So students of the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko (AAUA), Ondo state took over the streets today, Monday, in protest of the hike in their tuition.
The management of the Adekunle Ajasin University had last week released the tuition fees for both the old and new students of the school for the 2017/2018 academic sessions with an increase of over 500%.
The protesting students were reported to have marched through the popular Oba Adesida road to Alagbaka in Akure, the Ondo State capital, preventing a free flow of traffic as they register their displeasure.
According to reports, the students were armed placards bearing various inscriptions as they chanted solidarity songs in their procession, which grounded commercial activities in the state capital.
The students said that the fee increase of 500 % was unacceptable as their parents would not be able to pay.
Sahara Reporters stated that one of the protesting students, Iyabo Adebimbe, lamented the increment in the tuition, arguing that many female students may be lured into crime or prostitution due to the inability of their parents to pay.
“Before, we (students) were paying between N25, 000 and N30, 000 but now it has been increased to N120, 000 and 180, 000 which is just too much to bear for us and our parents.
“This increment shows that the state government being led by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu wants us to result into prostitution and other forms of crime which could destroy our future. I learnt my of our colleagues are already dropping out of the system because they can’t afford it”, She said.
Ondo State House of Assembly said on Monday that it has nothing to do with the tuition increase announced by the Governing Council of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, saying the council did not carry the state legislature along before taking the decision.
Speaking with journalists on the development, the Chairman House Committee on Information, Mr Fatal Olotu urged the protesting students to remain calm while the Assembly took a decision that would favour them.
He said,
” We dissociate ourselves from the proposed new fees. We have not carried along, we are not aware of the new fees. All the announcement on the new fees would be revisited. ”
Also, the speaker of the House, Mr. Bamidele Oloyeloogun, said since the governing council failed to report to the House Committee on Tertiary Institutions, the Assembly would not support the increment.
