The Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has been urged to desist from further increasing the misery of the Ondo people through the outrageous increment in the tuition fees of the state’s tertiary institutions.
A group known as the Sunshine Liberation Front, SLF, which gave the admonition in a statement issued Tuesday in Akure, the state capital, and made available to DAILY POST, alleged that the policies of Akeredolu since his assumption of office as governor in 2017 have been anti-masses oriented.
The statement signed by the group’s Media and Publicity Officer, Oluwagbenga Ajongbolo kicked against the recent increment in the tuition fees of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, UNIMED, by the governor with an appeal on him to reverse the hike.
“Since its inception, the present Ondo government led by Arakunrin ‘Rotimi Akeredolu, has inflicted more pains and wreaked further havoc on the already destabilized pysche of the citizens of the sunshine state.
“It has continued to destroy the educational foundations his forebears laid, degrade the legacies and seem determined to plunge our dear state into more educational misfortunes.
“Arakunrin Akeredolu and his cronies have come up with another means of extorting Ondo state students in particular and Nigerian students in general with this newest path to raking in more internally generated revenue. A student paying a little above N200,000 may not return to school if he doesn’t have over N450,000.”
The group also noted that the increment was not in tune with the economic realities of the state, particularly given that Ondo State is a civil service state.
Ajongbolo emphasized that some parents as well as guardians are yet to recover from similar increment in the tuition of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko some months ago by the governor which led to massive protests within the school community and in Akure, where commercial activities were grounded for four days.
“Was it not months ago that the students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, their parents and concerned citizens took to the streets of Akure, Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja and other parts of Nigeria to protest the over 400% increment in their tuition?
“A school reputed to be the best amongst the rest and whose students and graduates continue to break national and international academic records even as the least paying public institution in Nigeria.”
“It’s no longer strange and new that the hatchet men for these heinous crimes against humanity and right to education are being promised and rewarded with juicy political posts. Dr. ‘Tunji Abayomi, who championed the arbitrary increment of AAUA fees, which resulted into thousands of students dropping out of school, is gunning for a senate seat to represent the district where majority of these ‘unfortunate’ students hail from.”
SLF also vowed to resist the increment through peaceful protest if the decision is not reversed.
“We therefore urge Arakunrin Akeredolu to reverse this anti people policy or face mass action as we won’t hesitate to ground the state to a halt by peacefully protesting this wicked, evil and inhumane anti progressive plan to shut the doors of education to the underprivileged ones in the society,” it said.
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