Azikiwe varsity slashes school fees after students’ protest

After five days of protestations by students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, the management of the institution on Friday reduced fees payable by students.

The students had during the protests took to the streets and blocked the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway for hours.

They said Unizik was among the most expensive federal universities in the country, adding that their parents and guardians could no longer cope with the situation.

But on Friday, the management of the university went into negotiations with members of the Students’ Union Government and reached a consensus on reduction of fees.

In the revised fees, incoming medicine, pharmacy and science -based students would pay N89,000 as against over N100, 000 earlier paid, while arts-based courses would attract N84,000.

Fees for returning students were also reduced from about N53,000 to N40,000 for science students and N22,200 for arts students.

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), Prof Joseph Ikechebelu, who led the negotiating team expressed delight that normalcy had returned after the tension–soaked situation of the past few days.

Other officials of the university who took part in the negotiation were the Director of Academic Planning, Prof. Ike Odumegwu; Deputy Registrar, Mrs. Philomena Okoye; Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor, Prof Carol Arinze–Umeobi; + and Bursar, Dr John Ojukwu.

The DVC said, “The management of the university and the entire students’ body are in total agreement with the new schedule of fees.
This has put to rest the information making the rounds that the students are agitating for fee reduction.

“With this agreement, any further protest would be considered irrational and anybody involved in it should be prepared to face the consequences.”

The SUG Vice-President, Chto Ukoha, who stood in for the President, Anyim Chukwuemeka, said the students were happy that the negotiations that lasted for five days had come to a successful end.

Source: The Punch

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *