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| AAUA Senate building |
The Pro Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, has said that no new fees regime has been announced for the University as being bandied around town and on various social media platforms.
He added that the new fees regime, when finally unveiled, would be within the reach of both parents and students, while various payment options would be offered to make it easily affordable.
Dr. Abayomi stated these on Wednesday at a Stakeholders’ meeting with parents, students, community leaders and staff held at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the University. The meeting was to discuss the rationale behind the coming fees and to put to rest the rumours making the rounds that the sum of N200, 000 had been fixed as the new fees to be paid by all students.
The Pro Chancellor, who reeled out the monies coming into the University viz-a-viz its expenditure, noted that there was a huge gap of N2.7b between the University’s total income and expenditure, adding that it therefore becomes necessary to raise the school fees in order to save the Institution from collapse.
In his words, “When we take a look at the total income for the University and how much it spends in total, there is a huge difference of almost N3billion. That is certainly not sustainable. And since the vision of the government is to do its possible best to sustain the status of this Institution as the Mother University in the state, it thus becomes inevitable for both the government and parents to rally round and save the University.
“It is imperative for government to increase its subventions, while parents, students and staff members too must contribute their quota. Thus, there will inevitably be an increase in the fees payable by students of this Institution.
“We, as Council, will however put up measures to make payment of the coming fees regime easy for all. There will be options to pay by installments while efforts will be made to ensure the fees will be less than the rumoured N200, 000, which we know will be difficult for most parents to pay.”
Speaking earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, had said the newly- constituted Council led by Dr. Tunji Abayomi is one of the best things to happen to Adekunle Ajasin University. He added that the University is lucky to have Dr. Abayomi as the Chairman of the University Governing Council.
The Vice Chancellor said the meeting of stakeholders became inevitable because the poor economic situation of the country is obviously affecting all persons and institutions, and this necessitated the need to convene a deliberation of this kind so that we can lift the University out of economic doldrums.
The VC said, “We are all aware of the present economic hardship that has held the country by the jugular since 2015 and has affected all sectors, persons and institutions, including our own University. Hence, a meeting of stakeholders became inevitable because of the need to deliberate on how we could lift the University out of economic doldrums.”
Many of the parents and students who spoke at the meeting appealed to the state government to consider the peasants and petty traders among them in arriving at a fixed amount to be paid.
They acknowledged the dire economic situation in the country and the need to fund the University. They however said an astronomical increase in the fees could lead many students to drop out of school and take to crimes.
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