Northern youths threaten to shut region over tuition hike

Ask stakeholders to reject policy

The coalition of Northern Groups, Students’ Wing (CNG-SW), has threatened to shut down the region over the recent hike in tuition fees by tertiary institutions across the Northern states.

The group also demanded the Northern elite and other stakeholders to speak up against the passage of the Education Loan Bill as the sustainability of the loan is not guaranteed.

National Coordinator of CNG-SW, Emuseh Gimba, at a press briefing in Abuja, yesterday, noted that the group would take drastic actions if the government fails to reverse the policy.

Gimba said: “We find it regrettable that as a result of these poorly designed policies, hunger is stalking millions of homes, inflation is making life difficult by the day, people are losing jobs, businesses are closing down and infrastructure is decaying, young Nigerians are losing hope of being employed, hospitals are full of patients that cannot afford the fees.

“Some insensitive and indifferent authorities of Northern Nigeria universities have already announced incredible increments in their tuition. Those in this category are the University of Maiduguri in the North East, Federal University, Dutse, in the North West and Federal University Lafia in the North Central.

“As is the tradition of CNG, we took time to understudy the situation and assess the inherent dangers the hike in tuition would pose to Nigerians, especially to the Northern region, which has been abandoned to the mercy of rampaging banditry and insurgency.”

He noted that the region is being held to ransom by bandits that operate with ease and at will in the seven states of the North West, taking total control of land borders, highways, forests and, in some cases, railways and airports.

“Boko Haram and Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists continue to wreak havoc in the North East, while farmers/herdsmen clashes escalate in the North Central. We are convinced, therefore, that this hike and other potentially damaging policies are part of a calculated design to continuously weaken the North educationally and pauperise it economically.”

“It follows that the North would feel the pain of the hike in tuition more than other parts of the country because of the current challenges and limitations faced by the region around security and unforgettable poverty,” Gimba stated.

Highlighting the consequences of the hike on students and parents, CNG said, if not reversed, the action would lead to massive dropouts and return millions of youth in the region to the streets.

“New students will have to give up their dreams of acquiring higher education. Returning students, yet to overcome the trauma of an eight-month Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and struggling to bear the frustration of a wasted academic year, resources, and energy would find themselves at the receiving end.