The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), South-West zone, on Wednesday, threatened to ground all federal roads within the South-West, in seven days’ time, if managements of tertiary institutions fail to relax all increment or planned increments of tuition fees.
Coordinator, NANS, South-West, Mr Alao John who issued the seven-day ultimatum, while addressing a press conference in Ibadan, asked that all plans to increase tuition fees be halted and the status quo returned.
He said the NANS could not tolerate a situation where education was being taken out of the reach of the average Nigerian students and becoming the exclusive preserve of the rich, high and mighty in the society.
Before conceiving the idea of an increment in tuition, the NANS said school management should tackle deficits in infrastructure, research and retraining of its staff, saying Nigerian students would not bear the brunt of the failure of leadership over the years.
Alao said the situation pointed to that the Bola Tinubu administration being insensitive to the plight of the average Nigerian student.
He further lamented the high standards of living resulting from the hike in the price of petrol and the attendant increase in prices of commodities.
Alao said: “It is quite absurd that the Federal Government under the incumbent administration has refused to be sensitive to the plight of the average Nigerian student.
“The decision of school managements of public universities, polytechnics, colleges of agriculture, education and health to pile more pressure on the Nigerian economy and the entire students’ community is not only saddening but a clear invite to chaos.
“The timing is devilish, wicked and a direct ploy to disrupt the newly formed government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“All plans to increase fees should be halted immediately and those who have done so should revert to the status quo.
“We issue a 7 days ultimatum that will elapse on 1st of August, 2023 to relax all plans of increment in tuition fee or we ground all federal roads within the South West.
“We demand that minimum wage should be increased by over 200 per cent. That education should take 26 per cent of the budget as recommended by UNESCO.
“Before conceiving the idea of increment in tuition, school management should tackle deficits in infrastructure, research and retraining of its staff.
“Nigerian students will not bear the brunt of the failure of the ruling elites to plan the country well. The student loan should be designed to give jobs to participants immediately after school for easy repayment of the loan.”
“The untactful manner in which this new tuition regime is being perpetrated calls for serious questioning of the wit of our administrators and is a pointer to the death of research in our educational sector.
“It behoves the education sector to proffer ways to ameliorate the sufferings Nigerians are being made to pass through since the removal of the subsidy on fuel by the Federal Government.
“Rather, our administrators are looking for a way to capitalize on it and make the most of the funny situation to enrich themselves at the detriment of students.
“The fire brigade approach of the ruling elites since the removal of subsidy has clearly shown they know not that public policy formulation and implementation deserves thorough analysis and in-depth examination before presentation to the masses.
“Minimum wage increment, price control mechanism, job protection moves, palliatives to the indigents should have been put in place before deciding to pile unsurmountable pressure on the entire citizenry.”
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