NOUN Students In Lagos Protest The Increase In School Fees And Demand An Immediate Reversal

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NOUN Students In Lagos Protest The Increase In School Fees And Demand An Immediate Reversal

January 12, 2023

On Wednesday in Lagos, several National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) students held a protest to voice their displeasure with the school's administration for raising their different fees and levies by roughly 150%.

Because the bulk of them earn salaries in the low income level of roughly N50,000 per month, they said they could not afford the new fee structure.

At the university's McCarthy Study Centre in Obalende, Lagos, the students launched a protest after organising themselves on social media.

Around 9.30am, they gathered at the centre and carried banners bearing various slogans, demanding that the university administration not raise tuition.

The majority of the students are young adults, and they stayed at the school until Prof. Rotimi Ogidan, the centre's director, calmed them down by promising to bring their complaints to the proper authority.

One of them, who identified himself as Adekola Shuaib, the National Vice President (Administration) of the Congress of NOUN Students, told a news outlet that the students discovered the tuition increase on their portals when they attempted to register for a new semester.

He said that they were shocked to learn that the portal had been updated to reflect the new pricing structure without the administration notifying them beforehand.

He said that they had sent a number of social media pleas to the school administration outlining their concerns but had received no response.

The demonstration, he continued, is not only for students at McCarthy Study Centre but for all NOUN students throughout numerous study centres nationwide. That is why we are now protesting physically to show we are serious about the matter.

According to him, there are four major things that NOUN students pay for and the price of each of them has gone up between 75 and 150% against what we were paying before.

We pay the compulsory fee, which is the highest, for course registration, examinations, and projects,” he pointed out.

According to Shuaib, an Economics student in the 400-level, the mandatory school price has increased from N18, 000 to N30, 000 every semester for returning students, while it has climbed to N55, 000 for new students, who previously had to pay N36, 000.

Additionally, he mentioned that the final project levy for returning students had increased from N15, 000 to N25, 000, while it was now N40, 000 for new students.

According to him, one unit courses that previously cost N2,000 are now N3,000, while two and three unit courses now cost N4,000 and N5,000 instead of the previous N2,000 and N2,500, respectively. Returning students must now pay N1,500 for exams in place of N1,000, and new students must now pay N3,000 in place of N1,000.

He claimed that the majority of them cannot afford the increase, which has increased course registration costs by as much as 150%.

Before engaging in this public demonstration, he said, the students had repeatedly urged the university administration to drop the changes using student social media sites.

Consequently, we have gone to the centre to physically protest in order to demonstrate our seriousness because we have not received a reaction from the administration, whether it be favorable or negative.

Shuaib stated, Now, we want the Federal Government to pressure the school administration to go back to the former fees that many of us even find difficult to pay.

Mr. Ibrahim Sheme, the university's spokesman, informed the Media outlet that the administration is looking into the students' protest and would take the required action.

When asked when, he said he would not want to make further comment.