Ogun Says It Is Not Dictating to OOU, Others on New Tuition Fees, Asks Them to Negotiate with Students
Ogun State Government has said it is not dictating to its universities and polytechnic on the new tuition fees they are charging students.
The institutions had been introducing new tuition fees, with the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, increasing the fees between 120 to 197 percent.
The state government said the decision on the new tuition fees was taken by the governing councils it set up, and the management of the Universities and Polytechnics.
Education Commissioner, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, made the clarification while fielding questions on the Rockcity FM Program ‘daybreak show’ on Thursday.
The commissioner asked major stakeholders, including students and managements of the affected institutions, to negotiate the new tuition fees, based on facts and realities on ground.
Arigbabu explained that the governing councils of the state-owned tertiary institutions had been granted an autonomy to run the institutions and take decisions.
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According to the commissioner, the fresh hike in tuition fees was comparable to other public universities in the country, and was being regarded as outrageous because it was last reviewed about ten years ago.
To accommodate indigene students, the commissioner said the state government has directed all its tertiary institutions to set up work study programs that will enable students to earn incomes while studying.
Other measures are the bursary awards that would be payable to students of the state origin in tertiary institutions nationwide from this year, as well as 10,000 scholarships for brilliant students in the state’s public primary, secondary and tertiary institutions.
Also, Arigbabu said the state education trust fund would soon be inaugurated, while arrangements being concluded for the state’s first education summit where all challenges facing the tertiary institutions would be addressed.
