FUTA students protest fee hike as university postpones resumption

Protests on Monday as the management of the Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, proposed increasing tuition fees.

In a now-viral letter dated January 12, the affected students described the increase in school fees as “inconsiderate and unnecessary”.

According to a report, the school management postponed the resumption date and suspended the payment of school fees, which was supposed to commence on Monday, because of the backlash.

“The management of the Federal University of Technology Akure has ordered the indefinite postponement of the resumption of students for the 2023–2024 academic session. It has also directed that all students currently on campus and in hostels within the university vacate them within 24 hours.

“The management also directed that registration of returning students via the university portal and payment of fees by all returning students for the new academic session via the portal scheduled to begin on Monday, January 15, 2024, be put on hold,” the statement reads.

A FUTA student named Femi, who spoke with PUNCH Metro, lamented the effects of the fees, saying it would compound students’ woes if implemented as proposed.

“The protest is concerning the increment in school fees. They just increased school fees anyway, and the students are protesting at the Northgate, which is one of the gates in our school. They’ve also postponed our resumption date, and everyone should leave for those that are around.

“This thing is going to affect me a lot because I don’t have money. This is a federal university, and for crying out loud, students are working to fend for themselves. How would they get such an amount?” he said.

Reacting to the tuition fees hike, Olayemi Oluwasoromidayo, the president of the students’ union, in a statement, said they had “agreed that the outrageous increments proposed by the school management are inconsiderate and unnecessary considering the fact that the school fees were increased in the last session, which was just eight months ago.”