UNIZIK Nursing Students Win Fee Hike Protest

Protesting nursing students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State may have won their case against fee hike in their school.

This is because the management of the School had eventually agreed to meet and dialogue with their right quarters on the matter.

The school had, through an internal memo of January 23 by the Chairman of the Board and Chief Medical Advisory Committee of the NAUTH College of Nursing, O.I. Ezejiofor, announced an upward review of tuition from N90,000 to N580,000.

It said the hike had been necessitated by the need to facilitate improvements in the institution.

The nursing students would however not have any of that and decided to show their anger.

“We no go gree, reduce the school fees, we no go gree,” they chanted in their voices and placards even while they marched round the campus.

Chief Medical Director of NAUTH, Professor Joseph Ugboaja, while speaking with journalists on the matter, said he would meet with the relevant stakeholders of the school and revert.

“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.

“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 stated.

“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.

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Mentioning accommodation costs in a situation where the school does not own hostels Ugboaja added:

“Most of the hostels around are privately owned, and the arrangements are between the students and the owners,” he added.

However, these are amidst the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Chinyere Onwuka, coming forward to state that the leadership of UNIZIK Nursing Students did not sanction the protest.

“They wrote to us and I have the letter here.

“I don’t know those who organised or led the protest”.