“How can we explain that a supposed progressive government increased arbitrarily the school fees of Adekunle Ajasin University from N33, 000 to N150, 000, while that of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo was increased from N63,000 to N108,000, and the students of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology are to pay N200,000 instead of N70,000 they were paying before the Governor Akeredolu assumed office.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has rejected the increment of the tuition fee of Ondo State tertiary institutions by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
The students’ group also said it would resist any form of intimidation or threat against any tertiary institution student in the state.
Danielson Akpan, National President of NANS, in a press statement on Thursday, describing the increase as commercialization of education said, “we condemn in totality the management of the state-owned institutions, which joined the governor in the inglorious journey, especially the Vice-Chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun that two weeks ago implemented the policy of no school fees, no test/examination, which led to the closure of the institution following the students’ vehement resistance to the hike in their school fees.
“How can we explain that a supposed progressive government increased arbitrarily the school fees of Adekunle Ajasin University from N33, 000 to N150, 000, while that of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo was increased from N63,000 to N108,000, and the students of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology are to pay N200,000 instead of N70,000 they were paying before the Governor Akeredolu assumed office.
It further explained that previous administration before Governor Akeredolu made education affordable for everyone in the state.
“Without any dubiety, before his emergence as the Governor of Ondo State, education since 1999 under the late Governor Adebayo Adefarati; the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu and Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was free from primary to secondary level,” he said.
Akpan urged Akeredolu to return the tuition fee to what it was rather than making it a means for making money for the administration in the expense of the poor.
