Graduate students of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) on Wednesday barricaded the office block of the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Ben Ozumba, protesting hike in school fees.
The protesters sat on the ground to the entrance of the VC’s office, carrying placards with various inscriptions.
Some of the placards read “Increase from N65, 000 to N145,000 is outrageous, no reduction no payment, N145, 000 increase for what, we say no to this outrageous increase in school fee”.
Spokesman of the group, Mr Paul Haaga, a Hostel Hall Governor said that students were not consulted before the fee was increased from N65, 000 to N145, 000.
“To us, the increment is outrageous. We are not against any increment but it should be reasonable, it is not fair to increase the school fee for a session of nine months form N69,000 to N145,000; where do they expect us to get this kind of money.
“We will continue this protest until the university reduce it”, he said.
Addressing the students, the Dean of Post-Graduate School, Prof Uba Chukwu said that there was wide consultation before the increase was made, noting that the university does not receive any subvention from federal government to run post-graduate school.
According to him, “government does not give any allocation for postgraduate school as it is assumed that post graduate students are adults and can pay the cost of their education.
“I use my personal money atimes to run PG school; I have been talking with some of your leaders on this issue for sometime now.
“We compared notes with other universities before the increment on PG school fees was made”.
Chukwu, however, commended the students for their orderly and peaceful protest, which he said showed them as mature.
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