They asked the federal government to wade into considered the fact of
the serious challenge facing the state.
The civil society organization and some social media users in
Maiduguri have described the recent decision of the University of
Maiduguri's management to increase tuitions as reckless and
insensitive to the plight of the people.
They asked the federal government to wade into considered the fact of
the serious challenge facing the state.
The Chairman of CSO of Borno State, Amb. Ahmed Shehu, said the
decision was uncalled-for and must be reversed with immediate effect.
"The increment (of school fees) by (the) University of Maiduguri at
this moment is unjustifiable and uncalled-for especially at this
moment and time that all stakeholders are making efforts to ensure
that the disparity in education is addressed in the state in
particular and the northeast, in general, considering the fact that
Borno State has the highest number of people that don't have access to
education, with this indices and problem on ground.
"The increment means we are trying to force the poor children our of
school because I am
sure they can't afford based on the socio-economic status of their
parents and guardians," Shehu stated.
He added, "I call on Unimaid management to reverse this decision or
else this is not going to be healthy. It is one way or the other to
tell people to stay away from western education, also it is like
denying people their rights. I think it is condemnable from the CSO's
point of view and advise the university to consult widely, sit with
SUG, members of the community and (other) stakeholders."
Continuing, he said, "This is discrimination against poor people in
the state, the poor people are discriminated by this hike in tuition
fees, it is the only federal institutions in this state with this
development is the management telling us that education is not a right
in this country? Are they telling us to go to Chad or Niger to start
studying?
"Even with the falling quality of education in our higher
institutions, the citizens agree to manage. But giving us this Santa
Cruz gift before December will force us to rethink and decide that the
priorities of the leadership of our educational institutions are not
national interest."
They warned that the increase in school fees might be another way of
depriving discourage their ward to western education which insurgents
vehemently against it.
A resident of Maiduguri, Abba Maina, wrote on his Facebook timeline:
"I see no difference between the University of Maiduguri and Boko
Haram Sect, they have the same ideology of stopping people from
western education, if this increase in tuitions (registration money)
is real then they're worse than Boko Haram.
"Where on earth our suffering people of Borno and the Northeast will
get this amount of money to pay for their children, this heartless
increased tuition (registration money), in this insurgency period?
#Terrible."
A social worker and journalist, Junaid Jibril Maiva, also wrote:
"Unimaid and its unpopular decision. The news is all over that the
University of Maiduguri has increased its tuition. Even though no
official statement was released from the university on the increment,
if it turns to be true, then, the university needs to reconsider this
decision, if not for itself, at least for its host.
"A lot of students especially from Borno and North-east states will
drop out if this decision sees the light of the day and they may
become a social menace to the society. It is for the management to
consider our situation and denounced this hectic, unpopular and
ungodly decision.
"I want to passionately appeal to the university, it host, the state
government and any other critical stakeholder of the institution to
please have a meeting towards addressing this unpopular decision.
"We hope the Prof. Aliyu Shugaba led administration will look inward
and find an alternative to this increment because I don’t think it
will be in the interests of the larger society to have a huge number
of dropouts. No matter what, SUG University of Maiduguri should resist
the pressure from the management, protest if need be and make sure,
the management comes to its senses."