Describing the disparity in the figures of school fees recently displayed on the portal of the university's new intakes for the 2023/24 academic session, as unacceptable, the group called for the Constitution of Action Committee for effective planning and coordination for a fight back.
A civic group, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), University of Ibadan branch has decried the outrageous fees hike for the new students of the institution.
Describing the disparity in the figures of school fees recently displayed on the portal of the university's new intakes for the 2023/24 academic session, as unacceptable, the group called for the Constitution of Action Committee for effective planning and coordination for a fight back.
The group which stated this in a release on Monday in reaction to the outrageous school fees hike, which was signed by Comrade Akin Paul, explained that it was a "foretaste of an impending attack on old students".
According to the statement, "the new fees, as seen in the portals, range from N230,000 and N412,000 depending on the courses. Therefore, this represents between a 453% and a 750% hike in the school fee charged for the 2022/23 academic session which ranges from N64,600 to N69,600.
"The ERC condemns the new fee hike and insists that the decision is callous, unjustifiable, and anti-poor. A new fee hike whether for new intakes or old students will no doubt compound the economic woe of parents and guardians. The country is currently at a critical time when the mass of Nigeria working people are still grappling without any end in sight, with the rising cost of living side by side with several other multifaceted economic challenges largely occasioned by the decision of the President Bola Tinubu to hike the price of petrol, under the pretense of subsidy removal.
"Amid several other pro-capitalist and anti-working people policies like devaluation of the naira."
ERC unequivocally stated that the Prof Adebowale-led university administration lacks every moral credibility to impose a new regime of fee hikes in the university, adding that "none of the previous hikes either by the present and past administration has translated into any marginal or significant improvement in both the learning and living conditions of the mass of the students."
"Therefore, we think it does not make sense, to demand more money from students when there is nothing concrete to show for the one previously collected."
The statement partly read: "It is also important to state that, education is meant to be a social service not a commodity for sale. Therefore it is the responsibility of the government at all levels to ensure that it is adequately funded and made accessible to all citizens without any form of discrimination. The argument, that the Nigerian government has no enough resources to guarantee free education for the citizens is not true.
"It is our belief in ERC, that resources to fund free, quality public education can be liberated if every political office holder is placed on the salary and allowance earned by the civil servants; the public fund often set aside by Governors, called security vote and spent without citizens having the right to demand accountability is scrapped and contract system which makes it easy for pro-capitalist politicians to inflate the cost of executing public work is canceled and replaced with public work programs with democratic control.
"Nationalisation of the key sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, banking, etc under the democratic control and management of the elected representatives of the working people is also one crucial way through which resources can be liberated for adequate funding of public utilities like education.
"It is in the light of this we call on both the new and old students to organize an effective fight back against the fee hike. It is worthy of note that the fee hike for new intakes is just a dress rehearsal and a foretaste of an impending attack on the old students. Therefore, we fault the decision of Mr Tobiloba-led students union executive to have gone ahead and scheduled a meeting with the university administration without a noticeable effort to first convene a mass meeting popularly known as the Congress of the Students. This kind of approach is tantamount to the act of trying to shave students' heads in their absence. A Congress of students to discuss the fee hike to secure an agreement as to what is to be done should have been the starting point of the response of the union.
"We welcome the decision of the Students Representatives Council, SRC, to specifically mandate the Mr Tobiloba-led executive to convene the congress of students to discuss the fee hike and what is to be done, on Tuesday 16th April 2024. At the same time, we hold the Mr Tobiloba-leadership of the students’ union cannot completely be entrusted with the struggle against the fee hike.
"This is because Mr Tobiloba-led excos are complicit in the process that led to the fee hike by the university administration. The Tobiloba- union leadership connived with the university administration to organize a town hall meeting where the handpicked students who participated were persuaded to accept a fresh hike in fees next academic session.
"As far as we are concerned, the meeting Mr Tobiloba-led union claimed to have scheduled with the university administration is just a mere grandstanding without any certainty that it going to yield any positive outcome.
"It is in light of this background, we favour the constitution of an independent action committee of elected representatives of students across different faculties to join the union leadership at every meeting with the management. This committee which must be set up during the planned congress must also be empowered to plan, organize, and coordinate programs of action against the fee hike.
"ERC will always be ready and willing to stand with students in any of their genuine agitation and struggle against attack on both learning and living conditions."