Students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) yesterday staged a massive protest at the school’s gate against the decision of the management to increase school fees.
The angry students who blocked all the entrances to the university thereby creating a blockade and preventing entry and exit, insisted that management must return to the status quo ante.
Addressing journalists during the protest, the president of the FUTA Student Union Government (SUG) Comrade Olayemi Oluwasoromidayo, pleaded with the management of the school to maintain the previous year’s school fees.
Oluwasoromidayi said the student body had met with the management many times but it refused to yield to their demands hence they decided to stage the protest.
He said the last increment had not been covered even a year before this new increment was to be effected.
Oluwasoromidayo pointed out that the management had increased the school fees to over N200,000 for freshers while old students who were paying N35,000 would now pay N130000.
He said they would continue to stage the protest until their demands were met.
Meanwhile, the management of the university has ordered the indefinite postponement of the resumption of students for the 2023/2024 academic session.
The management also directed all students on the campus and in hostels within the university to vacate them within 24 hours.
In a statement issued by the institution’s director of corporate communications, Adegbenro Adebanjo, the management also directed that registration of returning students via the university portal and payment of fees by all Returning students for the new academic session via the portal scheduled to begin yesterday be put on hold.
Adebanjo said, “It is important to state that the University did not open the portal for registration for returning students for the new session contrary to what was being bandied in the public domain.’’
