Some students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), on Wednesday, in Lagos, went on protest to express their objection to the increment by about 150 per cent of their various fees and levies by the school authorities.
They said they could not afford the new fees regime because majority of them are on low income range of about N50,000 monthly salary.
The students, who mobilised themselves through social media platform staged the protest at McCarthy Study Centre of the university in Obalende, Lagos.
They assembled at the centre around 9.30am and carried placards with different inscriptions, chanting no to fees hike by the university management.
The students are mostly young adults and did not leave the school until the director of the centre, Prof Rotimi Ogidan, pacified them with a promise to relate their grievances with the appropriate quarter.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune, one of them, who identified himself as the National Vice President (Administration) of Congress of NOUN students, Adekola Shuaib, said the students got to know of the fees hike on their portals when they wanted to register for a new semester.
He said they were surprised to discover that the portal had been upgraded to capture the new fees regime without the management informing them ahead of the development.
He said they had made series of appeals to the school management via social media platforms and gave reasons for their objection without hearing anything from the school.
“That is why we are now staging our protest physically to show we are serious about the matter,” he said, adding that “the protest is not only for students at McCarthy Study Centre but for all NOUN students across various study centres nationwide.”
According to him, there are four major things that NOUN students pay for and the price of each of them has gone up between 75 per cent and 150 per cent against what we were paying before.
“We pay compulsory fee, which is the highest, we pay for course registration, examinations and the projects,” he pointed out.
Shuaib, who is in 400-level studying Economics, said the school fees, which stands as a compulsory fee has increased from N18, 000 per semester to N30, 000 for the returning students while the new students, who supposed to pay N36, 000 are now to pay N55, 000.
He also noted that the final project levy had increased from N15, 000 to N25, 000 for returning students while new students are to pay N40, 000.
On course registration and exam fees with charges based on number of course units, he said one unit course that was N1, 000 before is now N3, 500 while two and three unit courses now go for N4, 000 and N5, 000 from N1, 500 and N2, 500 they were before respectively while returning students are now to pay N1, 500 for exams instead of N1, 000 and new students to pay N3, 000 instead of N1, 000.
He said the increment particularly on course registration fees has gone up to as high as 150 per cent, saying such increment is unaffordable to majority of them.
He explained that the students before resorting to this street protest had made series of appeals via school social media platforms to the management of the university to reverse to the previous charges.
‘So, it is because we didn’t get any response, positive or otherwise, from the management that we now come to the centre to protest physically to show our seriousness.
“Now, we want the Federal Government to prevail on the school management to reverse to the old fees that many of us are even found difficult to pay,” Shuaib said.
When contacted, the university’s spokesman, Mr. Ibrahim Sheme, told Nigerian Tribune that the school authorities are looking into the students’ agitation and would respond appropriately.
When asked when, he said he would not want to make further comment.
