By Jude Atupulazi
Students of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Anambra State, have staged a protest over alleged incessant imposition of fees on them by the school management.
The protest was provoked by a recent imposition of a compulsory N5000 Examination Fee on the students and the insistence of the school management to deny those who had not paid the fee from writing their exams.
The students carried placards with different inscriptions such as “Reduce the cost of texts books”; “Allow us to do our medical and data capture”; “Say no to corrupt stakeholders”; “Say no to exam fees”; “Breakdown our tuition fees”; etc.
The students, numbering over 1000 from different departments, sang solidarity songs as they marched from the school’s main gate to the administrative building, departments, and permanent site, before terminating at the popular school tower to show their displeasure over the continuous increment and incessant imposition of fees such as examination and ICT fees, forceful sales of handouts to them, among others.
Addressing the students, the Secretary General, National Association of Nigeria Students, South East Zone, Comrade Cynthia Felix, appealed for calm and expressed her resolve to make sure the students were not fleeced in any way.
She stated that examination fee was unlawful and demanded for a fee schedule in order to know the need for the said exam fee.
The students’ leader, who kicked against extortion, demanded the immediate withdrawal of the memo that introduced the fee, saying that all students should be allowed to sit for their examination.
For the Vice President, National Association of Polytechnic Students, South East, Chukwuebuka Umezula, the school management on 9th of April, 2024, released a memo informing students to pay an examination fee of N5000 on or before 12th April 2024, before the commencement of the examination.
He condemned the short notice and wondered at the reason for an examination fee after they had paid their tuition fee, and why not paying the examination fee would deny them opportunity of taking their exams.
According to Umezula, the students would continue the protest and boycott all examinations until the management changed its decision, adding that the students had laboured, struggled and battled to pay tuition, medical, ICT and other fees.
He said the National Association of Polytechnic Students had written the school management over the memo but got no response.
Some students who spoke to journalists, including Kenechukwu Okafor; Merchant Jamesetta; Ifunaya Lucia and Pius Okolo; said their parents were struggling to pay their tuition fees and wondered the reason behind the imposition of more fees, appealing to the Federal Ministry of Education to intervene.
Reacting, the Acting Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr. Chijioke Ibeziako, appealed to journalists to kindly play down on the report, promising that the issue would be settled internally.
