The National Association of Nigerian Students has said that investigations are ongoing on the allegations of extortion made by some postgraduate students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The post-graduate students had accused the management of the school of “systemic fraud and exploitation.”
President, NANS, Mr. Chinonso Obasi, noted that the union was already discussing with the school and also trying to get the appropriate information from the authorities since the school of post-graduate studies was not under the regulation of the student union government.
“We are contacting the management because we are trying our best to get the appropriate information from the school. The president of the student union will be briefing us soon. The post-graduate students are not solely under the student union government in campus, they have their own post graduate union body that oversees them. Most of their activities are not solely under the student union government. But because of the allegation, we want to get necessary information before we can take any position on the case,”
he said.
The students in a communique and letter addressed to the Vice Chancellor, specifically frowned on what they described as continuous payment of fees after final oral defence, among other sundry issues. The communique, dated September 11, 2017, chided the university management for allegedly charging the highest fees for post-graduate programmes among Federal universities in Nigeria.
The communique further queried why the management would delay sittings on the final results of students after completion of their progammes, and at the same time continue to charge them for subsequent semesters they spent waiting for their results.
The NANS president said, “Despite the outrageous increment, nothing has been done in averting delays and curbing administrative bottlenecks, which resulted in continuous payment of fees after final oral defence. The continuous payment of fees after final oral defence is rigid, unfortunate, exploitative and the peak of inhumane treatment a Nigerian student can be
possibly served.
“As a university, which prides herself as a foremost university in the continent, with massive efforts of operating based on well-established international standards, we find such a policy alien in the comity of prestigious universities.”
