Professor Rahamon Adisa Bello - Unilag VC Akoka area of Lagos was locked down in aheavy traffic on Friday as students of the
University of Lagos protested in the school,
accusing the management of extortion. The students locked the school gates for over
six hours and stopped vehicles from entering or
going out of the school premises, causing a
gridlock which extended to some parts of Ikeja
and Bariga. The protest was in reaction to the alleged
introduction of N10,000 penalty for late
registration of courses by the school authorities.
According to the students, the penalty for late
registration of courses, which increased by
N5,000 every week, had accumulated to N20, 000 since the policy was introduced four weeks
ago. They also expressed dissatisfaction with the
fact that students who were taking the general
course, GST, examination were asked to pay
N600 for the examination, which they said used
to be free. The students, who called on the authorities to
reverse the move and refund the money that
had so far been paid by some of them as
penalty for late registration, threatened to
continue the protest if they still have difficulty
accessing the online portal on Monday. One of the protesters, Ayodele Abayomi,
alleged that the newly-introduced fee on late
registration and introduction of N5,000 health
insurance fee, which started in 2012/2013
session, were extortion by the school
authorities. “Before now, there was nothing like late
registration of courses because students
sometimes need to edit or delete some of the
courses they already registered for, which
students have genuine reasons to do all the
time,” he said. In UNILAG, late payment of tuition fee attracts
a N10,000 penalty, which the students said they
were aware of. A 400 level student of Metallurgical Engineering,
Sulaimon Taiwo, said the protest was also
prompted by fears that UNILAG was taking after
the public universities that increased their tuition
fees recently. “We are afraid because we see what is
happening at the Lagos State University, Ojo,
Lagos and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-
Ife, Osun State, where tuition fees have been
increased beyond the reach of many students,”
he said. A 400 level Mass Communication student of the
university, Victor Olanipekun, said the protest
was justified, and wondered why the
management would ask students to pay for
editing their courses. “This protest is right. Asking us to pay for
editing our course forms is unjustifiable. We
need a student union in this school. Although
the protest was successful, we would have
spoken with one voice if we had SUG,” he said. However, the protest was like a carnival as the
students, who employed the service of a Disk
Jockey, were seen dancing to the music at the
school gate. In a statement by the institution’s Assistant
Registrar, Information Unit, Olawale
Olasunmade, which was made available to
Saturday PUNCH, the school denied the
students’ allegations. The statement read, “The portal of the school
remains open and available for students to
access; add and delete and continues to be free
on the university portal and there is no
increment in the charges for late registration.” The school, however, said that examinations,
which were to start on June 23, 2014, had been
postponed till June 30, 2014 following the
protest.
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