Hike in varsity fees: Day of protest, shooting, tear gas in Akure

Students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State, on Monday, disrupted activities in Akure, the state capital.
They were protesting the increase in their fees by the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
It was a day of protest, rally, tear gas and shooting as anti-riot policemen confronted them.
For hours, the popular Oba Adesida Road and Oyemekun Road became a theatre of war as parents, residents and traders joined the students to protest the fee hike.
The protesters marched from the theatre of war to Alagbaka where Akeredolu’s office is situated but were repelled by the more than 50 security agents.
They were dispersed with tear gas and shooting several times but they regrouped, chanting solidarity songs.
They also made bonfire on the road.
To them, for peace to reign, Akeredolu must reverse the increase in their tuition.
It was learned that the Governing Council of the school, led by popular human rights lawyer, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, had increased the tuition fee from an average of N30,000 to N200,000.
Abayomi had defended the action, saying the the university was facing financial crunch and if the tuition was not increased, it could lead to the collapse of the university.
Abayomi, accompanied by the Vice Chancellor, Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, called on the students and parents to show understanding to move the school to a greater height.
But, the students, led by officials of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), are insisting that they would not pay the new fees.
To them, “what they are forcing us to pay is outrageous”.
One of the parents said what Akeredolu and Abayomi did was a breach of trust.
“When they were campaigning, they didn’t tell us that they would increase the school fees. Some of us have two to three students in that school. How do they want us to cope?”
Supporting the students, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Grassroots Mobilisers advised Akeredolu to govern the state with human face. The group, in a statement by Kunle Ajibogun and Femi Ogunleye, said: “We notice that pleasant news has not been coming from Ondo State in the past couple of months.
“We, therefore, feel that continued silence in the face of the degeneration that has been witnessed by the state since Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu mounted the saddle of leadership is a disservice to our dear state.
“Pregnant women, with their protruding stomachs, had to protest last week before forcing the state government to reverse the outrageous hike in the cost of medical services in the state.
“The state government also last week came out with its decision to increase tuition in the state-owned Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, by between 500 and 800 per cents.
“The government had earlier stopped payment of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fee for senior secondary school students. Free education has also been cancelled at the secondary school level.
“Another unpleasant piece of information reaching us is that the government has concluded plans to increase Land Use Charges in the state. How do they want residents to cope? This type of inhuman behaviour cannot continue”
Similarly, the Joint Campus Committee (JAC) of NANS in a statement by Adewumi Adebowale kicked against the increase in the school fees.
The statement reads: “As we all know, the new school fees regime has been announced. It is in total disregard to our long agitations and a shocking alliance of our state government and the school management to pile more hardship on indigent Nigerian students.
“In lieu of the above, AAUA students are strongly advised not to go ahead with any payment. In furtherance to our agitation, all students should kindly boycott the April 9, 2018 resumption date”.