property.
The peaceful protest was held outside the university gates and they restrained themselves from vandalising any property of the institution, but they chanted songs with which they cast aspersion on the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and members of the management of the university.
However, they made bonfire and one of the students, who identified himself simply as Ifeoluwa said the university was not being sincere with its N50,000 tuition fee mantra, saying “some departments pay as much as N150,000 owing to other fees introduced by the institution.”
They also called for the restoration of a students’ union “so that the students can have a united front to fight for their rights,” and threatened that they would continue to protest until the policy was changed.
But the Vice Chancellor of EKSU, Professor Oladipo Aina, said the protest was not justified, saying the students were expected to have paid their fees within two weeks of resumption of schools and “we have resumed for about five weeks now.”
Professor Aina, who also described the protest as embarrassing, said “only 1,227 out of the about 14,000 full time students of the university had paid their requisite fees,” adding that “the no-fee-no-lecture rule would persist until all the students have paid their fees.”
TRIBUNE
Students of the university had taken to the streets on Thursday morning in protest of the “no fees, no lectures” policy of the university, alleging that the policy was draconian, making EKSU to be run like a military cantonment.
The students seemed to have learnt a lesson from their violent protest of late last year, which kept them at home for weeks and also saw them pay ‘reparation fees’ for the damage to the school property.
The peaceful protest was held outside the university gates and they restrained themselves from vandalising any property of the institution, but they chanted songs with which they cast aspersion on the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and members of the management of the university.
However, they made bonfire and one of the students, who identified himself simply as Ifeoluwa said the university was not being sincere with its N50,000 tuition fee mantra, saying “some departments pay as much as N150,000 owing to other fees introduced by the institution.”
They also called for the restoration of a students’ union “so that the students can have a united front to fight for their rights,” and threatened that they would continue to protest until the policy was changed.
But the Vice Chancellor of EKSU, Professor Oladipo Aina, said the protest was not justified, saying the students were expected to have paid their fees within two weeks of resumption of schools and “we have resumed for about five weeks now.”
Professor Aina, who also described the protest as embarrassing, said “only 1,227 out of the about 14,000 full time students of the university had paid their requisite fees,” adding that “the no-fee-no-lecture rule would persist until all the students have paid their fees.”
TRIBUNE
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