Protests have broken out at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) in response to the announcement of a 100% increase in tuition fees for undergraduate students.
The students gathered at Malabor Square, where the secretariat of the Students Union Government is located, before marching to the female hostels carrying numerous placards with statements such as: “Florence Obia, UNICAL is not a private university, what’s with the’slight increment’?” “No billing,” “UNICAL VC, stop pushing girls into prostitution,” and “This is a federal university, not a business centre,” among other others.
Recall that UNICAL’s administration announced the fee increase in a statement to the press in Calabar on Monday, following an emergency meeting of the university’s Senate on Friday.
Freshmen, returning, and final-year students enrolled in science and non-science courses are all impacted by this increase.
READ ALSO: UNICAL Increases Tuition By 100%
For non-science courses, the fees for first-year, returning, and final-year students were raised to N111,000, N91,500, and N114,000, respectively. Furthermore, N36,500, N21,500, and N21,500 in third-party dues are need to be paid.
In line with this, the cost of scientific courses increased for first-year, returning, and final-year students to N155,000, N125,000, and N148,000, respectively.
In addition, N38,500, N21,500, and N21,500 in third-party dues are owed by these pupils.
The management defended the rise by pointing to the need to preserve the university’s academic standards and reputation as well as the present economic difficulties.
