Ayobami Agboola 
Scores of students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, on Tuesday, besieged the entrance gate of the institution and shut the school over the refusal of the management to reduce the recent hike in tuition fees.
The protesting students expressed their determination to continue protesting until the school authorities reverted to their previous fees, stating that the fee increase lacked empathy.
The students also urged the Federal Government to allocate the funds from subsidy removal towards education instead of allowing an increase in school fees.
Led by the leadership of the Great Ife Students’ Union, Abbas Akinremi, the students who shut the entrance gates in and out of the school preventing workers from accessing the campus, called for a 50% reduction on the original fee and instalment payment activation.
Speaking, Akinremi said: “We have demanded the fifty per cent reduction in our fee from the school management and this is what we are standing on and we threatened that if our demands are not met we will make sure we shutdown the activities of the school campus and also shutdown the activities on our federal roads and even state roads as far as Osun state is concern.
“So we met with the school management last week Monday and after stating our demands, it was stated that we can only achieve a 15 per cent reduction which is far beyond what we demanded, so at the moment right now, great Ife students, the generality of great ife student are out here to protest and show our dissatisfaction and displeasure on this school fees increment because it isn’t affordable for anybody provided that aside from the school fees the accommodations have also gone up and there is a hundred thousand professional levied that has been mandated or imposed on student of college of Health sciences and pharmacy.
“So we’re here today to stage a peaceful protest, it hasn’t been violent, and we’ve started since 7:00 and till now we haven’t recorded any violent or any casualties it has been a peaceful protest against both the federal government and the management of the University of Obafemi Awolowo.
“We have declared this protest a protest a turn which will continue until the management is ready to engage us or the federal government is ready to come in to assist the school management in giving them the necessary funds that are required to run the school system.”
Reacting to the protest, the public relations officer of the school, Abiodun Olarenwaju, commended the peaceful protest of the school, urging them to prevent hoodlums from hijacking the demonstration.
He said: “I expected them to channel their grievances to the appropriate authorities like the federal ministry of education, finance even the Chief of staff to the president.
“We decided to reduce the initial chargeable fees when the leadership of their union persistently demanded re-negotiation, we considered and we held meetings with them and we told them the 50 per cent you are asking for will not be realistic in the long run.”
“We told them that we should meet but they have youthful exuberance and of course, we are allowing them to perform adult exuberance. We’ve been here since morning we are here together, they are our children and we are their local parents and nothing spoils.”
