FUPRE Students Protest Increased Fees, Barricades East-West Road

Students of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun (FUPRE), Delta State, allegedly protesting an increase in fees by the university authorities on Monday barricaded the Warri end of the strategic East-West Road.

Although the protest was meant to be as peaceful as possible and without unduly disrupting social and economic activities of residents, the protesters later created barriers on the busy highway connecting Delta with most South-South states of Nigeria through the oil city of Warri.

THISDAY learnt that the resort to barricading the Warri/Effurun-Ughelli portion of the East-West Road following breakdown of negotiations between the FUPRE management and representatives of the students.

The students claimed that under the new arrangement, the FUPRE authorities have directed old students of the institution to pay N55,000 as against N26,400 charged previously.

Similarly, the charge for freshers has been jacked up to N90,000 from the N46,000 fresh students paid in the past.

The students further said several other charges have also bee increased by the school authorities, including "Acceptance Fee" and "Hostel Fee", which the authorities claimed were meant to "develop the institution."

The placard-bearing students said that they wanted to alert members of the public to the seeming commencement of the process to commercialize education at the nation's first specialized petroleum resources university, stressing that they could not afford the new fees of charges.

The students also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the interest of the institution, saying the sudden increase announced by FUPRE might be politically motivated and intended to create fresh crisis for the Jonathan administration at this critical election.

By Omon-Julius Onabu in Warri