KASU students beg governor for waiver over backlog of tuition fees

Students of the Kaduna State University (KASU) have pleaded with Uba Sani, the state governor, to grant them waivers on the backlog of old tuition fees.

Sani had, on August 21, announced the reduction in tuition fees in state-owned tertiary institutions by 30 and 50 percent.

He said the downward review was in response to public outcry over the high fees.

Abubakar Abdullahi, president of the students union government at KASU, in a recent interview, commended the governor for the recent reduction of tuition fees in the state’s own tertiary institutions.

The student union leader however said that, despite the reduction, many students and their parents were under a heavy burden.

He added that they would not be able to settle the accumulated fees arising from the old tuition fees.

He appealed to the governor to intervene by waiving the debts or reducing them by 50 percent.

“We are happy that the governor fulfilled the promise he made to students in Kaduna state. He promised that he would review school fees and scholarships,” Abdullahi said.

“This is a big relief for the students and parents. However, we are pleading for further intervention by the governor because the reality is that many students have not been able to settle the old tuition fees.

“Many of them could not even afford to make part payments for the old tuition fees, students are still having problems. These students owe the school a lot due to the accumulation of the old fees they could not afford to pay.

“If you add the tuition fee for the last session which is N150,000, depending on your faculty, and another N150,000 for the current session, you will see that the students owe a lot of money and might even drop out of school.”

Abdullahi said the essence of the downward review is to avoid students dropping out of school.

“Even if they are allowed to complete their studies, they will not be issued a certificate until they pay all outstanding fees. Consider waiving it for them or granting them a substantial discount so that they can pay it in instalments,” he said.

“As I am talking to you, there are over 200 students who are in the 200 level now but they don’t have matriculation numbers. They are still using the JAMB number because they have not settled their tuition fees.

“What this means is that the school does not recognise them. It is only when you have registered by paying the specified fees that the school can give you the matriculation number.

“These students are facing a lot of challenges and threats of being thrown out of school. We are calling on the government to please look into this.”