Students of the University of Benin have continued with their protest for the second day to air their grievances against a recent decision of the school authorities to impose an additional N20,000 for late registration.
Following the increment, the aggrieved students had stormed the Benin-Lagos expressway in protest on Tuesday, causing gridlock on the ever-busy federal road.
They also ignored the call by the management of the school for all students to vacate the campus as the Students Union Government (SUG) is reported to have blocked the school’s entrance preventing the students from leaving the premises.
The institution’s management had ordered all students to vacate their hostels and the campus no later than 12 noon on Wednesday following what they considered to be security concerns after they (students) blocked the main gate of the school in protest.
Speaking to the media, a student asked the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lilian Salami to consider their plight and reverse the decision.
“We came out today and we are telling you that we want you to take this fee back to normal,” he said.
“What we want, you know it. Take the school fees back to normal,” he said amid support from other students.
Another student of the school asked for kind consideration from the school authorities, insisting that things are tough.
She said, “It is anti-student. We all know what the situation of the economy in the country is. It is not easy for anybody, including our parents. All we are asking from our Vice-Chancellor is to be lenient with us.
“It is not as if we are not going to pay, we are going to pay. There is no money anywhere; we are struggling to feed in school.”
Meanwhile, on arriving at the Ugbowo campus of the institution, the media observed that a student had collapsed from an epileptic seizure while protesting.
