By Igoniko Oduma/Yenagoa
January 23 entered the record books of the federal university in President Goodluck Jonathan’s country home of Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, as a memorable day in the lives of the students and the annals of the university’s history.
It was the day the students marched through the major road in Otuoke community, peacefully protesting the arbitrary hike in school fees by the management of the university.
By the students’ action, FUOTUOKE, as it is popularly called, recorded its first demonstration by students.
FUOTUOKE is among the nine federal universities the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Jonathan established in February 2011. The school is about 21 kilometers south of Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State. Academic activities commenced at the institution in September,2012.
There was anxiety in the little town of Otuoke when the protest started. It was not expected. In fact, the angry students took the community unawares. Residents were jolted by the action of the students. Some shop owners hurriedly locked up their shops for fear of being looted.
The protesting students alleged that the management of the university had increased school fees from N50,000 to N82,000 for students in the Faculty of Humanities and from N58,000 to N90,000 for students in Faculty of Sciences.
A breakdown of the university’s fees obtained by this newspaper showed that with effect from January 9, 2014, pioneer returning students in Faculty of Science were to pay N58,000 excluding accommodation fee while those in the Faculty of Humanities were to pay N50,000 excluding accommodation.
As for all other students, those in the Humanities were expected to pay N82,000 including accommodation fee while those in the Faculty of Science were to pay N90,000 inclusive of accommodation.
The students called on the Federal Government to stop the institution’s management from impoverishing their parents and guardians most of whom, they claimed, are very poor.
They had trooped out in their numbers from the Faculty Block of the university and marched to the Administrative Building to register their grievances to the management, particularly the Vice-Chancellor, Mobolaji Aluko.
They blocked the major road that links Otuoke to other parts of the state, forcing motorists to find alternative routes to their destinations in the area.
Chanting solidarity songs, the aggrieved students brandished placards with inscriptions like, “Niger Deltans earn less than $2 per day”, “Where will the peasant get N80,000 to pay school fees?”, “Our Vice-Chancellor told us education is expensive and we should go and look for money to pay”.
Other inscriptions read: “They do not want us to have SUG’, “We are forced to buy food from the school caterers”, “This is not a private university”, “Is it a federal university or private?”, “The school fees are too high”.
At the gate of the Administrative Building, some senior management staff were on hand to hear them out.
One of the senior university officials, however, told them to select 10 representatives who would have dialogue with the school authorities, but the students rejected the suggestion.
They argued that since they did not have Students’ Union Government in the school, they could not trust those that might represent them.
Over 12 police vans carrying riot policemen were deployed to the campus to forestall any break down of law and other.
One of the protesting students, who gave her name as Ebiere, cried that with the new fee regime, those in the Sciences were expected to pay N90,000, including accommodation fee, while those in the Humanities were to pay N82,000.
According to her, another issue that was making the students angry was that they heard that students in 100 level would be asked to go and stay at home for six months to enable them merge with new students later in June.
She said Aluko told students in a meeting that they should go home and look for money to enable them to pay.
“So, where are we going to look for money. Is he expecting the men to turn robbers and the women to turn prostitutes?she queried.
“I think this man is a Diaspora man who has not yet come to terms with the goings on in Nigeria” Ebiere said
As for another student, Abraham, he was of the view that the students would not accept variation in school fees, stressing that what was paid in FUOTUOKE should be at par with what other federal institutions established at the same time were charging.
“We do not want to hear that we are being merged with new students. The fees should be normalized with other varsities of its kind,” Abraham said.
But Aluko dismissed the claims of the students, saying that the institution had not increased school fees.
Aluko said the same old fees were what the students were expected to pay, wondering how they came about increase in fees.
He said many students had been paying the fees, adding that it was only those that had yet to pay that were complaining.
Aluko said, “We did not increase the school fees. The fees have been on the institution’s website and the students have been paying.
Aluko stated: “The comparison of FUOTUOKE with other schools established with it is not tenable. We are in different environment. The fees they are talking about are not high.
“It should be noted that Otuoke is not on national grid. In the past four months, the turbine being used by the university community has packed up.
“We spend up to N400,000 per week on fuel to power our generators. The total population of the school is 1,000 and by the fees they pay, it will give you N71m per year. This is not even enough to accommodate the cost of running the institution.”
On the allegation that he asked them to go and look for money to pay, Aluko explained that what he told them was that they could access various scholarship schemes in their various states which they (students) were not aware of.
He urged the students to conduct themselves properly, warning that the school authorities would not condone any act of indiscipline by them.