There was hullabaloo in Abeokuta as Students of
Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago – Iwoye,
in their thousands seized the entrance to the Oke
– Mosan Governor’s Office, demanding 50
percent reduction in their tuition fee.
The agitated students said the reduction should
take immediate effect – 2013/2014 academic
session and not by next session, lamenting that
OOU students remain the highest fees paying
students in Nigeria.
The students who also blocked the Abeokuta –
Kobape – Sagamu expressway for the better part
of Thursday, made vehicular movement
nightmarish for travellers and motorists going to
and fro Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
the students dropped a frightening pot of fetish
objects – ebo (sacrifice) bearing egg, eko, feather
among others at the Governor’s Office gate with
all the items smeared with red palm oil.
Over two dozen policemen including the
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye,
had a hectic time labouring to contain the surging
crowd lest they pull down the locked entrance
gate in a bid to forcefully enter the government
Secretariat.
The protesting OOU students led by their leader,
Comrade Ifade Olusegun, rejected the tuition fees
reduction earlier announced by the state
government and demanded to meet with
Governor Ibikunle Amosun who was said to
have travelled to Abuja.
Olusegun said: “even if it’s going to take us one
month or more than that, we are not going to
leave the governor’s office premises until the
governor attend to us. Enough of deceit, why the
political school fees, when election is
forthcoming, no we shall not accept the dubious
offer.
“It is a political reduction instead of proper
reduction. Our demand is simple, we want
breakdown of our tuition fees. Also we want the
reduction to be implemented this session, it’s
simple as ABC.
If the governor realized the need for reduction,
why must governor say the implementation
must be from next session?”
The students reckoned that any reduction above
N50, 000 is unacceptable to them and not in
consonance with the present economic reality,
adding that the Governor, during the electioneering campaign had promised drastic
reduction in the tuition fees.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and
Technology, Mr. Segun Odubela, appealed for
calm, until the Governor who travelled to Abuja
for a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan
on the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD),
returns.
Earlier, another group of students including
students from Federal University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta FUNNAB, in their thousands converged
at the Arcade ground at the Governor’s office for
a solidarity rally in support of the reduction.
They lauded Amosun for reducing their school
fees to lightening the burden of education on
them and expressed support for his second term
ambition.
The Chairman of National Association of Nigerian
Students, NANS, Okikiola Ogunsola, who
addressed the Ogun State government officials
led by the Chief of Staff, Professor Ganiyu
Olatunde, said the reduction was “drastic,
unprecedented and commendable.”
According to him, the present administration was
magnanimous enough to have yielded to the
yearnings of the students’ populace despite the
dwindling allocation from the federation account.
Ogunsola said: “We are here to appreciate the
Governor because our Governor is a listening
Governor, first of it is the reduction in the school
fees, composition of governing council in Tai
Solarin University of Education, the appointment
of SA to the governor on students’ affairs and for
the peace we have enjoyed in our schools.”
But by noon, the protest turned violent and
bloody, leaving four students critically injured and
hospitalised while about a dozen of others
received minor injuries as those opposed to
reduction and others in support of it clashed.
The clash occurred when a bus conveying the
Students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic,
Abeokuta (MAPOLY), who were returning from
the Amosun thank you rally for tuition fee
reduction, ran into a pack of OOU students
resulting in a free for all at the Kuto area of the
state capital.
In what appeared like a reprisal attack, the
MAPOLY students were said to have reinforced
and confronted the OOU students, leaving four
seriously injured.
Reacting, the Labour Party in the state described
Amosun’s School fees Reduction as a panicky
measure and another greek gift to the students.
Speaking through its Publicity Secretary in the
state, Deji Kalejaiye, the party said the reduction
remains another desperate measure by the
government of Ogun State to hoodwink the
unsuspecting public, after similar steps taken by
the All Progressive Congress (APC) Controlled
government of Lagos State reduced school fees
of Lagos State owned Institutions to twenty five
thousand naira (N25, 000).
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via IFTTT
Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago – Iwoye,
in their thousands seized the entrance to the Oke
– Mosan Governor’s Office, demanding 50
percent reduction in their tuition fee.
The agitated students said the reduction should
take immediate effect – 2013/2014 academic
session and not by next session, lamenting that
OOU students remain the highest fees paying
students in Nigeria.
The students who also blocked the Abeokuta –
Kobape – Sagamu expressway for the better part
of Thursday, made vehicular movement
nightmarish for travellers and motorists going to
and fro Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
the students dropped a frightening pot of fetish
objects – ebo (sacrifice) bearing egg, eko, feather
among others at the Governor’s Office gate with
all the items smeared with red palm oil.
Over two dozen policemen including the
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye,
had a hectic time labouring to contain the surging
crowd lest they pull down the locked entrance
gate in a bid to forcefully enter the government
Secretariat.
The protesting OOU students led by their leader,
Comrade Ifade Olusegun, rejected the tuition fees
reduction earlier announced by the state
government and demanded to meet with
Governor Ibikunle Amosun who was said to
have travelled to Abuja.
Olusegun said: “even if it’s going to take us one
month or more than that, we are not going to
leave the governor’s office premises until the
governor attend to us. Enough of deceit, why the
political school fees, when election is
forthcoming, no we shall not accept the dubious
offer.
“It is a political reduction instead of proper
reduction. Our demand is simple, we want
breakdown of our tuition fees. Also we want the
reduction to be implemented this session, it’s
simple as ABC.
If the governor realized the need for reduction,
why must governor say the implementation
must be from next session?”
The students reckoned that any reduction above
N50, 000 is unacceptable to them and not in
consonance with the present economic reality,
adding that the Governor, during the electioneering campaign had promised drastic
reduction in the tuition fees.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and
Technology, Mr. Segun Odubela, appealed for
calm, until the Governor who travelled to Abuja
for a meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan
on the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD),
returns.
Earlier, another group of students including
students from Federal University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta FUNNAB, in their thousands converged
at the Arcade ground at the Governor’s office for
a solidarity rally in support of the reduction.
They lauded Amosun for reducing their school
fees to lightening the burden of education on
them and expressed support for his second term
ambition.
The Chairman of National Association of Nigerian
Students, NANS, Okikiola Ogunsola, who
addressed the Ogun State government officials
led by the Chief of Staff, Professor Ganiyu
Olatunde, said the reduction was “drastic,
unprecedented and commendable.”
According to him, the present administration was
magnanimous enough to have yielded to the
yearnings of the students’ populace despite the
dwindling allocation from the federation account.
Ogunsola said: “We are here to appreciate the
Governor because our Governor is a listening
Governor, first of it is the reduction in the school
fees, composition of governing council in Tai
Solarin University of Education, the appointment
of SA to the governor on students’ affairs and for
the peace we have enjoyed in our schools.”
But by noon, the protest turned violent and
bloody, leaving four students critically injured and
hospitalised while about a dozen of others
received minor injuries as those opposed to
reduction and others in support of it clashed.
The clash occurred when a bus conveying the
Students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic,
Abeokuta (MAPOLY), who were returning from
the Amosun thank you rally for tuition fee
reduction, ran into a pack of OOU students
resulting in a free for all at the Kuto area of the
state capital.
In what appeared like a reprisal attack, the
MAPOLY students were said to have reinforced
and confronted the OOU students, leaving four
seriously injured.
Reacting, the Labour Party in the state described
Amosun’s School fees Reduction as a panicky
measure and another greek gift to the students.
Speaking through its Publicity Secretary in the
state, Deji Kalejaiye, the party said the reduction
remains another desperate measure by the
government of Ogun State to hoodwink the
unsuspecting public, after similar steps taken by
the All Progressive Congress (APC) Controlled
government of Lagos State reduced school fees
of Lagos State owned Institutions to twenty five
thousand naira (N25, 000).
from wapbaze.com feed http://ift.tt/1mPCbUn
via IFTTT
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