Chukwudi Akasike and Friday Amobi
TWO students of the University of Port Harcourt
were on Monday feared killed during a protest
over an alleged policy by the management of the
institution that school fees must be paid before
they would be allowed to take their first semester
examinations.
One of the students identified as Peter Ofurun,
who was said to have been hit by a bullet from a
policeman, died instantly.
Another student also hit by a bullet was rushed
to the hospital, even as sources claimed that she
died on the way to the hospital.
The UNIPORT students’ protest had halted
academic and administrative activities in the
institution as they demanded that the Vice
Chancellor, Prof. Sunday Lale, should address
them and reverse the policy
Ofurun was a student in the Faculty of
Management Science before he met his untimely
death. His corpse was later taken to the African
Independent Television station in Port Harcourt.
Sources told our correspondents that the two
students were hit by the bullets when policemen
opened fire to disperse the protesting students
from the busy East-West road they had occupied
for hours.
However, the state Police Public Officer, Mr.
Ahmad Muhammad, told one of our
correspondents that no life was lost during the
protest.
“No reported case of loss of life throughout the
students’ protest. What the police did was just
the discharge of their mandate of restoring
normalcy and orderliness in the university,”
Muhammad said.
The students’ presence on the East-West Road
had caused a gridlock as travellers waited in vain
for the students to disperse for them to continue
with their journey.
An armoured personnel carrier that was moving
close to the institution to ensure that calm
returned was also trapped in the traffic.
It was gathered that the students had come out
from their hostels at about 4.30am to express
their grievances over the stance of the UNIPORT
management to stop them from taking their first
semester examinations because of non-payment
of the fees.
It was gathered that the UNIPORT management
had designed a policy that stopped students, who
had yet to pay their school fees, from taking their
exams.
Affected students, according to a source, will also
be made to carry over the courses.
But the protesting students described the policy
as a form of victimisation, adding that the
dwindling economy of the nation was affecting
them as they were unable to pay their fees
immediately.
One of the placards of the protesting students
read, ‘Say No to No School Fees, No
Examinations.’
“We have pleaded with the management of our
school on several occasions to extend the
deadline for the payment of the school fees to
second semester, but they refused.
“We will prefer the school to be shut down until
the management accepts our position on this
matter. We are going to continue with our protest
until the vice- chancellor comes down here to
address us,” one of the leaders of the protesters
said.
Another protester, the President, Edo State
Students in UNIPORT, Mr. Andrew Osose, said, “…
We are doing this because of the economic
meltdown, which the country is into. There are
students whose parents just lost their jobs. There
are those whose parents have not been paid
salaries for months by the government. How
would they be able to pay? We know the nature
of our economy now; how would students meet
up to pay?
“Most of the lecturers in the senate that are
making this policy did not go to school with their
own money. They did not come from rich
background, but they have all forgotten their root.
They want the students to pay by fire by force.”
Reacting, the Deputy Registrar, Information of
UNIPORT, Dr. William Wodi, explained that the
protest was not about increase in fees, but about
a few students, who wanted to take exams
without paying the N45,000 school fee.
Wodi said that while 98 per cent of students had
paid and ready to sit for the exams, the two per
cent remaining refused to pay, even after
extending the deadline on five occasions.
Maintaining that the fee was not new to the
students, Wodi added that the immediate past
administration had directed that no university
should charge beyond N45,000 as fee.
The UNIPORT spokesman, who said the first
semester examination for the 2015/2016
academic session would no longer begin on
Monday (yesterday) as scheduled, warned that
those who failed to pay their fees would carry
their courses over.
“We have continued to extend the deadline for the
payment of the fees. The deadline was first
moved from February 12, 2016 to March 11 and
to March 30.
“We moved it again from March 30 to April 5th
and now to April 7th and we said we are no
longer moving it further. But they are saying that
the economy is hard,” he said.
“…We are not expelling students; we are only
saying that those who fail to pay will not be part
of the exam and they are carrying the course
over,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Senate of the university has shut
down the institution with immediate effect.
Wodi, who made this announcement through a
text message sent to one of our correspondents
on Monday said, “Senate has shut down the
university with immediate effect.
“All students have been directed to vacate their
hostel accommodation before 6pm today
(Monday). Students’ union and all their affiliate
bodies have been suspended with immediate
effect. The closure will last for one month.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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