The University of Ibadan’s (UI) Students’ Union on Friday opposed the increase in tuition that the school council had approved.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the students protested overnight from 10:20 p.m. to 2 a.m. to express their discontent.

In a statement, the Union’s Secretary, Daniel Elemide, Vice President Bolutife Aboderin, and President Bolaji Aweda all condemned the additional fees.

“We reject the decision made by the council. We are embarking on a boycott of classes until our demands are fulfilled.

“We demand a reversal of the increase. The students demand that the school fees portal should be shut down within 24 hours until our demands are met,” they said.

Students should utilize social media to mobilize others behind the hashtags #UIFEESMUSTFALL and #SAVEUITES until their demands are granted, according to the union officials.

According to NAN, the university’s governing council decided on Thursday to raise the tuition for students from 100 to 400 levels while also establishing a payment deadline.

The decision was made at the inaugural meeting of the council, which was held earlier on Thursday, and it evaluated the new levy as requested by the University Senate, according to a statement signed by G.O. Saliu, the registrar and secretary to the council, and made accessible to UCJUI.

According to the council, students who haven’t finished registering are urged to do so by September 4 at the latest.

“Consequently, students who are yet to pay and complete their registration exercises are advised to do so on or before Sept. 4, to enable departments to download lists of registered students in preparation for the First Semester Examination,” the release read in part.

Furthermore, in order to support financially disadvantaged students, the council encouraged students to apply for financial aid from sources including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) and other scholarships provided by the institution and other donors.

The council also said unequivocally that the portal will close after the designated day, therefore there would be no extension of the registration deadline.

In order to support impoverished students, Council also recommended that students be encouraged to apply for various scholarships offered by the institution and other WELL-meaning individuals, as well as the Students’ Loan Fund (NELFUND).

The announcement went on to say, “Below is for strict adherence, as the portal will not be opened after the deadline.”

According to NAN, after the protest in July, the deadline for paying school fees was first postponed. (NAN)

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, or FCCPC, provided traders and other market participants who were using manipulative pricing to drive down the price of goods one month’s notice.
The directive was given yesterday in Abuja during a one-day stakeholders’ engagement on exploitative pricing by Mr. Tunji Bello, the Executive Vice-Chairman of the FCCPC.

According to Bello, the commission will begin enforcement after the expiration of the notice.

He said the meeting was to address the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and unwholesome practices of market associations.

Bello said: “The issue of critical national importance of the day is the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services across the country, and the unwholesome practice of market associations engaged in price fixing.”

Being a proactive company, we have spent the last few weeks conducting covert market research all throughout the nation. Our findings are, to put it kindly, extremely troubling. Thus, the purpose of our meeting yesterday is to emphasize how serious the situation is and how urgently we must cooperate to stop this unhealthy trend.

As a legally mandated organization tasked with upholding consumer rights, we cannot for this detrimental pattern to persist. To be clear, we acknowledge that the cost of production in local currency has been adversely affected by an unfavorable exchange rate. But occasionally, the margin on the cost of goods and services is irrational or exorbitant.

For example, we’ve noticed that the margin on the prices of items imported is frequently wildly exaggerated, and the same is true for things made locally. This is an unacceptable state of affairs, especially in the retail sector where we have seen price-fixing tendencies, price gouging, and other anti-consumer practices carried out by certain market groups.

In her reaction, a human rights activist, Barrister Charity Onwuka, said: “This is very appalling really, another mess up by the APC-led administration.

Because the merchants purchased the goods or commodities at a steep discount, the federal government has no authority to pressure them into crashing prices. She claims that because traders will prefer to stockpile their commodities than sell them at a very low price, which will be detrimental to them, this will result in artificial scarcity.

She said: ‘’The government should rather have a more practical and pragmatic approach to resolving the inflation in the economy.”.

‘’As a citizen of Nigeria, I suggest, as is being widely advocated, that the cost of governance should be crashed to the barest minimum and experienced economic experts should be consulted to advise on the way forward, rather than compensating political faithful and family members by giving them key positions wherein they can’t make positive impacts for the good of everyone in the country!”