The management of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, has announced the new tuition for students of the school which takes effect in the 2018/2019 academic session.
The school had been faced with a crisis which led to its several closures with students losing academic calendar. Staff members of the school accused the governments of Osun and Oyo, which own the school, of failing to finance the institution while establishing new universities of their own.
In a mail sent to the students on Monday, it was announced that the new academic session would start on October 29, 2018. The mail said indigenes of the owner states of Osun and Oyo would pay N200, 000 while non-indigenes would pay N250, 000.
Some of the students who spoke to our correspondent described the new fee as inconsiderate, stressing that it represented more than 200 per cent increase from the old tuition.
“This is an astronomic increase because we were paying between N63, 500 (for indigenes) and N72, 500 for non-indigenes before. This is not a good decision considering the economic situation in the country,” said one of the students, Ayobami Arowolo.
The students on Tuesday staged a protest in response to the hike in fee. They locked the gates of the school and set up bon fires in front of the school campus in Ogbomoso.