ERC
Demands Immediate Reversal
The authorities
of the Afe Babalola University has carried out an
outrageous hike in the fees of its Clinical students (400 level medical
students) from the already whopping sum of N1.7 million to a stupefying sum of
N2.6 million. Nothing on earth, except plain profit-making, can justify this
exploitative hike.
By
this fee hike, what the ABUAD authorities appear to be saying is that the
University is open to only the children of treasury looters, corrupt
politicians and oil bunkerers! The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) hereby calls for the
immediate reversal of the hiked fee. Even the old rate of N1.7 million is
extortionate and exorbitant. We insist that education must not and should not
be a “debt” sentence.
We
urge Nigerian people to publicly condemn this fee hike and prevail on the
authorities of the institution to rescind its decision. Without the immediate
reversal of the fees, many medical students already in their 400 level risk
being thrown out of the University. This matter is therefore a matter of urgent
national importance.
Contrary
to the opinion of some that private institutions are meant to be funded from
fees paid by students and therefore no one has the right to protest any
astronomical tuition, the ERC believes that in so far as private Universities
are service providers, the public including students and their parents have a
right to protest any of their policies considered inimical to their future. Not
only does the public has the right to determine the amount of tuition private
schools can charge, the public also has the right to determine the quality of
their services etc. This is because whether private or public, education is an
inalienable universal human right.
This
is more so because the idea that only the rich send their children to private
Universities is no more true. As a result of the complete decay of public
education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, many working class and
middle class parents are increasingly compelled to enroll their wards in
private schools which they can only afford by taking loans etc. This is because
everyone wants the best education for their children which is no more possible to
obtain at an affordable rate as a result of the destruction of the public
education system. In addition to this is the inability of existing public
tertiary institutions to admit all eligible applicants. Therefore whether they
have the means or not, many parents are compelled to enroll their wards in
private institutions. Increasing fees at such outrageous rate as ABUAD has done
is therefore an unacceptable pressure on parents and if unchallenged, this fee
hike can force many of the Clinical students to drop out of school.
Out
of the N2.6 million, the tuition portion is just N950, 000. However what makes
up the rest is simply stupefying. For instance, Clinical students are being
asked to pay N350, 000 for clinical posting and another N200, 000 for community
medicine posting. For examination and assessment, the students are to pay N125,
000. What manner of examinations cost this much? Despite N950, 000 already
allotted for tuition, students are to pay another N150, 000 for
practical/laboratory. So what exactly constitute tuition in the first place? Accommodation
is N350, 000. Library fees which used to be N10, 000 was jerked up to N20, 000
while ICT was pegged at N30, 000. Course registration, a simple administrative
exercise, attracts a cost of N10, 000! Also students are to pay N50, 000 as
deposit against damages.
This outrageous hike however confirms our consistent opposition to
the privatization of public education on the basis of IMF and World Bank
dictate. We have often maintained the position that the privatization of
education would not solve the problem of access but only deny an increasing
percentage of the population access to knowledge. According to the Punch newspaper of Tuesday February 24
2015, statistics from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board shows that
only two per cent (or 18, 667) of the 1.6 million candidates applied to study
in the nation’s private universities in the 2014 academic session. There are 50
private universities in the country. This shows that over 98 per cent of
candidates preferred the 79 federal and state-owned universities to the private
ones.
The fee hike in ABUAD is a confirmation that all private
institutions offer is mega exploitation of the frustration being felt by
Nigerians over the decay of public education infrastructure. In the case of
ABUAD, many of the students who have been finding it difficult to afford the
old fee of N1.7 million are now confronted with the reality of dropping out of
school entirely given the new fee of N2.6 million. The ERC insists that the
only socially-beneficial way to make education affordable and accessible to all
is for the government to invest massively in public education by utilizing the
enormous wealth of the country.
Whether
public of private education, the ERC stand opposed to exploitation. We join
ABUAD students to condemn the fee hike. Unfortunately from the inception of the
university, the ABUAD administration has illegally prevented student unionism
in direct violation of the constitutional rights of students. We condemn this
and demand that the authorities of ABUAD allow students to establish an
independent and democratic students union through which they can protect their
rights and interests at all times. However what this means is that at this
critical time, ABUAD students have no union through which they can mount a
stout resistance to the fee hike. Regardless of this however, we urge the
students to take their destinies into their hands by organizing and mobilizing
in peaceful protests and demonstrations until their demands are met. If they
are prepared to do this, we are confident that workers, parents and ordinary Nigerians
will stand by them.
Hassan
Taiwo Soweto Michael Ogundele
National
Coordinator National Secretary
07033697259
