FUTA Shutdown Over Fee Hike Protests

Students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) on Monday, blocked the gates leading to the school in the early hours of the day, paralyzing academic and administrative activities in protest against the hike in fees and levies.

The development led to a traffic jam on the road for hours as the students barricaded the busy motorway, hindering vehicular movement.

The students chanted songs and displayed placards with various inscriptions protesting the increase. “No to increment”, If Education is not Free, It must be affordable”, “Let our parents breathe”, among others.

Olayemi Oluwasoromidayo, the President of the FUTA Students Union, wondered why the school should increase fees and levies barely one year after the last increment, coming up at this critical time when parents are finding things difficult.

He added that the student union was surprised that the management would go ahead with the increase after pleas by the union leaders at different meetings with the management. He said the school had increased the fees for freshers to over N200,000, while old students who hitherto paid N35,000 are to pay N130,000.

Given the protest, the school management has ordered all students to leave the campus within 24 hours. According to the statement issued by the Director of Corporate Communication, Adegbenro Adebanjo, “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 for Monday, January 15, 2024, has been suspended”.

What’s your impression of this story?