21st June, 2015.
Mr President Sir,
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI (GCFR)
I bring you greetings from Nigerian students in the University of Port Harcourt.
Sir, you will agree with me that about 70% of Nigerians live below the poverty line. This firm knowledge, I think was what prompted your party’s resolve to promise to dole out the sum of five thousand naira monthly to the poorest of the poor in our society. By your party’s calculations, this welfarist scheme will to a large extent help to mitigate the sufferings of most Nigerians until such a time when your government is able to provide/create wealth for the Nigerian population.
Sir, considering the level of poverty that abounds in the land, most Nigerian students have resorted to combining both work and studying, so as to enable them meet up with the demands of tertiary education in Nigeria.
Sir, the tradition anywhere in the country has always been that school authorities allow students enough time to gather funds with which to pay their fees on or before the end of second semester of that academic session.
Sir, it seems with your emergence as President, this standard is not only changing but changing very fast. This is because the Senate of the University of Port Harcourt sat sometime in the month of April and decided that any student who fails to pay his/her fees before the commencement of 1st semester examination ceases to be a student for the session. The implication is that such student must defer his admission for the session and come back the next academic session.
Sir, it will interest you to note that the said senate decision was taken while the 2014/2015 academic session is on. And so it does not give room for students to properly digest and then make necessary adjustment in their plans considering that the same University senate had earlier reviewed upwards the financial obligations of the students. The excuse the management gave was that cost of living is becoming increasingly expensive in the country thereby making school fees increment inevitable for the management.
As at the time, that decision was taken, I asked a question that up until now no one seems ready to answer. Is the University of Port Harcourt a private or federal institution? If the latter is the answer then why is it that the authority in the University of Port Harcourt increase fees on yearly basis?
Sir, as it stands now unless you intervene, about 82% of students in University of Port Harcourt will be compelled to repeat a session since they cannot afford to pay their school fees now.
I wish to plead with you to please instruct the management of University of Port Harcourt to relax their resolve for this session and start its implementation from next academic session by which time students would havey had enough time to make needed adjustments.

In anticipation for your prompt response. Share untill it reaches 2d PRESIDENT abegߘ.

They want to privatise Universities like they did secondary schools.
The plight of those in Public universities is bad. Apart from the fact that they have seasoned professors to lecture them, every other thing is bad.
#well you learn how to hussle.

God help us, I even paid the school fees but our finance office refused to collect my passbook

Its the same university where GEJ got his fraudulent Doctorate and his wife got her BSc
The university should be closed down jawe, its a disgrace to Education

@podoski dats a very stupid nd selfish coment so because of just 2 people a whole university shud b shut down did u tink of d almost 80,000 students already in dere finals were wud dey start from? What of d ones who just got admission nd are now happy u want to shatter dere dreams cuz of GEJ nd his WIFE? Hoow true are ur accusations against them in d first place, u must be naive nd very stupiid.

Am a uniport student nd yes d school fees am paying is almost 82,000 d fees are outrageous FYI and in final year 4 dat matter so make dem close am den my 5yrs waste, my rent, feeding, transportation, clothing, seminars, term papers, expierients, even d IT I did shud all go down d drain abi?

It's people like u dat will make Nigeria not move forward see his evil thoughts "close down d school" u must be very shallow minded.