OAU Crisis: Our Fees Are Moderate, Considerate —Management

Reacting to the students’ protest over the new fees, the management of OAU, on Wednesday argued that the newly introduced tuition fees were moderate and considerate.

In a press statement signed by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, OAU stated that; “we deem it necessary to inform the general public, particularly the parents and guardians of our students that the authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has been most compassionate in taking all factors that would enhance the teaching of sound practical academic knowledge into consideration before arriving at the present moderate adjustment of our charges.

“It remains incontestable that OAU, rated the best university in Nigeria for the third time running by the Spain-based Webometric Ranking International had, before now, been charging what some people regarded as ridiculous and unrealistic fees, despite maintenance of solid academic standard which OAU is noted for all over the world.

“It is, therefore, pertinent to state categorically the fees being paid by our students in relation to their courses and faculties. For instance, the total amount each of the students paid per session in the Faculties of Administration, Arts, Education, Law and Social Sciences had been N5,300; their counterparts in Sciences paid N7,800; those in Agriculture, Technology, Environmental Design and Management paid N10,300, while those in Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, Dentistry and Pharmacy paid N12,800. Aside the fact that more than 93 per cent of them use hot plates, boiling rings and pressing irons, which consume electricity, the accommodation fee, had been N2, 590 per session.

“From the foregoing, it is now clear that the present socio-economic situation in Nigeria has made it totally impossible for us to sustain being the best and the cheapest in Africa. Factors like the high cost of education, dwindling subvention from the Federal Government by over 50 per cent, astronomical inflation which has eaten deep into our meager resources and electricity bills are responsible for the present adjustment of fees,” the statement added.

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Larry Frank