School Fees: Increase Affects Only 100L Students, Says DELSU VC

By Daniel Dafe

Vice Chancellor, Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Professor Andy Egwunyenga, has said that the economic realities in Nigeria made the hike in school fees inevitable, saying that it was an adjustment for only 100 Level students.

Professor Egwunyenga said this during an exclusive chat with Oasis Magazine on Saturday in Abraka.

He continued: “The slight increase; I still continue to call it slight because compared to other institutions it is not that high but as a result of the state of the economy. If you are seeing the situation of the country, oil economy has almost collapsed and of course you know that is the main revenue of funding in the state. So the kind of money that comes from allocation has dwindled and it has affected the level of support not only to the university but other areas. So there is a general economic decline and it is important that we should be very honest with ourselves and our students. We did the analysis and felt that to keep the university running, there is a minimum level of increase that we must do so that academic Infrastructure and physical Infrastructure in the classrooms, laboratory, workshops, communication, hostel and many other services can get better or can at least Improve.

“Anybody who has been in Delta state University for the past 2 years will see clearly that we’ve been raising the bar with respect to academic and physical Infrastructure which is clearly reflected in the increased ranking of the university.

“Nobody likes to increase school fees. I know the burden because I am a parent myself. I have not less than 10 persons I assist to keep them in the university. So, it is everybody that is affected, but we have to get our priorities right.”

Speaking further, he said that to be able to ensure that the burden particularly on the non- indigene students is reduced, they have introduced at least 2 measures, the first being that the fees payment can be done in installments and secondly, for those who are really in need, they can have a work-study program and be engaged by the institution as environmental technicians in form of cleaning and some other activities even computer operators just like it is done overseas.

Other measures to lessen the burden on students and their sponsors include the special bursary scheme which the state government has introduced for students studying agriculture and education courses, saying this will assist them and encourage them.

He said this arrangement was because they noticed that students do not seem to take interest in these courses, stressing that government is introducing and giving them a special support.

On the planned NANS protest, he said: “They are voted in to defend the interest of the students and these interests are better defended on a round table through dialogue where everybody will understand the system and then we reach a compromise. There is no time we are going to force anything down anybody’s throat. We can’t force them; they can’t force it on me too. It is through discussion that the superior argument will prevail and then we reach a compromise. Everybody must work in the interest of students.”

He added: “Yesterday, I spent the whole day at Oleh. Let me not exaggerate, but I wept at the things I saw in the hostels because the students are in deplorable situations particularly in the government hostel in the first campus where you have law. I went into the toilet and saw the way it is and then we are promising immediate action. These are things that have to be tackled. We have to renovate the hostels and do some serious plumbering and solve electrical and water problems. The buildings are in bad shape, the beddings are very bad. We must reach a minimum standard and raise the standards of students and most of these things will cost time and money because it won’t happen overnight.

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“Anybody who is honest in this Delta State University will know that there is a sincere and sustained approach to make things better now. I am not going to boast about what I am doing, but I am just going to do my best because that is the only job I have.”

Asked what is message to students that are pessimistic and have decided to drop out of school over the hike, he said: “They should not be discouraged. Let me tell you about priotization. Go and do your research, apart from some government secondary schools and primary schools, many Nigerian children now go to private secondary and primary schools. In those schools, many of them are paying far higher than what they are paying in the university system. What they pay per term is almost like what we pay per session. So, it is about priorities. It is difficult, but if people start seeing education like what they should contribute in funding, they will begin to make money available for it.

“The dropout rate will not be high because if you don’t have money to pay everything at once, you pay in installments and if you are a sincere student that wants to earn money for your fees, when we launched the work study program, you will get involved. I was surprised that those who enrolled were mainly girls. The boys that I thought would be more interested did not enroll.”

He frowned at critics that said the hike was to favour the newly created universities especially the one in the Governor Okowa’s senatorial district.

His words: “Their own school fees are even higher than DELSU. So, how can you leave where is cheaper to where is higher?

“The problem is, we don’t engage the public to understand how the funding of the system works. We put a wall around us. It is really rough in the system and we have to make things better. Nigeria will begin to get used to contributing more to good higher education. I know it is difficult, but we have to get used to it and begin to make those priorities to help us support higher education. It is very important. There are so many state universities that have been shut down for so long, but DELSU has been consistent with government supporting.

“What we are saying is that let the parents also have a little more share of the responsibility. Nobody is trying to push anybody out of school. Let me also say about those thinking that we are pushing anybody out of school, even before the school fees increase, all over the world, there are different reasons why students defer admission. It could be because of health issues and other matters. People are just emotional and blaming it on the increment.”