Tuition hike: Protesting Michael Okpara varsity students disrupt exams, traffic

Some students of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia, on Tuesday shut down the institution to protest against the increase of tuition fees by the management.

The correspondent, who visited the university, gathered that the angry students, who were in their numbers, stormed different halls in the university and chased out students writing their first semester examinations.

The correspondent further observed that the protesters also destroyed the glasses and other property at the university Senate Building, secretariat of the Students Union Government (SUG), library, microfinance bank, main gate and others.

The aggrieved students sang anti-management songs such as “VC Iwe, reverse our school fees”, “Say no to extortion”, “Allow us to write our examinations’’, among others.

They also barricaded the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road, specifically at the university main gate, thereby disrupting vehicular movement.

Shop owners on the highway quickly closed their shops for fear of being attacked by the protesters.

It took the intervention of the police to disperse the protesters with tear gas and gunshots into the air.

Some of the students, who spoke to newsmen on the condition of anonymity, said they were protesting against the insensitivity of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, and his management towards the plight of the students.

“We started our first semester examination yesterday (Monday) and the vice chancellor came to the hall and sent out those who have not paid their schools fees.

“They increased our schools fees twice in 2023; some of us were paying about N50, 000, but it is now between N120, 000 and N150, 000.

“The vice chancellor insisted that students must pay it at once, even when we begged them to allow us pay in two installments for the two semesters,’’ one of the protesters said.

Another student said: “Some of us were stopped from writing the examination because our names were yet to appear after doing our biometrics.

“The management introduced the compulsory bio-data for students this semester and it is still ongoing but they said that no student will write examination without it,’’ he said.

Supreme News reports that some of them, who said that they were final year students, complained that the action of the management would make it impossible for them to graduate with their set.

Efforts to speak with the SUG President, Emmanuel Chjioke, failed as neither him nor his executive members could be seen or reached.

Also, the Vice Chancellor, Iwe could not be reached, as he was not in the office as at the time of visit, and he did not respond to calls put accross to him.

The Deputy Vice Chancellors, Academics and Administration, as well as the school Public Relations Officer could not be reached for comment and their offices were under lock and key.