The National Association of Nigerian Students has rejected the increase in the fees payable by students of Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, urging the school management to reverse the increment with immediate effect.

NANS said that the sudden increase was “unacceptable and unjustifiable taking cognisance of the prevailing economic realities confronting Nigerian students and their families”.

NANS/Joint Campus Committee, Ekiti axis Chairman, Yekeen Toheeb; General Secretary, Olumorin Folafoluwa; and Public Relations Officer, Ekundayo Goodluck, in a statement in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday said the increase would inflict hardship on the students.

They stated, “NANS demands immediate and total reversal of the increased tuition fees. No partial reduction, temporary adjustment or resort to cunning alternative arrangements will be accepted as a substitute for a complete abolition.

“We, therefore, give the management five-working days’ ultimatum from the issuance of this statement to reverse the increased fees and restore the previous fee structure. Failure to comply will compel NANS JCC, Ekiti Axis, to mobilise students for lawful mass action and other legitimate forms of protest.

“The management must take responsibility for the financial implications of its decision and ensure that students are not subjected to additional hardship,” they stated.

NANS, while calling for reversal, directed FPA students “to disregard the sudden increase and stop further payment until the authority complies with the directive to abolish such plans capable of immersing students into unwarranted sufferings”.

According to the students’ body, “increasing school fees midway when students had already applied for the Nigerian Education Loan Fund codenamed “Students’ loan” after approval had been gotten based on previous charges, may disrupt disbursement process by the Federal Government’s agency and defeat the intention behind its establishment”.

But the school management said its position on the matter would be made public after a meeting of stakeholders including NANS on Thursday.

The institution’s Public Relations Officer, Kayode Adebusuyi, said, “The management of Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, upon receiving a letter from NANS on the issue, has responded and will hold a stakeholders’ meeting including NANS tomorrow (Thursday). We will make the position known after the meeting”.

Adebusuyi said the institution had always operated with human face, clarifying that the school only had service charge and not school nor tuition fees.