OYO STATE: Fee hikes across the state-owned tertiary institutions further exposes anti-poor character of Makinde-led government

ERC demands an immediate reversal of fee hike and adequate funding of all the state-owned tertiary institutions

We call on the state NLC, TUC and civil society organisations to also demand the reversal of the fee hikes

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Oyo State Chapter, condemns a recent wave of fee hikes across the Oyo State owned tertiary institutions and demands an immediate reversal. According to  media reports, at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), the school fees which used to range from N261,000 to N283,000 during the 2023/2024 academic session have been outrageously increased  by over 100% for many courses. Specifically, the new fees for the 2024/2025 academic session range from N372,000 to N782,000. The school fees in the Polytechnic of Ibadan, have also been increased by over 100%. The school fees for indigenous and non-indigenous students running an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) programme that used to be N76,642 and N83,100 for the last academic session have now been increased to N145,000 and N150,600 respectively. For Higher National Diploma (HND) programme, the fees have now been increased to N170,600 and N190,200 from N86,642 and N93300 for indigenes and non-indigenes respectively.

The situation in Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora does not fare better. The payable fee for indigenous and non-indigenous students running OND programme has been increased to N132,301 and N141,301 from N32,700 and 38,200 respectively. For HND programme it has been hiked to N152,126 and N161,326 for indigenous and non-indigenous students from N42,000 and N49,500  respectively. Also affected is Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa. The payable fee for indigenous and non-indigenous students running an OND programme has  been increased to N115,654 and N128330 from N52,827 and N61,165 paid last academic session respectively. For HND programme, the new payable fee is N132,076 and N144,946 for the indigenous and non-indigenous students against the N57,038 and N62,473 paid in the last academic session respectively.

For us in the ERC, the decision for these fee hikes is not only callous but has also further exposed the anti-people character of the Seyi Makinde-led government. fee hikes will definitely aggravate for parents and students the current economic hardship of a monumental scale that  the Nigeria working people are going through at this time. As far as we are concerned in the ERC, there is no moral justification for the current fee hikes. None of the previous increase in the school fees across all of these institutions has translated into any meaningful improvement in both the learning and living conditions of mass of students. Lecture rooms and other necessary infrastructure for a conducive atmosphere for learning across all of these institution are largely inadequate and grossly in a dilapidated state in the few instances they are available.

Again, public education is meant to be a social service not a commodity bought or paid for by either the students or their parents. As far as we are concerned it is the responsibility of the Seyi Makinde-led government to ensure that these institutions, as well as the state owned secondary and primary schools, are adequately funded and made accessible to every resident of the state without any form of discrimination. By and large, this wave of fee hikes is a graphic manifestation of the poor funding of public education and obviously shows that all the claims of free education policy by Makinde-led government are just mere propaganda and deceit. It is in the light of this that we call on the state government to shun propaganda and begin to genuinely and transparently commit state fund towards an adequate funding of these institutions.

Students across these institutions must begin to mount pressure on the leadership of their respective students unions to convene a congress of students with a view to commence the process of building a mass resistance and fight back against the fee hikes. Mass production and circulation of sensitisation materials like leaflets and posters within and outside the affected campuses  is necessary in order to build and mobilise the support of the general public towards the agitation for the reversal of the fee hikes.

The state leaderships of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, are hereby urged not to be indifferent to this wave of fee hikes. Unless the fee hike is defeated and a reversal is forced, the so-called minimum wage of N80, 000 recently approved by the Makinde-led administration will be definitely  worthless for workers who have children or wards in those tertiary institutions. It is in the light of this, the ERC calls on the state leaderships of NLC and TUC as well as the civil society organisations to openly come out to condemn the wave of fee hike and demand an immediate reversal. We also call on staff unions in the institutions to actively support any agitation for the reversal of the fee hike and for adequate funding of public education. As for us in the ERC, we are always ready and willing to stand with students in any agitation and struggle against attacks on both learning and living conditions.

If you agree with this statement and like to be a member of the ERC, you can contact the following numbers for all the necessary enquiries: 0802 756 4324 and 0803 340 914091

Nnamdi Ochi

ERC State Secretary

ERC email: [email protected]