Authorities, students disagree over violent protest at MOUAU

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

Authorities of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), in Abia State and their students have disagreed on what led to the violent protest which took place on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, resulting in shutting down the institution indefinite.

The violent protest by the students led to extensive damage of the university’s property and vehicles, including the official vehicle of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Maduebibisi Ofor Iwe.

Students alleged that the protest was triggered by an increase in school fees. However, the school’s management has denied the claim. According to them, it was because of the Management’s stand that students who did not pay their fees would not be allowed to write their exams. Also, they said some students became enraged when they could not succeed in paying their fees because of the surge at the school’s portal by students who turned up very late to pay their fees.

Some of the students, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, alleged that they were protesting against the insensitivity of the university management towards the plight of the students.

“We started our first semester examination yesterday (Monday) and the Vice Chancellor came to the hall and sent out those who have not paid their schools fees.

“They increased our schools fees twice in 2023; some of us were paying about N50, 000, but it is now between N120, 000 and N150, 000.

“The management insisted that students must pay it at once, even when we begged them to allow us pay in two installments for the two semesters,’’ one of the protesters had volunteered.

Another student was quoted to have said: “Some of us were stopped from writing the examination because our names were yet to appear after doing our biometrics.

“The management introduced the compulsory bio-data for students this semester and it is still ongoing but they said that no student will write examination without it,’’ he said.

Some final year students were said to have complained that the action of the management may delay their graduation alongside with their set.

However, a source close to the university management told Aljazirah that the protest was not triggered by increase in school fees.

The source confirmed that there was increase in school fees but said it was maginal, adding that it was negotiated with the Students Union Government (SUG), to avert violent protest as was recorded in many other universities that increased their fees.

According to the source who pleaded anonimity, the real reason for the protest was management’s “no payment, no exams” policy, plus its rejection of instalmental payment of the tuition fees.

The source said:

“It is a tradition in this school that if you don’t pay your fees, you will not write the exams.

 “In order to check that and also ensure that the school has proper data of each student, the school introduced biometric capturing of students.

“Many students dilly-dallied and  they turned out in their several hundreds to pay their fees only on Friday, while exams were due to start on Monday. Without the biometric capturing, you won’t write the exam, and the portal could not process all of them throughout the weekend.

“This is because many of the students who wanted to pay had issues. I will give you an instance, if your residency has expired, the portal will lock you out. And when it locks you out, you are supposed to apply for extension of residency, from your Department to your College, to the Senate. Senate sits once in a month, every last Wednesday of the month.

“If you apply on time, it will be approved. But if you don’t have that approval, you will not write the exam. The portal will not allow you to pay until you receive that approval.

“The SUG came to management and they were received by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic). When they came, he brought out evidence of huge applications from students when Senate  had already concluded its sitting for the month of January (2024). If they were told to go to the Senate by the end of the month (February), by then, exams would have ended.

“The Deputy Vice Chancellor had to approve those applications, on behalf of Senate. What they required to do now was to take that approval to the portal and the portal management will now be able to open the portal for them

“Once you didn’t register in one session and you come to register in the next session, the portal will not recognise that your registration until you go back and register for the session that you didn’t register.

“So, many students were in that situation. When you go to our portal, you will see hundreds of them gathered there, trying to pay, but the portal could not allow them.

“Some of them that came on Friday had exams to write on Monday. On the whole, the crowd was overwhelming, there was no how the portal would have processed all of them throughout the weekend.

“So, because of their delays and dilly-dallying, many of them were not able to access the portal, many of them were not able to pay their fees and if you don’t pay, you can’t write the exam.

“It is from that portal that we generate concrete evidence of those who have paid and the document is distributed to Exam Supervisors in various halls and if your name is not there, you can’t be admitted into the exam hall. Even if you enter into the exam hall by any means, they will bring the biometric machine, just like the INEC BVAS, they will use it to authenticate if those in the hall were dully registered.

“In a particular hall, some students gained entrance into the exam hall. And out of the 32 students in the hall, five were not registered and they were sent out of the hall. The biometric machine captured only 27.”

As a result of the protest, the authorities moved to forestall total breakdown of law and order by hurriedly  shutting down the institution.

Vice Chancellor of MOUAU, Prof. Maduebibisi Offor Iwe, announced the indefinite closure of the institution on behalf of the Senate of the university, amidst the ongoing First Semester examinations which commenced the previous day.

 Prof. Iwe, while announcing the closure of school, in a statement, described the development as a violation of the long-existing peace in the university and accused miscreants of being behind the protest.

The statement reads in part: “Miscreants took over the university, chasing and pursuing the Vice-Chancellor, damaging his official vehicle and those of his officials, claiming that they were not allowed to take their First Semester examination owing to their failure to pay their charges.

“The university’s record show that more than 70 per cent of the students had paid their charges and were peacefully taking their examinations, while more than 2,000 were in the queue to pay and register their courses before the miscreants and hoodlums took the stage to cause trouble and disrupted the long-standing peace of the university.”

In order to ensure saftey of lives and property on campus, the management of the institution on behalf of the Senate, thereby, ordered an indefinite closure of the school.

“All students are advised to vacate the university premises immediately, but not later than 5pm on Tuesday, February 6, 2024,” the statement added.

Recall that on February 2, 2024, the Registrar of the university, Dr Nkeiruka Mbanasor,  had put out a circular warning thats students who had not paid their fees would not be allowed to write the First Semester  examinations.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Abia State Police Command, ASP Maureen Chinaka, confirmed the protest, stating that the Police have brought the situation under control.

ASP Chinaka said: “The Command is aware of the students’ unrest that happened today at MOUAU, Umudike, and in line with our professional and constitutional duty of ensuring the peace and security in the state, the Commissioner of Police detailed men to that place and officers who were deployed there had calmed down the situation.

“At this moment the area is calm compared to what it was when they started the protest. Police have been able to clear the road and the area is calm.”

It was observed that the protesting students disrupted ongoing exams and traffic.

Witnesses said during the protest, the angry students, who were in their numbers, stormed different halls in the university and chased out students writing their examinations.

They were said to have also destroyed glasses of doors and windows and other property at the university Senate Building, secretariat of the Students Union Government (SUG), library, microfinance bank, and the university’s main gate, among others.

Outside the campus, the students equally barricaded the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene Road, specifically at the university’s main gate, thereby causing traffic gridlock.

Shop owners closed to the school hurriedly shut their shops for fear of being attacked by the protesting students.

The angry students sang anti-management songs such as “VC Iwe, reverse our school fees,” “Say no to extortion,” “Allow us to write our examinations,’’ among others.

Timely arrival of the Police operatives who dispersed the protesters with tear gas, saved the day.