Poly Ibadan Students Protest Increment In Accomodation Fees
……Management Suspends SUG, Exams
Raji Adebayo
The students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State have staged a protest over the increment of the hostel refusal fees on Monday.
As the school management said it has suspended the activities and the executives of the Students Union Government (SUG) of the institution.
The Institution also said it has postponed the first semester examinations in the institution.
The decisions to suspend the SUG and postpone the examination came a few hours after the students staged a protest within and outside the institution’s campus.
It was gathered that the students of the institution staged a protest over the increment of hostel refusal fees on Monday.
Sources within the institution said the students normally pay N30,000 for accommodation every session but students who do not want to stay in the hostel pay N5, 000 refusal fee.
The source said the management of the institution increased the refusal fee from N5,000 to N15,000, resulting in a protest in the early hours of Monday.
The main gate and other gates leading to the institution were blocked by the students in the early hours of Monday.
The management in its reaction announced the suspension of the SUG and that the first-semester examination billed to commence today, Monday 9th January 2023, has been postponed till further notice.
The institution described the protest as unwarranted and politically motivated.
In a statement by the Registrar of the institution, Modupe Theresa Fawale stated that the examination has been postponed until further notice while the SUG has been suspended indefinitely.
Fawale said embarking on a protest on a day that they should be sober and commence their examination is ill-advised and politically motivated.
According to the statement, “The Management of The Polytechnic, Ibadan has suspended the Students’ Union Executives of the institution and postponed the first-semester examination intended to commence today, Monday 9th January 2023 as a result of an unwarranted and politically motivated protest embarked upon by the students.
“The Management further noted that the students’ union breached the rule of decency by locking all the gates that lead to the Institution and thereby causing unwarranted hardship to their colleagues, to the Staff of the Institution, to their host communities, to the neighbouring university of Ibadan, and to the general public at large, most especially those that have official transactions with The Polytechnic Ibadan.
“Protesting on a day that they should be sober and commence their examination which is a major academic activity leading to the award of their diploma is ill-advised, politically motivated and therefore of no reasonable value to the students and indeed to the development of education”.
