Some parents of students at Federal University, Lokoja have called for sack of the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi over alleged incessant hike in fees payable by their wards.
The parents made the made during a protest against what they described as 300 per cent hike in the institution’s tuition in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Tuesday.
The parents who marched round the institution’s premises with placards indicating their disenchantment while chanting solidarity songs, accused the Vice Chancellor of plot to deny their children of university education.
While vowing to sustain the protest until the management of the university reversed the hike, the parents lamented that their salaries have not been increased while the general cost of living has been going up in the country.
Mr Moses Abraham who led the protest told journalists that the increase in tuition was a plot to deny children of poor Nigerians the right to university education.
Abraham said that the increment was too high for parents to bear.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government, through the Minister of Education, to prevail on the university management to reverse the hike to avert a violent protest.
“The Vice Chancellor is a civil servant and we expect that he should be aware of the current economic challenges Nigerians are passing through.
He wondered how parents could afford the hike “when sources of income remain stagnant”.
Another parent, Mrs Florence Anachebe, said, “When the Federal Government established the university few years ago, we were happy.
“Unfortunately, the current vice chancellor wants to deny us the opportunity to train our children in the university.
”Since he came, he has virtually increased all charges and now the school fees.”
In a reaction, the university’s Public Relation Office, Mr Daniel Iyke, said there has not been any official release of any increase in the university’s fees.
Iyke said that the hike in tuition fees had become inevitable since the Federal Government could no longer fund education alone.
He, therefore, said that it would not be out of place for the university to consider a review of its fees.
“However, it will be important for parents, students and the public to wait for official pronouncement by the authorities before complaining,” Iyke said. (NAN)
