Students of the University of Ibadan (UI) have vowed to continue their protest and lock down the school following the management’s decision to approve a fee hike for the 2023/2024 academic session.
Background
The students had gone on the street on July 16 and 17 to press home their demands against the hike in fees.
It was gathered the management promised to review the fees.
For students from low-income households, fee hike at UI doesn’t bode well
Penultimately, the governing council sat Thursday, August 29, to review the fee – 43 days after the protest in July.
In its resolutions, the governing council said the increment was inevitable due to the present economic realities in the country and enjoined the students to take the student loan, while they announced September 5 as the deadline for school fee payment.
In the wake of the released memo, UI students took to the streets rejecting the proposed resolutions put forward by the governing council. The protest, which started at 10 pm on Thursday, and ended at 2 pm on Friday, saw some concerned students with placards and chanting solidarity songs to press home their demands.
Shortly after, the students held a congress and agreed to reconvene at a later date to shut down the school should their demands are not met.
Mgt. reacts
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Kayode Omobowale alongside other principal officers held a meeting with the students’ representatives, which included the Student Union President, Aweda Bolaji, amongst other student leaders.
In the meeting that began at 3 pm, the student protesters stood in the rain for 3 hours before the UI security operative codenamed ‘Abefele’ accompanied the representatives of the school management from the Senate Chamber to the administrative building.
All efforts by the SUG President Aweda to address the students proved abortive as the angry protesters paid deaf ears to hia voice due to some perceived compromise. The students, our reporter gathered, claimed Aweda ignored the decision of the congress to choose who would represent the students in the meeting and went behind them while they were still waiting for him where they convened before moving to the Senate Chamber.
The angry students moved en masse to the Student Union Building (SUB) to reconvene but the UISU President was not there to address the students. However, the speaker of the Legislative Council told them the options the school management gave the students, which were either to have a three-week deadline extension or go home.
Nonetheless, the students made another congress to discuss their plight of which they unanimously vowed to continue the ongoing protest until their demands are met.
