By Nahum Sule (Taraba State Correspondent, in Jalingo)
The students of Taraba State University, Jalingo, on Thursday, said they have concluded plans and have collected necessary data of over two hundred students to file a public complaint suit against the school management over the sudden increment of school fees in the University.
Recall that NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper had reported that the students of the University, on Monday, protested over the shift of examination date and unpaid salary of the University staff.
Speaking to a 300 level student of the Taraba State University, Salisu Waziri, by our Correspondent, he said the aggrieved group of students in the institution, will, by next week, file a public compliant suit against the school management and the Taraba state government for increasing the school fees without justification and without consulting the Students Union Government (SUG).
According to him, over 200 students have signed the suit form seeking the court to stop the management of Taraba State University from implementing the recent school increase without justification and for the court to compel the Taraba State Government to pay the backlog of ten months salaries owed the lecturers of the institution which the students believe is the reason for the sudden increase of the school fees.
"It would be recalled called that on Monday 9th January 2023, our students staged a peaceful demonstration to support our lecturers who have not been paid their ten (10) months salary by the state government, which led to the extension of the first semester examination from 9th January to 30 January 2023.
"To our greatest dismay, two days after, we were greeted with a sudden one hundred percent increment of our school fees without any justification as to why the school management is increasing the school fees.
"In a circular memo signed by Mr. Sebastian Anthony, the confidential Secretary to the Registrar of the institution, indicates that indigene students from Social and Management Science who pays 44, 000 per session will now pay 70,000 per session and non indigenes who pays 68,000 per session will now pay 90,000 per session which represent almost a hundred percent increase of the school fees".
Comrade Waziri argued that there was no justification for the increase of the school fees in the institution as students of the University are still bedeviled with the challenges of shortage of lecture halls, poor hostel accommodation, lack of water supply and lack of toilet facility.
Also commenting on the increment of the school fees, the Clerk of the Student's Assembly, Shedrack Gani, said the Assembly did not receive any communication from the school management as regards the increment of the school fees.
"As a legislator representing the students from Peace Conflict Department, the news of the increment of our school fees came to us a surprise. As a clerk of the 9th Assembly, we were not informed by the management about any increment of school fees but we wish the decision will be reconsidered", he said.
The increase in the school fees were communicated to the students through a memo signed by the University registrar, Mr. Joseph Bibinu. NNL.
