Students Overrun Govt House In Osun Over Fees Hike

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*No Fees Increment – Govt

Pandemonium broke out in Osogbo, capital of Osun, on Monday when protesting students, from the state-owned tertiary institutions stormed the city to protest what they termed arbitrary increase in the fees regime by the management of their schools.

The protest, which turned violent started around 9.15am, when the protesting students, who were coordinated by the chairman of Joint Campus Committee (JCC) and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Zone D, Osun axis, Comrade Saheed Miftau stormed the popular Olaiya junction to halt traffic flow of vehicles.

But, efforts by the anti-riot policemen to contain the action of the students failed as they allegedly hurled stones and other dangerous objects at the security agents, a development, which prompted the Police to fire tear gas canisters, with a view to dispersing the protesters.

The students, some of whom were in their students’ union bus and other chartered buses were subsequently forced to move away from Olaiya junction by the anti-riot policemen, but they advanced towards Gbongan-Ibadan expressway, thereby causing traffic gridlock, just as the anti-riot policemen followed them.

However, the students, who veered to the main gate of the state secretariat, Abere took over the gatehouse from the security officials and locked the gates, preventing vehicular and human movement in and out of the secretariat for hours.

Tribune Online reports that during the course of the protest, windshields of mini-commercial buses, popularly known as “Korope” were allegedly smashed, while three of the protesting students sustained injuries.

But, Osun State government in a press statement endorsed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Adelani Baderinwa denied increment in tuition fees payable by students in the state-owned institutions by the incumbent administration, just as it called on students “to handle their reservations for increase in some fees payable in their institutions with maturity, sense of responsibility and reality of the situation at hand”.

According to the statement, “government put it on record that it has not authorized any increment in the tuition fees in all the state-owned tertiary institutions and that only ancillary fees were increased by institutions authorities based on some considerations. As at today, the tuition fees of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and the College of Technology, Esa-Oke remain N25, 000 while that of Osun State College of Education, Ilesa and Ila-Orangun is still N20, 000”.

“It is pertinent to remind the people that the Aregbesola government, at its inception and without being persuaded in 2011 reduced the tuition fees of all the state owned tertiary institutions from N45, 000 to N25, 000. Since the reduction in 2011, the government has not put a penny on the tuition fees”.

“Government wishes to state that the managements of the tertiary institutions are at liberty to fix extraneous fees and are responsible for its regulations; it insists that tuition fees are yet to be increased. Government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola reiterates its commitment to promoting functional and affordable education, the manifestation of which is the improvement in the standard of education in the state”.

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