The management had, through its Public
Relations Officer, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju,
announced the reduction on Thursday.
The reduction was anchored on appeals by
various stakeholders who met and discussed
with the management.
Reacting to the reductions, however, the
students said they are not content with the
slashes. Speaking to a SaharaReporters
correspondent today, leader of the Students
Union, Mr. Ibikunle Isaac, said the gesture
was welcomed by them, but insisted the
reduction did not capture all their demands.
Asides from criticizing that the reductions
were not total, Mr. Ibikunle said the students
had other demands that still were not heeded
by the management.
Among the demands listed, he said non-
victimization of student protesters was
important.
He acknowledged that the management
promised to allow posting of final-year
students for the National Youth Service, which
he said was always pegged down whenever
students embarked on protests.
He also said the management agreed to
extend students regular registration by one
week, which reversed an initial imposition of
late registration with fees.
"The students' application for study leave as
well as payment of fees in installments has
also been allowed," he included.
"But the fees," he said, "were not enough
reductions."
The student leader said certain faculty and
department fees were reduced by only
N3,000 and another by N10,000.
Of greater concern to the executives, he said,
was their victimization for participating in
protests to demand reversal of the hiked fees.
He said the management had earlier issued
notices of rustication to the student
executives, and has now reversed them-but
with conditions.
The management's condition for reversing
their rustication, he said, was that they would
not breach matriculation oaths in future.
The matriculation oaths, as common with the
institutions, would restrict students from
participating in activities "capable of leading
the atmosphere of the institution into
disrepute".
Students of various institutions had in past
condemned the clause of matriculation oath,
which has been used repeatedly to implicate
students who led protests against poor and
arbitrary management activities at their
institutions.
Following the new announcement of reversal
of hiked tuition, the Obafemi Awolowo
University will re-open on Sunday the 24th of
August.
Source: shara reporters
