Fee to Cultural Group
By DADA AYOKHAI
Stakeholders at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), particularly parents of enrolled students, are left bewildered as the institution seems to have shifted its responsibility for clarifying recent issues to a cultural group.
The media has been abuzz with reports of a sudden increase in the acceptance fee from 60,000 to 120,000, alongside a 100 percent rise in tuition fees, igniting outrage among students and their families.
The Concerned Students’ Movement (CSM) has denounced the fee hike as “arbitrary, insensitive, and exploitative,” claiming it disproportionately affects students from low-income backgrounds.
While the university administration has yet to make an official statement regarding the fee increase, a cultural organization has released a statement refuting the claims and commending the Vice Chancellor.
“A Social Cultural Organization, the Aiguobasinmwin Movement World-Wide on Friday dismissed as misleading, rumours of a purported plan by the University of Benin (UNIBEN) to increase school fees.
We are here to state clearly that the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, Professor Edoba Omoregie, SAN has not increased school fees, and there was never a plan to do.’
Stakeholders are shocked that a Benin cultural body is speaking for the school which is variably suggest that the university’ has abdicated her responsibility to communicate with the public.
According to them”The Vice Chancellor should address the public directly and clarify the university’s stance on the fee hike. Transparency is key in situations like this.”
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