Poly Ibadan students storm Oyo govt Secretariat, protest payment of N15,000 ‘Hostel Refusal’ fee

Several gates of the Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, are under lock and key owing to an ongoing protest by students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

The students, in their hundreds, rebuffed hindrances to their entry as they ensured they made their way into the Secretariat and to gate of the governor’s office.

The students stated that their protest was against the mandatory payment of Hostel Refusal fee of N15,000 before they could pay their tuition fee.

They stressed the refusal fee was recently increased to N15,000 from the initial sum of N5,000.

They wondered why they are mandated to pay N15,000 for refusing to live in the School hostel, noting that they also had to pay rent for off-campus accommodation.
They noted that school management charged N35,000 for hostel accommodation on campus.

They added that the protest was also against the mandatory payment of N7,000 for an online psychometric course.

They noted that the payments were mandatory before they could pay tuition fees on the school portal.

The protest aborted the semester examination which had been scheduled to commence on Monday.

For many hours, the students remained at the entrance to the governor’s office as they rebuffed attempts by the state deputy governor, Mr Bayo Lawal to speak with them insisting that they would only speak with the state governor, Mr Seyi Makinde.