UNIPORT Students Demand Resignation of Their V.C.
Another University in Nigeria might be shut down after University of Lagos was shutdown by authorities following protest from students of the school. Students of the University of Port Harcourt have blocked all entry and exit leading into the school in protest of the hike in the university’s tuition fee and other levies.
The peaceful protest started as early as 5.00 am. The protesters who are being led by the leadership of the student union barricaded all access roads leading to the institution, including the major East-West road and the Choba-Uniport road.
“We pay the highest amount of school fees in Nigeria. Among all the Federal Universities in this country, UNIPORT pays highest. They will still ask us to pay faculty dues, departmental dues, exam registration fees and many others”, a student who doe not want his name mentioned expressed his pain to the media.
“We are sick and tired of all these payments. They even went ahead to issue a deadline for these payments not considering that things are hard for our parents.”
“We decided to embark on this protest today because 1st semester exams are supposed to start today and what we have done is to stop it from holding”, the student said.
The protesting students are against the ‘no school fee no exam’ system, and as a matter of fact are demanding that, apart from the fees to be reduced, their Vice Chancellor resign.
Despite the heavy security presence, the students are unwavering in their demands.
It will be recalled that a recent protest was staged by the students of the University of Lagos State. The protest by the UNILAG students however were for a different cause. While the UNIPORT students complain of the hike in their fees, the UNILAG students complained about the deteriorated economy and standard of living, which is making the environment unsuitable for learning.
