UNICAL students protest tuition fee hike

Academic activities were on Monday grounded at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) in Cross River State, following the students’ protest against the 100 per cent hike in the institution’s tuition fees.

The management of UNICAL had released a new schedule of fees that would take effect in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 academic sessions.

The students, who embarked on a peaceful protest to register their dissatisfaction, barricaded the roads leading into the campus, preventing workers from coming in.

The protest also caused heavy traffic on the roads, compelling some motorists to make a U-turn.

The protesters, who were no fewer than 100 in number, blocked the Mary Slessor and Etta Agbor Roads in Calabar, the state capital.

Many of them clutched fresh leaves, while others displayed placards with different inscriptions.

Some of the inscriptions read: “We came to school to study not to kill our parents”, “The Vice Chancellor of UniCal went to school in her days, free of charge but today wants to kill students with crazy charges,” amongst others.

Speaking with newsmen, one of the protesters, Tony Erei, said they would continue the protest until the institution reversed to status quo.

Erei said: “In the last few months, Nigerians have suffered a lot with the increase in the prices of everything, including petroleum product, without commensurate increase in the income of workers.

READ ALSO: UNICAL increases tuition fees by 100%

“Increasing charges now is uncalled for because students and parents are still struggling to pay the last increment that was done sometime ago by the same university management.”

Another student, Amarachi Obialor,  described the situation in the country as “sheer wickedness and insensitivity by our leaders”.

There was heavy presence of police officers around the protesters to ensure that the protest did not result in a breakdown of law and order on campus.

With the increment, freshers, returning students, and the final-year students for non-science courses are expected to pay N111,000, N91,500, and N114,000, respectively.

They are also to pay N36,500, N21,500, and N21,500 respectively as third party dues.

Similarly, the fees for science courses were increased to N155,000, N125,000, and N148,000 for freshers, returning students, and final-year students, respectively.

They are also to pay N38,500, N21,500, and N21,500, respectively, as third party dues.

Before the increment, tuition fees for an average student, depending on the department, was N64,050 for freshers, N52,050, for final year, and N49,500 for the returning students.

The UNICAL management had said the increment was necessitated by the current economic realities and the need to maintain the academic standard which the university was known for.

The Star