Students of the Ondo State University of Science and Technology, OSUSTECH, Okitipupa have protested an alleged bias of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS in opposing the hike in the school fees of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko.
Ifeoluwa Phillip, former Public Relations Officer, PRO of OSUSTECH Student Union who addressed the press on Monday in Akure, said taking to the streets to protest on behalf of the Akungba students when other institutions are paying high is condemnable.
"The recourse of NANS to lead the students of AAUA to the streets to protest the new fee regime is totally condemnable, especially as students of other Ondo state-owned tertiary institutions – namely – Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa (OSUSTECH), University of Medical Sciences, Ondo (UNIMED) and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo have been paying higher tuition before now," he said.
Students of the Adekunle Ajasin University today took to the streets to protest the hike in their school fees from the range of N23,000 and N27,000 to N120,000 to N200,000.
The students were led by the Chairman, Ondo axis of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS/JCC, Azeez Adewumi.
"Although we do not want to go into the details of the situation at AAUA, our position is that if the state government should revert to the old tuition at Akungba, our tuition at OSUSTECH would have to be reduced to between N23,000 and N37,000 per session as well. What is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander.
"When the fees for OSUSTECH was increased, where was NANS? Why did they not interfere? But now that AAUA has increased fees, they have interfered, which is biased.
"Before now, OSUSTECH new students have been paying between N120,000 and N150,000 as tuition per session. Our counterparts at UNIMED, Ondo pay between N200,000 and N450,000 per session. We are not complaining because the tuition is realistic in the spirit of the economic realities and academic excellence.
"On a realistic note, placing AAUA on one hand and OSUSTECH and UNIMED on the other, one would see that Akungba, which has been receiving government attention in terms of infrastructure development deserves to pay more than the other state-owned institutions," part of the statement read.
The OSUSTECH students also appealed to parents of their counterparts in Akure to caution them against their "childish action", and "desist from heating up the polity by breaching the pervading peace in the state."
