On Monday, the administration of Tai Solarin University of Education in Ijagun, Ogun State, justified its inability to prevent the rise in tuition fees, attributing it to the prevailing economic conditions nationwide.
Previously, students had staged a protest opposing the increase from an average range of N65,000 to N70,000 to a new fee of N240,000. As per our source, returning students anticipating a fee of N65,000 are now faced with N180,000, while new students are required to pay N240,000 in addition to other associated fees.
The Students’ Union President of the institution, Hammed Akinjetan, in a statement, said the SUG has to advocate for the interest of the student body.
“We firmly believe that this fee increment is unjust and places an unnecessary burden on students,” he said.
He maintained that education is a right, and it should be accessible to all, assuring fellow students that “we are actively working to address this issue.”
The statement, which was also signed by the Public Relations Officer, Olawale Olanrewaju, added that “We will engage in communication with the university administration to express our concerns and negotiate for a fair and affordable education.
“In the meantime, we encourage every one of you to stand together and say no to this fee increment. We must unite as a strong and collective voice to make our concerns heard.”
However, the university has said the increment in tuition at a time like this, is a general thing across the nation.
TASUED Registrar, Chief Dapo Oke, confirmed the protest in an interview with our correspondent.
Oke said, “We had a peaceful students’ protest. They have brought their grievances to the university management and we have received their grievances. We have asked them to channel their complaints through the appropriate channel, that is through their union leaders. We are going to invite them for necessary consultation.
“In the entire South West, which state university is charging as low as N100,000? We have been collecting N65,000, when some secondary school students pay N100,000 per term and there are three terms in a year. But our university students are paying as low as N65,000 for a whole year. Is that enough to buy laboratory equipment, to pay staff salaries or to run on diesel 24 hours?
“These are issues that necessitated the increase, and before we made the increase, we discussed it with the Students Union Government, and we’ve made them realise it. But definitely, they would still make their complaints. We will listen to their complaints, we will inform the government. At the end of the day, we will conclude.”
The registrar maintained that TASUED cannot afford to run inferior academic programmes, compared to what obtains in other universities.
“So, we have to charge economic fees. What we have charged is the barest minimum in reality with the existing market forces,” he emphasised.
Oke commended the students for being peaceful in their demonstration, stating that the protest did not affect the ongoing examination.
This level of maturity, he said would be put into consideration during consultations.
