Mr Adebanjo stressed that management has an inbuilt mechanism that looks into and builds consensus on matters affecting students, including charges and fees, assuring that the mechanism was working on the matter and consensus will be achieved.
The management of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) has postponed the resumption date for the 2023/2024 academic session indefinitely.
The postponement followed a protest by students of the institution to reject an increase in school fees. They were to resume for the new session this week.
The students began their protest early on Monday morning at the North Gate, blocking entrance and exit from the school campus.
They insisted that the management must return to the previous amount, which also came about due to an increment less than a year ago.
President of the FUTA Student Union Government, Olayemi Oluwasoromidayo, called on the institution’s management to maintain the previous year’s school fees.
Mr Oluwasoromidayo said the student body had met with the management many times, but it refused to yield to their demands hence their protest.
He lamented that the last increment was not up to a year before the new increment.
Mr Oluwasoromidayo pointed out that the management increased the school fees to over N200,000 for freshers while old students, who were paying N35,000, would now pay N130,000.
He said they would continue to stage the protest until their demands were met.
Explaining its decision, FUTA management noted that tuition was still free, but that the increment was occasioned by a need to meet up with student-related services sourced from the economy.
A statement by Adegbenro Adebanjo, director, Corporate Communication, on Monday, said the school’s management had also directed that all students currently on campus and in hostels within the University should vacate them within 24 hours.
“The management also directed that registration and payment of fees by all returning students via the university portal, for the new academic session scheduled to begin on Monday, 15 January, be put on hold,” the statement said.
Mr Adebanjo noted that the university did not open the portal for registration for returning students for the new session, as being bandied in the public domain.
“On the proposed new fees and charges, they are mainly for students-related services, which are sourced from the economy. And the costs of such goods and services provided by the university for the students will certainly be impacted by the costs of goods and services in the economy.
“To ensure the smooth running of the university, certain consumables and payments for municipal services such as electricity, water, hostel maintenance and cleaning and sundry services are necessary. The costs of providing the services have shot up and the new charges are in response to this,” he further said.
Mr Adebanjo listed other costs that were adjusted as a result of economic reality to include medical examination for all new students, Biometric ID cards and Tertiary Institutions Students Health Insurance Programme Ship
(TISHIP), administered by NHIS for students, and the final yearbook.
Mr Adebanjo disclosed that tuition remained free for all students, stressing that management has an inbuilt mechanism within the system to look into and build consensus on matters affecting students, including charges and fees.
“That mechanism is working on this matter and consensus will be achieved,” he said.
