OAU Tuition Crisis: Students React to Management's Slashed Fees, Say Gesture Not Adequate Main while the School set to re-opening Tomorrow, 24th August,2014

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) have reacted to the reductions announced by the management of the institution yesterday.

 
Obafemi Awolowo University Campus The management had, through its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, announced the reduction on Thursday. 
The reduction was anchored on appeals by various stakeholders who met and discussed with the management.
Reacting to the reductions, however, the students said they are not content with the slashes. Speaking to a SaharaReporters correspondent today, leader of the Students Union, Mr. Ibikunle Isaac, said the gesture was welcomed by them, but insisted the reduction did not capture all their demands.
Asides from criticizing that the reductions were not total, Mr. Ibikunle said the students had other demands that still were not heeded by the management.
Among the demands listed, he said non-victimization of student protesters was important.
He acknowledged that the management promised to allow posting of final-year students for the National Youth Service, which he said was always pegged down whenever students embarked on protests.
He also said the management agreed to extend students regular registration by one week, which reversed an initial imposition of late registration with fees.
"The students' application for study leave as well as payment of fees in installments has also been allowed," he included.
"But the fees," he said, "were not enough reductions."
The student leader said certain faculty and department fees were reduced by only N3,000 and another by N10,000.
Of greater concern to the executives, he said, was their victimization for participating in protests to demand reversal of the hiked fees.
He said the management had earlier issued notices of rustication to the student executives, and has now reversed them-but with conditions.
The management's condition for reversing their rustication, he said, was that they would not breach matriculation oaths in future.
The matriculation oaths, as common with the institutions, would restrict students from participating in activities "capable of leading the atmosphere of the institution into disrepute".
Students of various institutions had in past condemned the clause of matriculation oath, which has been used repeatedly to implicate students who led protests against poor and arbitrary management activities at their institutions.
Following the new announcement of reversal of hiked tuition, the Obafemi Awolowo University will re-open on Sunday the 24th of August.
Source : Sahara Reporters.