ENUGU— STUDENTS of the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus yesterday staged a protest against the recent increase in their school fees by over 300 percent.
For several hours the students shut the two gates leading to the university and barricaded the Uwani-New Layout road, paralyzing traffic as motorists were forced to carry leaves on their vehicles in solidarity with the rampaging students.
There were also indications that angry students of UNN at Nsukka were spoiling for a showdown with the authorities over the same increment in fees but the authorities deployed security men who took over their entire nooks and crannies of the campus to prevent students’’ riot yesterday.
A source told Vanguard from Nsukka that “policemen are all over the campus possibly to checkmate the students incase they want to protest the new fees.”
They armed themselves with sticks and placards some of which read “N40,000 fee is unpayable No Nebotiation”(derived from the Vice Chancellor’’s name, Professor Chinedu Nebo), “The new fee is a denial of our right to education”, “Professor Nebo is anti-education”, “Nebo is our nemesis”, “Murderous Fees: Dividend of brainless administration”, “This outrageous school fee will not be paid” and “Vacancy for the post of VC: Please apply in person”.
Vanguard learnt that the students started marching out of their hostels as early as 6 a.m., singing and expressing their anger against the university authorities, as they headed for the gate leading to the campus. On sighting them, security men in the school rushed to lock the main gate but before they could get to the second gate leading to the University Secondary and Primary School, the students overpowered them and threw the gate open for thousands of the students to stream out.
They immediately converged at the roundabout in front of the main gate where they displayed their placards and continued to sing, dance, curse and poured their venom on the authorities of the university accusing them of being insensitive to their plights.
The situation left both staff and students shut outside the school premises for several hours and caused heavy traffic congestion along the busy Osadebe Street, which stands by the main gates.
Speaker of the UNEC Students’’ Parliament, Mr. Vincent Agu, told reporters that the students were irked by the decision of the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Chinedu Nebo to approve the over 300 percent increase in fees for all categories of students in the institution, an action, he said, was taken few days after the students’’ union of the institution was illegally dissolved by the authorities.
He alleged that the school authorities had suddenly increased school fees from about N7,000 to between N40,000 and N60,000, a condition, which he said would force hundreds of the students out of school. According to him, the outrageous and insensitive hike in fees was done without any consultation with the students, stressing that to worsen the situation, they were directed to check the approved fees through the Internet as against the formal procedure of communicating to the students through circulars.
Kalu said the Students Union government had before its dissolution, agreed in an earlier meeting with the Vice Chancellor that previous fees were no longer realistic given the economic realities of the day and had expected that the authorities would call them for a negotiation of the new fee regime. He said however that, instead of an invitation to the negotiating table what the Students union government got was a notice of dissolution quickly followed by the “totally unacceptable new fee regime”.
“This school (UNN) has over the years maintained a reputation as a place for the poorest of the poor students. It has provided succor for everyone rich or poor. That is what this administration wants to change in one fell swoop and they have gone about it in a most outrageous manner. First, it dissolved our Students Union Government even before an election to replace the then outgoing executive was held just to kick out the students’’ only negotiating platform. Then without warning we were told to go to the Internet to check the new fee regime and this is the first time it is happening in the history of this country”, he said.
The spokesman of the students further said that though the increases alone would not be used to judge the new Professor Nebo led administration, it was still indicative of “a certain lapse in wisdom” and that whoever gave him the advise must know that “it is a foolish one”. He said however that the students would continue their protest peacefully and push for a negotiation of acceptable fees.
In his reaction, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Mr Tony Nwonye said the body was in full support of the students protest noting that it would never accept “such tyranny”. He said it was unfortunate that the UNN which houses the national secretariat of the Union could proceed to impose such severe hardship on students adding that this was the more reason why the new fees will be resisted. “It is going to be total war”, he declared.
Efforts to get the reaction of the university authorities yesterday proved abortive as both the Vice Chancellor Chancellor and his Deputy in charge of the Enugu campus as well as the Public Relations Officers in Enugu and Nsukka campuses could not be reached.
