Students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka Anambra State, on Monday, barricaded a portion of the Enugu-Onitsha highway in protest over an alleged hike in school fees by the university management.
The students said that they barricaded the federal highway to register their displeasure.
Reports gathered that the institution, through its Acting Head, Information and Public Relations, Chika Ene, had on Saturday, refuted the alleged increase in school fees of returning students of the institution for the 2020/2021 academic session.
The university urged students, staff and the public to dismiss the report as fake, targeted at causing unrest and destabilising the peace being enjoyed in the university.
But the students, during the protest, insisted that the increment was true, alleging that the university Management is in connivance with the Student Union Government over the purported increment.
Speaking to the press during the protest, a third-year student who preferred anonymity, said they decided to embark on the protest as they could not bear the increment any longer. She explained that when the institution’s management increased their fees to over N50,000 last year, they were directed to go to the student union government executive, in other to understand what prompted the increment, promising they would revert to the initial fee of about N26,000.
But until now, the management of the school is yet to revert to the old tuition structure of the institution.
Addressing the students in front of the administrative block, the Chairman, Anambra State Axis, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Peter Onyenweife, assured the students that his executive would never be a party to any form of increment.
He appealed to the students to ensure the protest was peaceful and within the confines of the campus environment.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Professor Fedrick Odibo, who addressed the students on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Charles Esimone, said the institution’s fees structure had been pulled down, while discussion with the students union government was ongoing.
On his part, the Dean, Students Affairs, Professor Nonso Achebe, called on the students to suspend the protests, assuring them of a town hall meeting with the VC he alleged was away on a trip to Abuja upon his return.
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