Increase of school fees has prevented many students from sitting for their semester examinations.
A demonstration against the policy of the University of Cross River (UNICROSS) that states “no fees, no exams” was held yesterday by hundreds of students at the university.
Besieging the administrative building of the school, the students who were protesting came out in large numbers and chanted, “We no go gree ooh, we no go gree,” in order to convey their discontent with the administration of the school.
In an interview with Leadership on Friday, one of the students’ leaders, Oden Ibiang, expressed his disapproval of the decision made by the administration regarding the payment of school fees prior to taking an examination.
He accused the administration of the school of increasing the school fees, stating that the increase has prevented many students from sitting for their semester examinations.
He stated that if the administration does not reverse its decision, which he referred to as an unfriendly decision, then academic activities will experience a disadvantage.
In response, UNICROSS acting vice-chancellor (VC) Prof. Francisca Bassey denied that there was any increase in school fees on the part of the administration.
The Acting VC said, “Taking care of the students alone, diesel for their hostels, repair of their accommodation of course, you know, diesel alone. You know we are running three campuses.
“We borrow to augment what the government has been giving; in fairness to the government, they have increased whatever was there before, but the school has to borrow to augment, and the only alternative the school has is the school fees.
“Check across the board what they are paying; indigenes who are the majority have paid about N70,000 in school fees in the last 10 years. Look at the rate of inflation, which is over 300%.
“Ten years ago, how much was fuel when Buhari was in government? How much was rice? How much was a ream of paper, ink, pen, and diesel? So, let’s face it. How much was the NEPA (electricity) bill then and now? We have not increased our fees.
“We have not increased but only asking you to pay. I engaged the student union, and they agreed to pay and saw reason with us.
“We have brought in a light for them, fixing their hostels and doing water reticulation. We are facing accreditation and need to fix the classrooms. All we are asking is just to pay school fees.
“If you cannot pay now, we will give you supplementary exams, and they have started complying, but some radicals feel that they are the owners of the university and today decided to go on a rampage.
“We have sorted it out with them and told them that we will shift the exams and give them ample time to go and clear (their debts), and we have agreed with them that it’s either this or that.
“We have postponed the two-day exams, giving them ample time to sort them out with the bursary. Some of them say they have paid, but the bursary has not been updated. We will give you till the weekend to do that, and on Monday, we will resume the exams.
“Those who will not pay by then will be sent home until when they are ready to pay the fees, which is less than 7,000 per month for indigent students because 7 multiplied by 12 is 84,000, which is less than 72,000; that is 6,600 per month.”