Fee increase in UNIMAID may boost insurgency ― Sen Kyari

The Senate may be considering a uniform fee for federal owned university as it urges the University of Maiduguri to maintain status-quo-ante on its recent decision to increase registration and other fees in the university.

The action of the senate may have provided respite for students studying in the University of Maiduguri and their parents who are faced with the challenge of an immediate increase of over almost 400 per cent.

The Senate resolution followed the motion sponsored by Senator Kyari Abubakar Shuaibu (Borno North) and co-sponsored by seventeen other senators, calling on the Senate to intervene on the increase.

The senate noted irrespective of the justification that may be attached to this decision due to the peculiar operational and managerial realities of the school, the decision is one that must worry every well-meaning Nigerian at this time.

Citing some examples of the increase, Senator Kyari said the parents and student received with deep concern the recent decision by the management of the University of Maiduguri to increase the registration and other fees of students of the school from 40% to 400% in certain instances as strategically regrettable and unhelpful in the face of the plight of the people of the North East as a whole.

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“An example is an increase from 25,000 to 129,000 as bench charges and other fees for some students”

They pointed out that the increment runs contrary to the challenge of combating insecurity in the state as the new charges has made access to education at tertiary level in the state cumbersome and almost impossible for the poor.
This, he noted could compromise the effort at fighting the insurgency.

Kyari said: “that to allow this decision to stand would be to further push the entire people of Borno and the Northeast further into the state of utter despair, having been beaten away from their farms, their lands, their fishing activity and where most have lost their livelihood due to the absence of an economy.

“This would narrow their choices and amplify the appeal towards those against education therefore deepening the gulf and the impact of the insurgency; and a lot of students especially those from Borno and North-East states will drop out should this decision see the light of day.

“This situation may force them to become a social menace to the society,” Senator Kyari stated.