Calmness has returned to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, after a unanimous agreement between the management and Students of the institution, over school fees and other levies.
The students and management came to an agreement after three days of negotiation.
Recalled that the students of the institution staged a protest over alleged increment in school fees and other levies, which if was not addressed, would have affected the progress of the matriculation exercise, scheduled for today.
The final decision was reached yesterday, during a meeting that lasted more than five hours at the Vice Chancellor’s hall, Awka.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Charles Okechukwu Esimone, who was represented by his Deputy, Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Joseph Ikecheblu, said they had agreed on a new school fees structure for the 2020/2021 academic year.
“You will continue with the 2019/2020 school fees, and the supposed 2020/2021 fee schedule is now suspended until further dialogue.
“We hope that this will further cement the peace and tranquillity that our university is known for. The university remains peaceful, and the public should disregard all other information making rounds in the social media.
“Any other form of demonstration from anybody means that the person is not our student, and such individual will be disciplined appropriately.
“We call on the law enforcement agencies in the school to be on the alert to ensure that there is no breach of peace within the university”, Esimone added.
Reacting, the President, Student Union Government, Chukwuemeka Anih, represented by his vice-president, Augusta Ukoha, assured the students that the university management had agreed to revert to the 2019/2020 fees structure, noted that the final document would soon be released.
According to the President, “It is no longer news that we, the students have been on this negotiation table for the last few days and we are happy to tell our students that there have been a reduction in their fees.
“The decisions we took here are in the best interest of the students and the university management. We hope that when this document comes out, there will no longer be any protest as our decisions here were collective,” he pointed.
On his part, the President, Council of Faculty Presidents, Comrade Stephen Ogoegbulem, expressed satisfaction at the level of commitment of the university management to resolve the matter, calling for an end to the protests.
Speaking on the gains of the negotiations, he said, “Initially when this semester started, year three students were to pay a fee of N55,200, including the Association and Union dues but now it has been reduced to under N30,000. That means we achieved over N16,000 deduction for them.
“For year two students, they paid about N100,000 when they came into the school last year and when this semester started, they were meant to pay about N55,200. However, we are happy to inform them that we have gotten a discount of well over N10,000,” he said.
He said the success was achieved because the university management showed commitment towards availing the students quality education, as well as the doggedness of the student association representatives to secure a better bargain for the students.
Also, Chinasa Edomobi and Wisdom Onuoha, chairmen, the council of departmental presidents and council of class representatives of the university, commended the students for sustaining the struggle through peaceful protest. They, however, urged students of the school to retreat and concentrate on their studies and shun further protests, as the matter had been laid to rest.
Earlier, the SUG President, Nnewi Campus of the university, Comrade Theophilus Okologbo, expressed satisfaction that the dialogue yielded fruits while urging other students to remain peaceful as those who have come to acquire learning and good character.
Others who signed the agreement include, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof F. J. C Odibo, the Registrar, Barr Philomena Okoye, the Bursar, Dr (Mrs) Joy Ojukwu among others.
Also present was Convocation Representative, Prof Nnama Meshach Umenweke.