Students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have rejected the N20,000 increase in the late registration fee recently imposed by the school’s management.
They took to the Benin-Lagos expressway in protest on Tuesday, causing gridlock on the ever-busy federal road.
During an interview with the media while the demonstration was ongoing, some of the students described the increment as impromptu and asked the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lilian Salami, to consider their plight.
“You are asking us to top up an extra N20,000 which is actually impromptu on our part,” an aggrieved student said. “It is an injustice to us. We have not afforded the school fees and now, you are talking about an extra N20,000.”
The protesting students who carried placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Oppression Comes In Different Forms’ and ‘We Didn’t Sign For This Injustice’, played solidarity songs with a public address sound system.
Another student told the media that they were aggrieved that the additional sum to their fees came barely two weeks when the portal was opened.
He lamented that the same platform had been frequently down, thereby denying access to those who want to pay.
Efforts made by the media to contact Professor Salami proved abortive as she was unavailable as of the time of filing this report.
Similarly, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, could not be immediately reached for reactions.
But the event took a turn for the worse during later attempts to reach the vice chancellor’s office as the media’s crew was denied access.
Some young men at the entrance of the university also manhandled our cameraman.
