Our parents can’t pay school fees, OAU students tell Aregbesola

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), Ile-Ife staged a peaceful protest in Osogbo, Osun State, on Monday, appealing to the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola, to pay workers their salaries so that they can pay school fees.

OAU students during the protest in Osogbo 

President of OAU Students’ Union, Omotayo Akande, who led the protest, told HAMEED OYEGBADE that examination commenced on Monday, but students whose parents were civil servants in Osun, were not allowed to write the examination because they had not paid their school fees.

He said majority of OAU students were indigenes of Osun State and that the Student’ Union had already spent N1.6 million on the fees of 85 students. He maintained that the union could not go beyond its limit. 

The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as, “Aregbesola should stop starving Osun workers,” “Aregbesola’s attack on workers is Boko-Haram,” “Buhari! Where Is the positive change,” among others. 

Addressing a press conference at the correspondents' chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalist at Fagbewesa area, the President of OAU students' union urged Aregbesola to use the bail-out fund to pay workers salary arrears without further delay. 

Akande and other OAU students at the correspondents' chapel 

Meanwhile, the state governor had said that he would not divert the N34.9 billion bail-out fund he received from the federal government. He promised to pay the workers after the on-going verification exercise is concluded.

The governor spoke through the Director of the Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon.

He said: “We are using this opportunity to assure workers in the state that all salary arrears will be paid from the bail-out fund, because that is the reason for which it was received.

“And this is why the government embarked on verification exercise to determine the actual figure of workers. It is therefore pertinent for workers themselves to ensure effective conclusion of this process in order to ensure they reap the fruits of their labours.”