Protest Rocks OAU as students lock entrance gate over hike in fees

Students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun state have shut the school over the refusal of the management to reduce the recent hike in tuition.

Led by the leadership of the Great Ife Students’ Union, Abbas Akinremi, the students shut the entrance gates in and out of the school preventing workers from accessing the campus.

They also bear placards with different inscriptions such as, “Education is bleeding, no need for celebrating independence”, “Let the Poor Breath, Fees must fall”, “My Parents are poor, can’t afford exorbitant fees”, among others.

Speaking, Akinremi disclosed that the students would not stop disrupting activities in the school if the management refused to reduce the new fees by 50 per cent against the 15 per cent reduction.

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“What we embarked upon is protest-a-thorn, we will continue to shut the campus till the management heed our demands, today we started 7 a.m. and subsequently in collaboration with the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS and National Association of Universities Students, NAUS, we will disrupt activities across the state to attract Federal Government’s attention”, he said

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Abiodun Olarewaju said the school has not foreclosed negotiation with the student’s leadership but urged them to peaceful dialogue rather than disruption of activities on campus.