Aggrieved students shut down Otuoke varsity over School fees:

Thousands of aggrieved Students of the Federal University  Otuoke in Ogbia Community, the country home of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, on Thursday shut down academic activities in the institution following the hike of fees by the management of the University.

The aggrieved students took to the streets with placards chanting songs and barricaded roads leading to the Mr. President’s country home where the ivory tower is located

The Otuoke University was among the nine  new Universities established few years ago by President Jonathan.

The students, whose activities paralysed the institution, condemned the leadership style of the management.

The aggrieved students, who carried placards, marched from the main campus to the administrative blocks of the university.

They barricaded the gate of the administrative blocks  roads and adjourning streets in President Jonathan’s home town  and insisted that the management must listen to them.

Weekend Champion reports over  four patrol vans of policemen were drafted to the area to restore the peace on campus.

The  aggrieved students claimed that their school fees had been increased to N85,000 for students in humanities and N90, 000 for science students and wondered where the management wanted them to get such money.

They lamented lack of electricity in the community, unavailability of potable water and poor hostel accommodation.

The student further accused the management of running the institution like a private university, adding that no other federal universities including the ones established the same time with Otuoke charged such fees.

They also decried six-month which older students in the campus claimed the management asked them to embark on.

One of the female students who pleaded anonymity said: "We want the school fees to be reduced to the lowest according to other federal universities. People of other universities are paying N35,000 for second year, how can we be paying N85,000? The price is too high. We can't pay it and we are not going for six months.

"We want the educational system to continue the way it is to enable us proceed to year three. We have been in year one since 2012 despite the fact that we didn't join the ASUU strike, they refused to allow us to make progress.

"They refuse to allow us to have the Student Union Government (SUG) so that we won't be able to speak out. We have been in year one since 2012 since we gained admission into this university. Now they are asking us to go for another six months vacation".

Another male student compared the school fees in Otuoke to similar federal schools and said they were too high.

But the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Mobolaji Aluko, denied increasing the school fees of the university.

"The truth is that we have not increased the school fees of the university", he said explaining that the fees advertised by the university during its admission were the fees charged according to the three sets of students that had so far gained admissions into the school.

The Vice Chancellor said the pioneer set of students were already in their first semester year two while the second set were in their second semester year one.

He said the flood that ravaged the state in 2012 affected the academic calendar of the university.

The students, who are in their first academic year second semester had all paid these fees. No increase in fees. What they mean by increase in fees is that the pioneer students pay a certain fee schedule and the non-pioneer students pay a certain fee schedule.

"But there is already a set of non-pioneer students who have been paying the fees for a year now. So there is no increase in fees. We have the pioneer set of students. We have the second set of students and we have the third set of students."

"When the pioneers came in, their fees were N45,000 for tuition and accommodation. By the end of their first year before this second set came in, we increased it to N50,000, but separated the accommodation fees from it. It is for pioneer students and they will pay that till they graduate.

"The second set of students, humanities and social science paid N72,000 and science students will pay N80,000. Of the fees, N16,000 of it was for acceptance fees I.D cards fees paid only ones. After the first year, they will be pay N50,000 for humanities and social sciences and N58,000 for science students.