The management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) College of Nursing has reacted to the recent protest over the increase in tuition fees, pledging to communicate the students’ concerns to the hospital’s governing board.
On Tuesday, several students of the college marched in front
of the main gate to protest what they described as a “shocking increase” in
their tuition fees from N90,000 to N580,000 — a 544 percent increment.
In an internal memo reportedly issued on January 23 by O. I.
Ezejiofor, CMAC/chairman of the board of NAUTH College of Nursing, the hospital
management announced an upward review of the students’ school fees, citing the
need to upgrade the institution.
In the breakdown of the new fees attached to the memo,
N250,000 was listed as tuition, N50,000 for maintenance/caution fee, N50,000
for library fee, N30,000 for medical fee, and N60,000 for examination fees.
The list also includes N20,000 portal fee, N30,000 for
transport, N50,000 for accreditation, and N40,000 for another maintenance fee,
bringing the total to N580,000.
During the protest, the students described the increase as
exploitative, as they chanted solidarity songs and displayed placards with
various inscriptions, including one that read: ‘From N90,000 to N580,000. Very
bad.’
‘OUR FEES HAVE BEEN VERY CHEAP’
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, Joseph Ugboaja, chief
medical director of NAUTH, said the management would meet with the hospital
board, which proposed the new fees, to resolve the issue.
“I will return to the institution and we will sit with
members of the board who proposed the new tuition and also with the student
union leadership to sort things out,” Ugboaja said.
“As for the school fees, yes, there was an increment. We
just had a new board and it decided to review the tuition to enable the
institution provide the best for the students. They proposed N580,000 to us and
we approved it, but there is still room to take another look at it and
harmonise things.”
He said the college had maintained low tuition for many
years and that the new fee was among the cheapest in the south-east.
“Our fees have been very cheap and even with the increment,
we are still among the lowest in the south-east. Someone who was paying N90,000
would naturally protest the increase, but it is to ensure we maintain
standards,” he said.
Ugboaja also addressed complaints about accommodation costs,
explaining that the school does not own hostels.
“Most of the hostels around are privately owned, and the
arrangements are between the students and the owners,” he added.
Chinyere Onwuka, the institution’s public relations officer,
said a comparison with other schools of nursing in the region showed that
NAUTH’s fees were still relatively low.
“Some institutions charge as much as N800,000 for old
students, and that is even without feeding,” Onwuka said, according to PUNCH.
She added that the college’s student union leadership had
distanced itself from the protest.
“They wrote to us and I have the letter here. I don’t know
those who organised or led the protest,” Onwuka said.
She insisted that the reviewed fees remained moderate,
noting that the amount covered feeding and transportation for students during
their clinical postings, including trips to Enugu.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com